It’s not often that you see two street-driven cars this well presented and tastefully modified. It’s even more uncommon that they originate from the same family garage.

But in this case, where brotherly admiration and excitement for one car has spiraled out of control, you have possibly the two most succinct, and complete pair of hachirokus Australia has seen in years.

Some of you 86 die-hards reading this have choosen to stick with one car and toil away, others are up to the count of ‘several’ chassis of chopping and changing, swapping panels and engines and buying whole projects just for parts and papers.

However, these brothers from Melbourne’s south-east have seen over 10 different AE86s between them since 2002, and have now reached, what they consider, their final ‘masterpiece’ hachiroku builds.

So we thought to ourselves, ‘What inspires dedication this intense? What drives two guys to search endlessly for the perfect AE86?’. So we asked them!

HR: Who are you guys? Where are you from? How old are you both?

My name’s Vu Quach, I run my dad’s small panel shop in Springvale and no we do not deliver tofu (laughs). My brother Van works here as a panel beater too. I’m 28 and he’s 25 and we’re both heavily involved in modifying cars and enjoy motorsport in general as a hobby. Our jobs are never boring because we get to be around cars all day.

Van’s Levin

Vu’s Trueno.

HR: What made you get involved with AE86s?

I’d be lying if I said Initial D wasn’t the first point of interest for me in AE86s. I think most of the AE86 community gets hooked this way. Many nights of research later, the fascination became an obsession. It started rubbing off on Van and he then veered off onto his own ventures. He learned to drift in his first 4AC powered AE86.

HR: Did being brothers with similar interests make things harder or easier with modifying?

It definitely makes it easier. When you grow up in the same household, there’s not many others you can talk to about your interest. We have always been around cars, from Matchbox to scale models, to paddle powered toy cars, to remote controlled cars, then eventually to real cars. It helped that Dad was part of the automotive industry as a spray painter for Nissan.

HR: Sound’s like Dad has some responsibility eh? How many have you owned? When was the first one?

The first AE86 was after I got my licence in 2002. It was also my first ever car, I bought it for $200 off a guy on Toymods. It was a rust bucket that was barely running so I had it towed to my dad’s panel shop. Two weeks later he towed it to the scrapyard… (laughs) . Since then I’ve owned about seven and Van’s owned four.

HR: That’s quite the list! Could you narrow it down to which were your favourites?

Our current ones are the only ones that we’ve completed, so I’d say they’re our favorites (laughs). Although, my second AE86 was a huge project and allowed me to meet many awesome AE86 related people so that’s definitely up there too. It was a 4A-GZE with AJPS coil-overs, 15×9 Work Meisters and so many other mods. So that’s up there too, but it was never completed. Ended up parting it out – one of my biggest regrets.. But even favourites have to sell, so these final cars are up for sale too.

HR: Selling? You gotta be crazy! What made you decide to sell two cars so immaculate? Where does your automotive journey go from here?

Let me start off by saying I love the AE86. It’s definitely ranks as one of the top two cars I’ve owned. Unfortunately I have to get a more suitable car for daily driving, work duties, and eventually family duties. I also want to concentrate on my S15 for time attack. Van is selling for similar reasons, he wants to concentrate on his Type-X drift car. He has a Hilux daily so the AE86 would just sit unappreciated in the garage. It’s time for us to move the AE86s on to owners who will have the time to drive the cars and love them as much as we have. That is important to us.

HR: Wow. We couldn’t agree more. AE86s need driving, not mothballs. Before you do sell it, can you let us know what’s been done to your Trueno?

No problem. It’s originally a 1985 Hatchback (3-Door) Kouki Trueno.

Exterior

Zenki Front Lip

OEM Sideskirts

Ducktail Spoiler

Interior

Bride Brix 1.5 Driver’s Seat

Sony CD Head Unit

Nardi Classic 330mm Steering Wheel

T3 GT Style Gearknob

Checkered Floormats

Safety 21 Half Cage

Defi DIN Gauges

Suspension / Rolling Stock

Bilstein Shocks

AJPS Springs

HSD Coilover Sleeves

AJPS RCAs

Cusco Camber Tops

Unknown Front / Rear Swaybars

Unknown Adjustable Panhard Rod

Cut and Shut Front LCA Mod

RS Watanabe’s 15×8 / 15×8.5

195/50/15 Tyres

Cusco 1.5 LSD

Engine

Big-port / Bluetop 16-Valve 4A-GE

SS Work’s Carby kit

Trust Oil Cooler

Kaizen Garage TRD-copy Extractors

Apexi N1 Catback Exhaust

TRD Sparkplug Leads

TRD Radiator cap

HR: And Van’s Levin?

His car is a 1985 Notchback (2-door) Kouki Levin.

Exterior

Zenki Front Lip

OEM Sideskirts

OEM Boot Lip Letterbox Grille with Foglights

Full respray in Honda Platinum Pearl White

Interior

R33 GT-R Front Seats

Pioneer Head Unit

JL Audio Amplifier

Power Windows

Power Mirrors

OEM Digital Cluster

TRD Gearknob

Checkered Floormats

Defi DIN Gauges

Suspension / Rolling Stock

Cusco Front Coilovers

TRD Rear Shocks / Springs

AJPS Panhard Rod

AJPS RCAs

Polyurethane Bushes

Front / Rear Swaybars

Front / Rear Strut Braces

Rays TE37 14×7

185/55/14 Tyres

TRD 2 Way Diff

Engine

Blacktop 20 Valve 4A-GE

OEM ITBs

Kaizen Garage TRD-Copy Extractors

RSR Catback Exhaust

Kaizen Garage Dizzy Relocation Kit

RS Chita RWD Water Relocation Kit

TRD Spark Plug Leads

Alloy Radiator

HR: Thanks for talking to us guys, good luck with the sale and we hope to hear from you both in the future with two more AE86s you simply “couldn’t resist returning to”.

Van’s Levin is for sale on Carsales. Vu’s Trueno is already sold!

Photo credits go to Vyets. Check out his awesome Flickr profile here.