Only 20 “Amlux” limited edition Toyota “Sera” cars existed

The “Sera” released by Toyota at the end of the bubble economy period featured glass-top butterfly doors like a supercar despite being a mass-market car, and the official catalog of the time emphasized its “gull-wing” design. It was a model that radiated a future-inspired, one-of-a-kind personality. Mr. Mizuguchi, who has loved the Serra for many years and has driven approximately 30 of them, spent 10 years restoring the limited edition “AMLUX” car in Ikebukuro, which few people know about today, and recently finally completed it. Here is the full story of the fantastic Sera.

A “variant” was sent out by Toyota during the bubble era

The Nissan R32 “Skyline GT-R” and Z32 “Fairlady Z”, Honda “NSX” and “Beat”, Mazda “Eunos Roadster” and “Anfini RX-7”, Mitsubishi “GTO” and Suzuki “Cappuccino” ……. 1980s The list of domestic cars that debuted from the late 1980s to the early 1990s is lined with sports cars and high-performance GTs that are still highly popular and well-known today. During this bubble period, boosted by the economic boom, domestic cars were entering their vintage years in terms of both quality and quantity.

At a time when many manufacturers were releasing ambitious new models one after another, of course, it was not only sports cars and high-performance GTs that were the talk of the town. The giant of the industry, Toyota, with its luxurious GT, the second generation “Soarer” as its image leader, created an unshakable “Hi-So Car Empire” with the “Mark II Three Brothers” and was competing for supremacy with the Germans, including Mercedes, Audi, and BMW. One of the “changeable” cars that Toyota introduced during this period was the Toyota “Sera”.

To briefly describe the Serra’s origins, it was “a youthfully designed coupe with “gull-wing” doors, which was unique in its class and was tailored using components from the Starlet, Toyota’s popular car at the lower end of the market. Or something like that.

A junior high school student at the time of his debut, he stocked up on genuine parts with his pocket money

A prototype was exhibited at the 27th Tokyo Motor Show in 1987 under the name “AVX-II,” and the Serra went on sale in 1990. As Toyota itself called it a “New Life Concept Vehicle,” it was not a sports car or a hardcore GT, but rather a small promenade car to enjoy the buzz and unexpectedness of its design and atmosphere, with gull-wing doors for this class. In a sense, it is a car of a genre that could only have been produced in Japan at this time. The owner of this Toyota Sera, Ms. Yuki Mizuguchi, has been completely absorbed in this one-of-a-kind Toyota Sera since her boyhood.

“I was still in junior high school when the Serra debuted, and I was shocked by its appearance. I have loved Sera ever since.”

Mizuguchi says, “It is not unusual for us car enthusiasts to continue to love a car that made a strong impression on us in our youth.

“Of course, being in junior high school, I didn’t have a license and couldn’t buy an actual car, so I saved up my allowance and went to the dealer and bought all the genuine Serra parts I could afford. So by the time I got my license, I had quite a few parts in stock.

Of course, the first car Mr. Mizuguchi bought after getting his license at the age of 18 was a Sera. Since then, he has driven several Serras.

Special edition car planned by Amlux in Ikebukuro

“I’ve tried turbocharging the engine, customizing here and there, and I’ve driven a total of about 30 Serras. I couldn’t get new cars anymore, so I looked for used cars. Most of the Serras were ATs, and only a few were manuals, but there was a time when I owned a manual Serra.”

What does Mr. Mizuguchi, who is such a Sera fanatic, drive now?

“There used to be a large Toyota showroom called Amlux in Ikebukuro, and my Sera is a limited edition car that Amlux planned on its own. The year was 1992 and the model was a late model; it was claimed to be limited to 50 units, but I have heard that only 20 were sold.”

This limited edition car shows some differences from the regular model in the interior, such as the two-tone body color, wheel caps, rear seat covers that give the car a two-seater look, and originally designed seats.

The full original condition of the car at that time was reproduced over 10 years

“I got this unit about 10 years ago now. When I got it, it was immobile, and both the interior and exterior were in shambles. Over the past 10 years, I have been working hard to restore it.”

Mizuguchi’s Sera was finished just the other day.

“I’ve done a lot of modifications and customizations to the Serras I’ve owned, but this Amlux Limited Edition is basically in its full original condition.”

No external parts are used for both interior and exterior, or if they are unavoidably used, they are installed in places that are out of sight as much as possible so as not to destroy the original look and feel.

These perfect restorations were made possible by the vast amount of spare genuine parts that Mizuguchi has collected since he was a junior high school student, as well as by the know-how he has accumulated through the 30 Serra cars he has driven.

translated by DeepL