I can remember playing Gran Turismo on an ancient Sony Playstation back in the day, and seeing the Japanese-market version of the third-generation Supra pop up in the vehicle menu. Called the Soarer, it seemed so exotic and special; my young mind didn’t realize we had the exact same car available to buy within the U.S. market. The Supra has consistently been ignored by enthusiasts as a legitimate collector car, but that translates to it being an affordable entry into grand touring car ownership. Find this clean and stock 1987 Supra Turbo listed here on craigslist with seemingly-beautiful original paint. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Rocco B. for the find.
The Supra has consistently been an in-between car. It’s not a raw sports car, but it’s sporty enough to not simply be labeled as a heavy GT. But it was heavier than the makes and models considered raw and athletic, which led to it being pigeonholed as a vehicle that would never achieve the ranks of the Acura NSX or Mazda RX-7. The turbocharged varieties like this car were respectively quick, but with so many equipped with an automatic transmission, the sensation of speed was undoubtedly blunted. The maroon cloth interior was a Toyota staple back in the day, and this Supra’s cabin is holding up well.
When it comes to owning a vintage vehicle of any sort, you have to take the good with the bad. For many of us, the good is a combination of the driving experience with the potential for the car to hold, or even increase, its value. The fourth generation Toyota Supra has certainly done that, with its gorgeous, swoopy body being the catalyst for many young men to pony up six figures for low mileage, turbocharged survivors. The third generation model with the same credentials never gets the same sort of love, hence why you can buy a nice example like this one for $14,000.
Under the hood of the Supra Turbo is a 3.0L DOHC intercooled and turbocharged inline-6, good for 230 b.h.p. and 246 lb.-ft. of torque. The 7M-GTE is generally reliable, although they do occasionally have a tendency to eat head gaskets. The seller reports that this Supra runs well, but doesn’t provide any specifics on maintenance history or recent improvements. The engine bay looks clean and stock, and certainly the general appearance of the car inspires confidence. Still, you don’t want to go down the rabbit hole of old-school sports car maintenance without some assurance that the heavy lifting has been done. Do you think this Supra Turbo is worth the asking price?
This is a really nice Supra that looks to have been well cared for and still in stock form which is almost impossible to find. A five speed would have been nice but as nice as this car is I would be just fine with the automatic. Someone is going to get a nice car the seller should have no trouble getting his price just try finding another Supra Turbo this nice the turbo brings a premium.
Is it an interference motor?
Turbos and automatics work well together. Awesome Grand Touring car in this setup. Or in heavy traffic 😉
Buddy had a 5sp model, took me for a rip, he was an excellent driver and really wound out the car, felt every bit as fast as our 89′ LX 5.0 to me.
I used to work at the Toyota Mazda store across the street from the Ford store I worked at, at the time. While working at Toyota I got a reputation for liking fast cars. And every now and then the sales manager who I was still friends with. Would bring me the latest MR2 or RX7 to drive. One day he came into the Ford store looking for me. Hey Wayne, we just got this turbo Supra manual transmission in. You need to take this for a drive!. Cool let’s go. It was nice and tight and mildly spunky but when we came back I took him for a ride in a new Mustang GT. I didn’t think that these were that fast! He never brought me another car to drive after that.
No doubt Wayne… like I said the Supra owner was a tremendous driver and rang out that Supra bigtime. The Ford 302 tq down low made them feel very quick, excellent throttle response and jump off the line, even w those tall factory gears.
Nice cars. Just be prepared to do the metal head gasket and ARP studs if this has not yet been done.
A brother in law bought one brand new, less the turbo .. However, it had the manual trans!
A blast to drive, sure footed, flat cornering & pretty fast!
I had a 89 Fox body manual at the time..we went head to head at times & for fox body owners, we all know about the wheel hop issues…it was usually a pretty even match…except through the esses…my mustang loved to step out in hard cornering where his Supra was on rails!
Nice analog car.
What tough is it is on cl….might be a fake and if you have no way to prove its real, then its a pass.
?? Well, any vehicle for sale could be a “fake” if you can’t prove it’s real. lol
I had one of these in the early 2000s. Same color, turbo, grey interior. Bought it off the side of the road at $2K, sold it a few years later for $3K. It ran like a champ, and was more of a thrill than my new 2004 Corvette. But the parts – OY!! Solid gold, apparently.
That’s the reason I don’t recommend Toyotas anymore. (Same reason about Honda) Plus, Toyota and Honda are no longer superior in build quality. They both have dropped a bit in quality and everyone else has caught up and in some cases surpassed those two. But they both price their parts more aggressively than BMW, Porsche and Mercedes. I have had several Hondas (had a killer Civic autocross car) and Toyotas (still have my FJ40 after 43 years) but those two manufacturers have priced me away from their products.
Nice condition and it has tems, but where’s the fan shroud? As SirRaoulDuke said, be aware that the head gasket if not done, will need to be and it’s not cheap. I had a N/A 5 spd. but never felt it was a quick car at all. It’s heavy, IMHO $14k is a bit of an overreach.
I am the original owner of an 89 Supra, 5 spd, Dark Blue, but no turbo. 35,000 miles. Thought these would sell for more than $14,000. But I did not see how many miles this one had on it.
Honest , I had an 86.5 N/A 5spd with leather and tems that had 120k. I couldn’t give it away. Not kidding. I’m sure yours is a lot nicer but I found very little interest in the car. This was some years ago but nevertheless I was surprised how anyone who had any interest only wanted the turbo version.
A/C would have to work at this price . Who knows you could be going down a ” rabbit hole ” trying to get it fixed . Also would have to see if a punky teenager has put a BIG muffler on it, before buying
These cars use R12 which you can’t really buy any more. Convert to r134a I guess but that won’t be cheap. I’ve mixed them in my supra but you really shouldn’t so I would say no a/c is a big red flag at $14k.
I used to work at the Toyota Mazda store across the street from the Ford store I worked at, at the time. While working at Toyota I got a reputation for liking fast cars. And every now and then the sales manager who I was still friends with. Would bring me the latest MR2 or RX7 to drive. One day he came into the Ford store looking for me. Hey Wayne, we just got this turbo Supra manual transmission in. You need to take this for a drive!. Cool let’s go. It was nice and tight and mildly spunky but when we came back I took him for a ride in a new Mustang GT. I didn’t think that these were that fast! He never brought me another car to drive after that.
Beautiful car, and a Turbo. don’t find many stock ones that aren’t beat up.
A great buy at this price! They are pretty rare to find in good condition!!
I hate to be a manual elitist, but the slushbox ruins this car, IMO.
Love the car, hate the automatic trans! These were meant to be shifted (at least for me).This was that era of super Toyota quality. I still have three cars of that decade!
I agree with the quality comment. I believe that this and the original Tercel wagon marked the end of Toyota quality domination. But, Toyota corporate still thinks that their vehicles are special/gold. So they screw the daylights out of you for replacement parts which fail more often than they used to. Just like Michelin tires. You pay extra for name on the box/sidewall but rarely receive the difference back in quality service. (With Michelin you have to drive 30k per year to actually come out even on the price differential.,)