While we were at the Ebisu Circuit Natsumatsuri – Summer Drift Festival, I couldn't take my eyes off this GX71 Toyota Cresta that was running Ebisu's Touge course! It's no secret that I absolutely love 1980sToyotas, but just look at how clean this Cresta is! This is a Toyota Cressida in the USA… isn't this clean Cresta inspiring? I know it makes me want to look for a clean Cressida with 5-speed manual transmission!

I like the old school aluminum window visors, and the shape of the taillights and the chrome bezel that surrounds the license plate. This rear section is a little different than the US models – I think it looks cleaner because it's more simple. The owner of the Cresta fitted it with a single canister exhaust, which is a newer style exhaust compared to the year of the car, but I like the way it looks alot.

Here's the owner of the Cresta and his girlfriend drifting down the Ebisu Touge! What cracks me up… is the fact that the driver is wearing something that looks like a bike helmet, and the passenger isn't even wearing a helmet! I don't think people in Japan are too worried about safety… I think it's kind of funny, because there's no way you could do something like that at a drift event in the USA!

Damn, look at the wheels up front! These are the old school (first generation) predecessor of the Work Equip 03. In the rear, we have SSR Formula mesh. I don't remember the exact specs on the wheels, but I'm pretty sure they're 14x8J.

The steering wheel (in Japan, they refer to it as a handle) is a standard issue Momo, but check out the digital dash display. Pretty cool!

Here's another peek into the interior of the Cresta, I just snapped it real quick while they were changing the rear tires. As you can see, the inside is all business. No rollcage because it's a street car, but the owner installed a Bride adjustable bucket seat to keep himself in place while drifting. The funny baseball style helmet and driving gloves are sitting right there on the driver seat, and the passenger side, we have an HKS towel.

In the USA, the MX71 Toyota Cressidas have an M-series engine; usually a 5MGE. I've heard of some people having 6MGEs, and others swapping in turbocharged 7MGTEs (from MA70 turbo Supras). However, in Japan, the Crestas are GX71s; therefore, they come with a 1GGTE engine. It's a six cylinder inline turbo engine! Awesome! Visible mods include an HKS intake filter, TRD sparkplug wires, oil filter relocation kit and an Earl's oil cooler. Look closely at the adjustable camber plates – they are mounted so they slide diagonally instead of laterally. The car's owner swapped the sides (left side is mounted on the right strut tower, and vice versa) so that he could adjust the angle of the strut housings towards the back, not just the degrees of camber. Some people do this because they feel it helps the steering input of the car. Hmm, I've never tried it myself though.

I just learned that the Japanese market Cresta has these cool twin-bumper lights flush mounted into the bumper. Man, that's cool! The MX71 Cressidas in the USA don't have those cool lights! Damn, our 5mph US crash bumpers suck.

I'm all about the fatlip Work and SSR wheels! I love it!

Notice anything different about the rear lights? If you look closely, you'll see that the car has LED taillights!!! Right as I was about to say, "damn… Toyota was soo ahead of its time!" I learned that this LED setup was a custom job… each LED was individually placed into the taillight housing. What a pain! I don't think I have the patience to do something like that… but it does look pretty cool in my opinion. Except for the two LEDs on the left side that have burnt out!

Either way, it doesn't matter. I love this car! What do you guys think?

Ebisu Circuit Summer Drift Festival

-Antonio Alvendia