The Toyota Supra disease
From Mod Mania
Supra Forums.com.au
It is not uncommon for car cultures to be formed around exotic’s like Ferrari and Lamborghini, it is however far more rare when surrounded by a mere Toyota. The Toyota Supra never really shot to fame in the early 90’s when it was introduced, deemed too expensive it was priced to compete with Porsche and Lotus, failing miserably to offer the performance or prestige that was expected at the price. Where the biggest problem was that it didn’t capture the attention of its targeted audience, the upper middle class sports car driver, where it was more popular however were regular Toyota drivers, people that couldn’t afford these cars, until they hit the second hand car market. Whereas paying over $100,000 for a Toyota sounded preposterous, no matter how fast, paying $30,000 was much more digestible. What struck the cord with owners though was the ease and cost effectiveness of modifications. Within a few years the Toyota Supra was better known as a ‘Tuner’, proving a hit in the street racer scene, soon starring in films like ‘The Fast and the Furious’. Now, in Australia, one of the biggest and most active online forums is based around this not so humble Toyota, SupraForums.com
With prices of the Toyota Supra diving in recent years the owner base has varied widely, with higher mileage non-turbo cars being snapped up by a much younger crowd, whilst the more serious high performance turbo cars keeping an older demographic. The Forums are privately run through enthusiasts not Toyota which keeps the content both unpredictable and lively with members given ranks depending on how long the have been a member and the amount of posts and responses made. This allows users to identify how long the other supraforum.com.au member has been on the site as well as a rough determination of their experience and knowledge. Although it is not compulsory to actually own a Toyota Supra to become a member, most users do and so forth post pictures and other information of their own car. With Supra modifications being so widespread each Supra usually is unique from the others keeping the forums varied.
The actual point of the forums is to keep the Supra loving community in touch, with members doing everything from just chatting about specific upgrades and parts to the sale of parts and even whole cars. The ability to join without actually owning a supra makes it available to those who want to buy one to get it from a source inside the supra community. Occasionally disagreements to arise, but due to the sheer size of the forums it can be easily deleted or covered over. This happened in one occasion when a member strongly criticized various members cars, saying that they were untasteful and what not in a not quite so subtle way which was dealt with by due harassment from other members. This shut him up and kept the system friendly.
The community isn’t exclusively online however, with ‘Suprameets’ that happen exclusively with supraforums members as well as meets in conjunction with other forums and groups based around the street tuner scene. These are usually based around ‘Cruises’ which many of the members drive their own cars around a designated route. As most of the forum members own other cars, which they use on a more consistent basis, this is a time where members can drive, chat and have a nice day out with their Toyota Supra. Another meet option is the forum organised track day. Tapping into the increasingly popular track day scene, this is an event where a racing track, like Sandown International Raceway for example, is leased for the day and the forum members can drive their cars to the limit. As it is a sports car forum this is something that interests most of the forum users. The way these events are funded is by a fee paid by the forum members, which also includes mandatory helmet hire and insurance. These events are also run at drag racing strips.
Having observed the habits of a senior member, I found that it was not only visited daily but his computer home page too. The member is 19 and owns a 1993 Supra SZ Manual, Non-Turbo. He first joined the club at 17 before he actually owned this car, meeting the owner of the car he now owns. He researched not so much the health and condition of his car, more the options of modifications and such. When purchased his car was mechanically JDM (Japanese domestic market) as it was a grey import. Visually the car had an aftermarket front bumper, wheels and side skirts which through the forums he sold and replaced with standard parts. Then having kept in touch with the previous owner of his car purchased other parts from him including a different front lip, exhaust
Thanks to movies and magazines this car has opened one of the most lively specific car model communities in Australia, below are some screen shots of various components of the website www.supraforums.com.au
