Yesterday McTaggart ran a press release about a crazy SEMA car that Toyota had built to display at the show. When I first saw the release, my head about spun around because I have been zipping all over the show and had not seen the car. I then realized that because the car was in the Toyota booth, I had not walked by to see it yet. As you can imagine, the Toyota booth isn’t exactly the first place we run at SEMA…this year it should have been. We don’t know who was on the crazy pills at TRD headquarters but whoever green lit this build, which features a ton of Chris Alston’s Chassisworks components deserves a raise and to have their bust forever displayed at the office because this car is one of the neatest things we have not only seen at this SEMA but at any car show ever. The engine is a supercharged Tundra mill that wears a Magnuson supercharger, the body is 100% production stock. All four doors open and when it is down, this just looks like a Camry that someone jammed some fat wheels and tires on. Wrong.
The single seater tube chassis has the driver sitting on the left side (the car is not center steer). The interior area is trimmed out nicely in sheetmetal and the gated shifter like you’d find in any new car juts up from its position in the vicinity of where the factory center console would be. The rear axle looks like a big Tundra piece that has been narrowed down some, there’s coil over shocks out back, an anti-roll bar, and if you can believe it, the Camry has a cool set of headers that dump out at the front fenders unless the exhaust cutouts are closed in which case it flows the spent gasses all the way down to the factory exhaust outlets in the rear of the car.
We do not believe that Toyota has run the car yet but we sure hope that they turn some tires in anger here just to get some numbers. It isn’t going to be an 8-second whip but the supercharged and nitrous injected V8 should make enough power to hustle it down to the deep nine second zone. We’re going to catch up with the Chris Alston’s Chassisworks guys today to get the depth of their involvement in the project so until then, check out the photos below and simply drink in the awesome. Also consider how cool a production bodied funny car class would be!
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE ALL OF OUR PHOTOS FROM THE SEMA SHOW FLOOR FEATURING THE WILD SUPERCHARGED V8 POWERED FLIP TOP CAMRY –
What…no child seat?
One of the coolest things I’ve seen in a long time. Sleeper funny car and a front-wheel-drive dominated company that builds boring (not bold) cars did it. How good is that. If the cage was painted a neutral color it would blend in and most folks would just think its a Camry with big wheels and lowering springs. Brilliant. Now they need to go build some RWD sedans on the production line.
I have to say that is the coolest Toyo their own company came up with short of the V8, rear drive street Camry they had in 2010 as part of their Nascar display.
…. and once again Toyota kicks the Big Three’s ***es three ways sideways and upside down …. beating them at yet another game they invented in the process .
When will the Big Three ever learn ? From all observations of late … probably never . Which in truth is why the Big Three in reality is the Not So Big Three at all anymore .
Not sure I understand…What are they beating the Big 3 at? Their trucks can’t keep up (or sell). The Camry is just a so-so car, coat-tailing on Camrys from the distant past that were actually good (and fooling many in the process). Not anything better than an Impala or Fusion. Are you talking Nascar? I don’t keep up with that junk, but the only thing Toyota about that is the body and sponsorship money. And this car, while neat, has obviously been built by a chassis shop, and they dropped some tundra engine/tranny/rear in it and a Camry body. I doubt Toyota really ever had their hands on it. They probably talked to a shop, and the shop said “Hey, it would be funny to drop a Camry body onto one of our chassis.” And Toyota said, “Don’t know what that means, but here’s a spare pile of parts to use.” I’d be surprised if the engine had more than a 50-shot on it. Maybe it can run 11’s. Yank yank. Neat though, for whoever actually built it.
Yes, who ever came up with the project and who ever green lighted it should be immortalized as statues in Toyo HQ.
Dumbest thing I have ever seen. The only thing cool about this buid are the headers. The only cool car Toyota made was the last RWD Celica.
Why do they call it a T(u)RD?
More stupidity from the
Coloradokid….
this guy’s
A REAL DANDY *****
Wile E. Coyote should spread bird seed inside the Camry, tie a trip wire to the support pole and wait for the Roadrunner. That steel body crashing down WILL yield bird jerky. BEEP BEEP!
Love it! All of them should build a car like this and NHRA should make a class for them. Open it to all mfg’s too. I bet it would help sell cars too.
L.O.L.
If GM was creative enough to do this we would be reading heaps of praise for how “bad as” it is.
If GM was creative enough to do this we would be reading heaps of praise for how “bad ass” it is.
That thing has to deliver obscenely fast passes to gain any credibility…
This has been an idea I have had to build a drag week car. Just build a bad ass drag chassis and have a body that sits on top. Remove the body race and repeat.