Jewel Green Targa: 1996 Toyota Supra Turbo

These days, there’s no denying the fourth-generation Toyota Supra Turbo has become a pillar of the 1990s collector car community. It was a significant vehicle when new, producing outrageous performance that bested most of its competition. The styling was like nothing else on the road. The car was impressive whether you purchased it with sequential twin turbos or not. And these days, both the manual and automatic versions are quite sought after, owing to fairly limited production. The A80 car shown here on eBay wears attractive (and rare) “Deep Jewel Green Pearl” paint and is an automatic twin-turbo example.

The seller is asking $89,990 or best offer. That’s generally the going rate for these cars, and certainly even more for the manual twin turbos. The Supra was already known for being a highly respected grand tourer, and had erased almost all reminders that it began life as a very humble and quite tepid offering in the early days of Toyota’s “sporty” lineup. The A40/A50 Celica Supra was a decent package, providing a standard inline-six powerplant, but quick, it was not. This improved over time, with the Supra gaining more personality and power, and the third generation was the first to bolt a turbo to the inline-six engine.

When this A80 era arrived, it planted a new flag on the performance car landscape. The turbocharged Supra was quicker than the Porsche 928GT, the Acura NSX, and the Dodge Stealth R/T Twin-Turbo – all of those needed over 5 seconds to reach 60. The twin-turbo Supra with a stick could do it in a little over 4.5 seconds. The styling was also mesmerizing, looking like a legitimate supercar yet costing no where near as much as the likes of a Porsche 959. Even the naturally-aspirated Supra was a respectable performer, coming to the table with a healthy 220 horsepower, an engine it shared with the Lexus SC300.

Prices for the MKIV Supra Turbo run quite a range. An automatic car like this one will typically sell in the high 60s up through the low 80s for a truly pristine examples. Manual cars can easily clear $100,000 if the miles are low and there are no modifications. This car is clean with a rare paint scheme and the targa roof, which is a subjective matter in terms of its desirability. Mileage on this car is closing in on 94,000, so it’s no spring chicken. The $90,000 ask is quite ambitious, in my opinion, for an automatic car with some miles, but the paint alone may compel someone to make a compelling offer.