1991 Toyota Sera

The Toyota Sera was spawned from the 1988 Toyota AXV-II concept car and entered production in 1990 and continued through 1996. Many of the design cues and features of the AXV-II concept were carried through to the production Sera, including its glassy roof canopy and gull-wing doors. The Sera was built exclusively for the Japanese market and all cars were right-hand drive as standard and the speedometer and odometer units were metric.

The 3-door 2+2 hatchback coupe had front-engine configuration powering the front wheels through a five-speed manual or Toyota A242L 4-speed automatic transmission. The 1.5-liter four-cylinder FE-FHE petrol engine with electronic fuel injection offered just over 100 horsepower and nearly 100 lb-ft of torque. Vented disc brakes were located in the front with drums at the rear, unless when fitted with the optional Anti-Lock Braking system which had vented discs all around. The power-assisted rack-and-pinion steering was standard.

The gull-wing doors were hinged at the top and bottom of the A pillar and opened forward and up. To help counter the weight of the doors, they were given a thick gas strut and counterbalanced by a smaller secondary strut inside the door. The glass within the doors curved upward into the 'roof' section of the vehicle.

By Daniel Vaughan | Feb 2020