With the butterfly doors open, it’s impossible to mistake a Toyota Sera for any other car. With the doors closed, it looks like almost any other 1990s jellybean car. It’s like Clark Kent turning into Superman. Well ok, that’s a bit of a stretch with only 100 horsepower. This 1994 Toyota Sera is posted here on craigslist in gorgeous Olympia, Washington and the seller is asking $12,250 for it.
I have never driven a car with butterfly doors or gullwing doors, for that matter. Butterfly doors are a bit different in that they tilt out a bit as they’re opened up rather than scissors doors that just open straight up. And, we all know what gullwing doors look like, which makes my forehead crinkle to hear the seller referring to this car as a Japanese DeLorean. I know that the seller didn’t come up with that term, but the doors aren’t even remotely similar.
I think the Sera is a really interesting car, I’m glad that Toyota took a chance on this crazy door feature otherwise it would have just been another car that was similar to almost every other car from that era. They were made for a space alien’s handful of years (six) starting in early-1990 until 1995. This is a phase III car, as in those made from June of 1992 until the end of production in December of 1995.
See what I mean about them being almost unnoticeable without the doors open? Pull into any parking spot at your neighborhood Target store and nobody will even notice you until you open the door, and then!… they’ll look down at their phones again and go about their business. Ok, maybe you want to try for a gas station stop or a car show in order to get people to crowd around it.
Being Japanese market cars, they had right-hand-drive as you’d expect and not many came with manual transmissions, or they rarely come up for sale. Most of them came with a Toyota A242L four-speed automatic which isn’t the end of the world. They were all three-door hatchback coupes and here’s the storage space under the hatchback. Rear seat passengers had better have sunglasses and maybe even hats on, it’ll get sunny and warm back there under all of that glass.
The engine should be Toyota’s 5E-FHE which is a 1.9L inline-four with around 100 horsepower. A manual transmission would help to make it fun to drive but the real fun is in opening those doors and seeing the reactions. Have any of you owned a car with butterfly/scissor/gullwing doors?
Nice color. (Seems like these are usually metallic celery.) And nicer interior than the typical all gray. The upgrade sound system described, not optioned here, was very cool w/ spherical tweeters mounted dashtop. Probably ideally located regionally given the glass area. Maybe all it needs is period correct wheel upgrade.
More like Japanese Economy McLaren. Still cool AF tho’, even if it does drive like a Tercel.
I sure wish I had the lunch money and this would be mine! It’s a great color , great shape in and out, and a very good example of the bean shape era. Minilight style wheels would work well I think.
This is what happens when you let the Metro and the P1 play in the backyard unsupervised
Very cool, posted a week ago, CA legal?
All you need to see are those ugly wheel covers and you know it’s Japanese.
I have one, in AZ. the metallic celery color as they put it haha. Love it, coolest little car that everyone loves no matter where I go.
btw. The DMC has gullwing doors, not butterfly (seller) the McLaren F1 has butterfly doors because of this little car…. look up the story, its great!