#supra

Like a bad reality show, the figurative clock is ticking for the Toyota/BMW courtship that may or may not be spawning a sports car.

Reuters reported (via Automotive News Europe) that Toyota spokesman said the companies would make a decision on whether to pursue the joint project further.

“By the end of the year we will approve whether or not we will make it,” a Toyota spokesman told Reuters. “The whole study before that, on what kind of platform, on what kind of architecture, that’s been progressing quite well. We haven’t yet decided to give the green light to the project, but it’s coming up.”

The stolen multi-generational single-family 1980 Toyota Celica Supra we reported on in May has been returned to its rightful owners.

Lois writes:

Hey! The car was recovered! In Eugene OR. Plates gone, ignition messed up, but otherwise in good condition!

This 1980 Toyota Celica Supra Mark 1 – previously featured as a Curbside Classic right here on TTAC – has been stolen in Eugene, Oregon.

Let’s help its rightful owners get it back.

At the stroke of midnight, a new millennium would begin and the whole world was supposed to come unhinged. Religious leaders were telling us that we needed to be afraid because Jesus Christ, aka the “Prince of Peace,” was coming back to wreak holy vengeance upon us all, cosmologists hinted that that an ominous planetary alignment was going to totally screw up our Feng Shui and computer experts were saying that the silicon chips that they had been relentlessly incorporating into everything since the late 1980s were going to suddenly freak out. It was this last thing that got most people’s panties in a twist. When the computers stopped, we were told, power grids would fail and modern society would grind to a halt. Anything that had an internal clock, they said, would simply stop working.

We already knew that Fiat and Mazda are jointly developing s sports car platform, Now, BMW’s development chief Herbert Diess told a German newspaper that the German automaker and Toyota will jointly develop and share a new platform for sports cars. “We have agreed on a joint architecture for a sports car. What is important is that there will be two different vehicles that are authentic to the two brands,” the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoted Diess as saying.

In June of 2012, BMW and Toyota signed a technology agreement covering cooperation on lithium-air batteries and lightweight technology. At the time the two companies said that they were looking into the possibility of creating a joint platform for an all new midsize sports car. That feasibility study was expected to be completed by the end of 2013. We’re at the end of 2013 and based on Diess’ comments, the study likely said that it’s feasible.

The last time Toyota debuted a concept thought to be the return of the Supra — the FT-HS, to be exact — the end result was a three-pack of boxer-powered, rear-driven madness with a low price point. Could Toyota’s latest upcoming concept for the 2014 Detroit Auto Show finally be the one?

The hot August sun beat down with real intensity, its heat baking the dun colored earth into a hard packed surface that flecked away in a fine powder that puffed skyward with every footstep I took. The area before me seemed large, but like so many things in Japan its sense of scale was distorted by the fact that, over time, I had grown accustomed to tiny plots of land and buildings crowding in upon one another so closely that they blotted out the sky. In reality the space was little more than a fraction of an acre but even so it seemed like an oasis of space in an otherwise crowded urban desert. The fact that it was packed with junk cars was just icing on the cake.

My 1986 JDM Twin Turbo Supra

Wherever I am in the world I will always be a typical American man. Despite a lot of the stereotypes that spring to mind when I say that, I learned a long time ago that it isn’t a bad thing. I was raised right and I have solid values. When seats are limited I will stand so my elders can sit. I always hold the door open for ladies, and I keep plugging away no matter how hopeless the situation might seem. There are a few things here and there that can cause problems once in a while, too. For example, I won’t be deliberately insulted, I need my personal space and, of course, I feel like I am loser if I don’t have my own set of wheels.

Earl writes:

I just bought a mint condition, dealer-maintained 1990 Cressida. I am aware of the head bolt torque issue on the 6 cylinder engine. The car shows no sign of head gasket issues. My question: should I have my dealer simply re-torque the head bolts? Their tech (30-year’s experience) says he’s done this on many cars with no issues. Your thoughts?