Moderately mild to hot: EP82 Starlets

With the world acquiring a knack for anything and everything retro, we turn back the clock to 1995, with Johnny Shah's EP82 starlet GT. If you're wondering if the name sounds familiar, then you're probably right. We featured a 2ZZGE swapped corolla aeons ago belonging to Johnny's older brother, Omar Shah, a veteran in the car community. Like all project cars, this little starlet has had its own phases, just like a teenager. And the tuner bug bit.

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During one of Johnny's dad's trips to japan back when import year rules were not so restricted, the bug-eyed hatch caught his attention, and onto a boat, it went. And then the tuner bug hit. A plethora of quintessential aftermarket parts including, and not limited to —genuine Momo steering and gear knob, Cusco coilovers, HKS hi-power exhaust system— started piling up the mod list. The comparatively standard bony seats were replaced with much sturdier ones from a seventh-gen Celica. The outside got a set of genuine Enkei RPF1's, and last but not least, a Livesport body kit which transformed the moderately warm hatch to a proper hot hatch. It spent years donning the almost deep purple-esque blue, until earlier this year.

Now, if you are a petrolhead not living under a rock, you will be familiar with the liquid yellow craze Dhaka's cars went through a few years back, namely with a handful of Evo's and STI's. Allow me to explain why this Starlet GT is the most deserving to be draped in the holy liquid. Liquid Yellow is a factory Renault colour, once a special rare option on their Sport Clio V6, now found in the ballistic Clio RS200 as a factory option. Now, what else is a hatchback, like a Renault 5 Turbo, with a relatively small turbocharged displacement but a neatly packaged front-wheel-drive instead? The 1.3 4-EFTE Starlet GT of course. Japan's version of the Renault 5 Turbo but more reliable. I'll let the pictures do the talking now.

Gallery: 1995 Toyota EP82 starlet GT

Photos: Akif Hamid