3 min read

Tom’s T082

Car of the Day #325: 1995 Tom’s T082 – Boys be ambitious!
Tom’s T082
1995 Tom’s T082 publicity image. • Tom’s

Before all the cool kids-at-heart helped Gazoo become a commonly known brand within car enthusiast culture, we — millennials — had the tuning companies in Gran Turismo. One of which is Tom’s.

Here, the recipe is quite compelling, to a complete nerd such as myself: a front-drive 1995 Toyota Starlet (EP82) economy car, treated to a spa day at Tom’s, with a catalogue’s worth of performance parts. Mmmm.


Official Tom’s T082 pamphlet. I’ve broken this up by section (below) • Tom’s
Blue: Engine; Red: Exterior; Yellow: Chassis; Green: Interior • Tom’s

“Dress up tools insists its personality. A little giant.”
- Tom’s

Possibly the only reason I love this damn thing?

The image for the cover of the brochure — that I don’t believe has been doctored in any way:

Tom’s T082 brochure cover. • Tom’s

Now, I hope you’re wondering:

Was it featured on Hot Version, and driven by Keiichi Tsuchiya?

You bet:

In the challenge, the car was beaten by an I.MEC-tuned Toyota Trueno (AE111), though seeing the two in action, the Tom’s looked quite tenacious for a front-drive performance hatch. 

It also had the benefit from a comedy adjustable rear wing / spoiler, which of the two may depend on how adjusted its angle of attack is. 

Mercifully, I don’t know how many Tom’s made, how many still exist or what you’d do to locate a T082 for yourself — feel free to tag me on social media (or reply to this email newsletter, as you’ve seen this first) if and when you’ve found one. 

Note: I can’t offer money to actually ship one over to ol’ Canada, only admiration for finding one of my personal favourite hatchbacks from this era. (And I might add link(s) to this story as we go!)

Source: Image(s) via Tom’s on X; Tom’s on Facebook. Tachi Oiwa Motor Sport Club on Facebook.

This post is for subscribers only