Someone call Domenic Toretto, as this Toyota Supra has officially turned a Fast and Furious movie trope on its head.
More than you can afford, pal… Ferrari!
The iconic quote from the 2001 movie The Fast and The Furious, in a scene that sees the famous orange Toyota Supra driven by actor Paul Walker, face off against a smarmy owner of a Ferrari F355 Spider, has been flipped around.
When sold new in the USA, the 1996 F355 Spider sold for $US137,075 ($A212,300) before options. This made it over three-times the new price of the equivalent Toyota Supra, which sold for approximately $US40,000 ($A62,000).
Time changes things however, and while you can now pick up a low milage F355 Spider for around $US95,000 ($A147,000), roughly 70 per cent of its new price, the Toyota has gone the other way.
A 1994 Toyota Supra Aerotop was sold by online auction platform Bring a Trailer this past week for a staggering $US142,000 ($A220,000), some 350 per cent of its purchase price.
The red example, with 37,000 miles (60,000km) on the odometer, features the famous 2JZ-GTE twin-turbo 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder engine and is paired with a six-speed manual transmission, a combination only available on North-American targa-top (Aerotop) models.
The Toyota, unmodified from its factory specification, is a perfect time-capsule example of the fourth-generation M80 Supra, which was produced between 1993 and 2002.
Japanese-market cars (many of which have been imported to Australia) ‘officially’ delivered 206kW from the 2JZ-motor, where different emissions and marketing rules enabled North-American vehicles to quote 239kW output. European cars had even more, with 243kW output, or an additional 18 per cent, over the Japanese figure.
Conversely, the Ferrari F355 Spider offered 280kW from its 3.5-litre V8, and with less weight than the Supra (1350kg vs 1570kg) does offer a higher power-to-weight ratio in standard trim.
The price paid for the red Supra is not the highest either. According to sales aggregator Classic.com, the most paid for a standard M80 Toyota Supra was $US232,000 ($A360,000) for a black example with 13,000 miles (20,000km) on the clock in September 2022.
Paying proper tribute to the M80 Supra’s role in The Fast and The Furious movie, however, saw a screen-used example of the modified orange Supra crossing the Barrett-Jackson auction block in June 2021 for a record $US550,000 ($A850k).
This is still more than the highest recently recorded sale of a Ferrari F355 GTS (Targa), which was sold for $US307k ($A475k) in 2023.
With over 20 years of experience in digital publishing, James Ward has worked within the automotive landscape since 2007 and brings experience from the publishing, manufacturer and lifestyle side of the industry together to spearhead Drive's multi-media content direction.
