Toyota GT 86 Speedster: Massive Spoiler + Remove Roof = Win

Even when Toyota first set about designing the GT 86, they foresaw the unprecedented clamor from tuners to make their mark on the eagerly anticipated coupe. Hence, in Japan, for a whopping £10k less than the UK’s pretty well specced version, you can by a “blank canvas” RC spec’ GT 86 with steel wheels, no airbags and a huge hole in the dashboard where the air-con and stereo should be. There aren’t even any speakers. Further still, the bumpers, wing mirrors and door handles make do with only a coat of primer. Yikes.

Californian coach-builder Cartel Customs (say that five times quickly...) has taken Toyota’s encouragement to heart, by going quite literally “above and beyond” what anyone might have expected. They chopped the roof off.

Rumours of a convertible version of the GT 86 have been circulating nearly as long as the car itself, but even when, or if it does emerge, I wouldn’t count on it looking anywhere near as awesome.

But the removal of the roof wasn’t the only modification Cartel made to the GT 86's American cousin, the Scion FR-S. The windscreen and side windows have been chopped down and swept back, the rear seats have been chucked away in favour of a classic double-bubble rear deck, and a carbon fiber spoiler of epic proportions has been added to give the car a more wind-swept, aerodynamic look.

Add to this a set of tasty red-rimmed 18in alloys and a two-tone custom paint job, and you’ve got a car that looks more like a Hot Wheels toy than a dedicated track weapon.

Inside (wait, there’s no roof - is this classified as an interior?) you’ll find swathes of bright red leather coating virtually every surface. The instrument binnacle now sits in the middle of the cabin, a la BMW Z8 (and erm, Renault Espace), and the air-con controls have been thrown away to make room for purposeful-looking ignition and fire extinguisher switches.

Cartel haven’t said what if any performance mods they’ve added to the standard 2.0-litre, 197bhp boxer engine. However, all that weight saved by chopping the roof off, along with upgraded suspension components, a new clutch, bigger brakes and a new exhaust system means the Speedster will almost certainly go and handle better than its plain-Jane donor.

Shame it’ll never see production. Probably.