I’ve got some more Toyota content for y’all! In the previous blog post, I covered my good friend Kou and his 1994 Toyota Supra. This time I’m doing a quick overview of the CM Autohaus Rough World Toyota Corolla AE86! Before we dive right into it, I want to preface this blog post by mentioning that this it not a full-blown, detailed write-up on the Rough World 86. While I’m still in limbo of starting my new job, I had some time to getaway and visit family back in the South Bay, California. I was there for the weekend so it was a short trip where I reconnected with family and a couple friends.

That Friday, I landed in the afternoon and had hopes of meeting Ezekiel Lee, owner of the Rough World 86 and CM Autohaus. I’ve been following Ezekiel for a while and his shop moved to a new location in Santa Clara, CA. They close at 5pm and I made it there with an hour to spare. I went into the office to let them know I was going to be snapping away at the 86 but unluckily, no one was present. I wish I was able to meet Ezekiel and hopefully get a tour of the shop but the universe had other plans for me I guess. Anyways, in the June heat and California sun, I snapped away…

For some context, Rauh-Welt Begriff, RWB, translated from German to English is “Rough World Concept”. For continuity, I’ll be referring to RWB or Rauh-Welt as Rough World. Rough World was a crew of AE86 drifters whom originated in the Ibaraki prefecture in Japan. Additionally, it is Akira Nakai’s drift crew whom drove on the Mt. Tsukuba touge (Source: Dino DC, Motor Trend). If Rough World and Akira Nakai don’t ring a bell, scroll down…

(Photo source: Dino DC, Speed Hunters)

Yeah, the same guy that transforms Porsche’s all around the world used to tune and drift AE86’s in the 90s. This is what interested me in checking out Ezekiel’s Rough World 86. Nakai-san developed the recipe for Rough World styling. It would include stretched tires, wide wheels, and widened aero which, in my opinion, cater to both function and style.

The Rough World 86 is kitted with Run Free aero (front/rear bumper, side skirts, spoiler, front fenders, and rear fender flares). Developed by Yamashita Youichi, alongside Hiroshi Takahashi, Run Free’s purpose is to produce original quality parts for 86 enthusiasts (Source: Antonia Alvendia, Speed Hunters). They are also a part of the legendary 86 drift crew called Running Free from the Kanagawa prefecture in Japan.

Synonymous with Rough World styling is the exposed rivets securing the Run Free spoiler and rear fender flares. This is evident on the current global RWB Porsche lineup as well.

As we work our way back to the front of the Trueno-faced 86, we get to look at the DMax D1 Spec hood in carbon fiber. It’s a good looking hood to go along with the rest of the aggressive feel of the 86.

Under the fenders, Ezekiel is running a set of RS Watanabe’s and stretched tires. Furthermore, the tires are marked with the idlers tire lettering that’s apparent in the Idlers Club races hosted at Tsukuba circuit (Source: Dino DC, Speed Hunters). Peaking behind the famous 8-spoked wheels is the Wilwood Micro BBK caliper with drilled and slotted rotors…

Compared to the smoothed front fenders, the Watanabe’s seem to be a perfect match with the riveted rear fender flares…

CM Autohaus specializes in all 86’s. Their new location is in a commercial side of Santa Clara. There are a handful of other automotive shops ranging from paint, repairs, tints, and more. That explains the modified BMW 7-series strolling by…

At this angle, you can get a gist of how wide the fender flares are. Similar to another Rough World AE86 build, you can see the cutouts made to the rear bumper to help with aerodynamics – specifically drag (Source: Dino DC, Motor Trend). The cut outs look exactly the same as Nojima-san’s Rough World Levin 86 – minus the addition of the star cutout. I’ll insert a picture below for reference… To make sense of the stark similarities between Nojima-san’s 86 and Ezekiel’s 86, Nojima-san is an original member of Rough World and paints Nakai-san’s RWB builds.

(Photo Source: Antonio Alvendia, Speed Hunters)

The rear of the car is my favorite aspect of the Rough World 86. I love how all the body lines flow and are cohesive with the Run Free aero bits.

JCCS stands for “Japanese Classic Car Show”. The name is pretty self-explanatory. In Long Beach, CA, Japanese cars from all eras gather in Southern California. “Kyusha” means “old car” or “vintage car”, according to Google. I also love how parts of an old sticker remained and it says “you aint kawaii.”

