I'd like to think I'm an eclectic guy with an oddly-wide palate for cars, but Eddie Melkumian of Everett, Washington may just have one upped me. Three years ago when I first saw his 1973 Toyota Mark II wagon I nearly pooped in my pants. I had my '87 Cressida at the time and was daydreaming of a 2JZ swap and being bagged. At the time Eddie had already done a 1JZ swap, bags and to an older, more rare Toyota. Photo 2/15 | 1973 Toyota Mark II Wagon - Nightmare On Wheels - Back In The Day

For Eddie this whole automotive obsession started at the early age of 9, when he traded his Yamaha moped for a '76 Chevette. Tinkering and ruining that car sparked his interest in not just cars, but engineering as a whole. By 14-years old he had already picked up and read many engineering books hoping to someday go to engineering school. Working on cars was all he ever did in his childhood. Before leaving his teens, Eddie had already owned over 50 cars, at different times. His first Mark II wagon (not this one) was purchased when he was 16-years old. Photo 3/15 | 1973 Toyota Mark II Wagon - Nightmare On Wheels - Back In The Day

"I just love the body lines and the way they look," Eddie says. He took that '73 Mark II and dropped in a turbo 7M-GTE swap from a MA60 Supra.

Now in his early adult life, Eddie has easily owned over a hundred cars. Everything you can think of he's owned. Mainly imports like a few Crowns, Crown pickups, Celicas of every generation, ten AE86s, five S13s, a few S14s and probably 70% of the Mark IIs that are still alive in the country have been owned by this guy at one point. Just about every Toyota model from the '60s to '80s he's owned. Photo 4/15 | 1973 Toyota Mark II Wagon - Nightmare On Wheels - Back In The Day

"I just prefer the Toyota engineering to others. The downfall is Toyota owners are more into restoration, whereas the Datsun owners have more of a performance approach to their cars."

Now having just turned 23-years old, with a degree in engineering, Eddie works as an aerospace mechanic and has also started his own fabrication shop, Old Series Garage, where he does engine swaps, welding and restoration. He's done 7M swaps, JZ swaps, 4AG swaps, just about everything you can think to a Toyota. Currently he owns an astonishing 24 cars (This must be a Toyota record! -CT). To name a few in his collection - a JDM RHD '71 Celica coupe, an '85 Celica GT-S coupe missle, two other Mark II wagons, a Beams swapped '71 Celica, a track-car project '71 Celica that will be the sickest drift machine stateside when it's done and a bagged '02 Lexus LS430 for daily comfort.

This orange nightmare on roids, comes from his interest in everything from raised trucks, to lowriders, to rat rods, to drift cars, to everything in between that has wheels. Photo 8/15 | 1973 Toyota Mark II Wagon - Nightmare On Wheels - Back In The Day

"I wanted to do something the US has never seen. The idea was mix a couple styles together to make a unique car. I wanted something that looked unreal, accelerated like a Supra and looked like it was dragged out of a field."

Originally the Mark II wagon came with a solid rear axle. But wanting some demon negative camber Eddie converted it to independent rear suspension, taken from a MA60 Supra. A jig had to be made to hold the wagon straight while the surgery was done. Afterwards, several precautions were taken to reinforcing the unibody for the conversion. All of this was done with a lot of planning in order to keep the factory floor and all interior panels factory-looking. Eddie is an absolute Toyota nut and likes some things original-looking.

"If you think you can jump into a custom project like this and expect to have it done in a couple of weeks, you're out of your mind. It's important to remember that you cannot buy any aftermarket parts for this car. There is no such thing as 'bolt-on' in the custom world. I ran into a million problems starting with the rewiring the whole car, to reengineering the suspension geometry. But my biggest problem by far is cops. I can't figure out if they love it or hate it but I get pulled over every time I drive it."

After all of that, he decided to install air bags so he can completely lay the car out. He claims, "I can get it so low, that the pinch welds on the rockers are completely ground down from scraping". Photo 12/15 | 1973 Toyota Mark II Wagon - Nightmare On Wheels - Back In The Day

Chatting with Eddie, he told me about how the '73 Mark II is not a Corona, how it's Toyota's first X-chassis that led to the Cressida, Chaser, Cresta, and later Mark II cars, and how this particular year is the only year to look like this. In '74 Toyota made a refresh and everything started to change. There was a lot more info in the conversation but my ears, mind and pen were having sensory overload and I just couldn't catch everything. Basically, he put it best with "I know so much about cars and Toyotas that my head hurts".