Ezekiel attended JCCS 2024 with the Rough World 86 and was awarded with “1st Place AE86” (Source: CMAutoHaus, Instagram).

It wouldn’t be a Rough World car without the “RWB” lettering on the spoiler. Aside from that, the taillights are the OEM redline kouki tailights.

That’s all I got on Ezekiel’s Rough World 86. One day, it would be nice to get a much more in-depth overview on the 86 but this will suffice. I still hope to meet Ezekiel and get a tour of his shop at the Santa Clara location.

Being back in California reminded me of how rich car culture is. It is always something I appreciated about car enthusiasts on the West Coast. There’s no excuse to not have a dope ride to cruise or zip around in all year round. I mean, imagine cruising along the Pacific coast with a classic Corvette. This was taken as I was driving by in my pop’s Corolla by the way. It was a shop situated on a corner that specialized in retro/vintage ‘Vettes.

Here’s the Corolla I drove around when I was in town. It’s a 1991 Toyota Corolla GTS AE92. It’s not as famous as the AE86 but I’m sure it’s close to being as fun of a car its predecessor is. This is the second AE92 we had in my father’s side of the family. His brother used to own one in the early 2000s. It had a Yakima bike rack, ~ 1-inch drop, aftermarket wheels, and a muffler. This one belonged to my cousin who bought it in either San Francisco or Daly City. He didn’t have much plans for it so he gifted it to us lol.

It was in worse shape than how it currently looks and feels right now. There was a poorly welded tow-hook on the rear. LED lights powered by a cigarette lighter illuminated the dashboard because the dashboard/tachometer lights didn’t work. It had a weird bogging issue. In the engine bay, plastic hardware was missing and was replaced by a TON of zip-ties. It would also pop out of 5th gear if you didn’t have your hand on the shifter and lightly tapped the gas pedal…

With more than 228,XXX miles on the odometer – don’t know if it’s accurate – the transverse mounted 4AGE is still running strong. Did I mention that this Corolla has a 4AGE? Did I also mention that it’s FWD? Yeah… Sure it’s not the exact same drivetrain as it’s older sibling, the AE86, but it’s still a fun car! The engine revs up to about 7200 RPM – if I remember correctly – and getting up to the higher ranges is intoxicating and rewarding.

Out of all the cars in our fleet, this one is the most obnoxious and fun to drive. It’s the “slow car you can drive fast” car. The AE92 also gets bonus points because my wife has fun sitting in the passenger seat haha. It’s been a reliable car for it being 30 years old. My dad recently did the timing belt and water pump on it and she still gets going. My friend Kou and I were discussing that “Toyota doesn’t make fast cars but they do make reliable ones”.

As you would expect from a 90s car, there’s no gimmicks to this sh*t. It’s all mechanical and there’s no fancy electronics that enthusiast-level cars have today – to some extent. The dash cover hides the cracked dashboard. It is ironic in a sense that I visited in June and the embroidered lettering spells out “Jun-Jun”. I also think that the previous owner of that dash cover was Filipino…

I will add that the divorced shoulder belt (attached to the door) and lap belt was a gimmick lol. The automatic seatbelt design prevalent in the late 80s and early 90s, made its way onto the AE92. It’s not automatic like it was in the 80s Toyota Cressida my mom used to own. Having to unbuckle 2 seat belt latches that don’t follow traditional unbuckling methods gets a bit annoying. They’re obsolete at this point and I’m glad car manufacturers have strayed away from this seat belt design.

I hope y’all enjoyed this snapshot of my weekend in my hometown. It’s nice every once in a while to see what’s changed in the town I grew up in. There’s a constant battle between preservation and growth (or gentrification – however you view it) when you look at the sociology of it. However, things that do stay constant are the love and the passion we have for cars. You’ve seen 2 Corollas of different generations built for different purposes; one is extensively modified with Japanese tuning for company outings at the track and the other is meticulously maintained for fun, daily driving. In essence, they literally have the same hearts, yet different souls.

Thanks again for reading! Please follow me on my social media pages to stay up-to-date. Other than that, JVZY out! Peace!