These AE86 shells would be perfect for professional drivers, particularly as you need to buy a minimum of five per order (Image: Jiangsu Aodun / Alibaba)
There are a number of websites on which you can find affordable Chinese-made replicas of everything from smartphones to kitchen appliances, but one Alibaba seller has taken it a step further.
Jiangsu Aodun, believed to be a supplier to General Motors’ Chinese arm FAW-GM, has started offering brand-new body shells for the AE86 Toyota Corolla Levin and FJ40 Land Cruiser, complete with a coat of primer.
Prices start at US$9500 for the AE86, although there’s a catch – you have to order at least five of them per transaction.
Unlike the AE86, these FJ40 body shells are able to be ordered one at at time (Image: Jiangsu Aodun / Alibaba)
While unfeasible for someone after a couple of replacement body panels for their own car, this does present a good option for drifters in need of disposable body shells.
The FJ40, on the other hand, is available as a single unit priced at US$11,000 which does present a good option for someone looking to restore their old, rusty example.
Another company, Yangzhou Bodi [sic], offers bare metal FJ40 shells for just US$5000, along with primer-coated Land Rover Defender 110 shells for US$16,000.
This image of a reproduction 110 body shows how these shells are prepared for shipping (Image: Yangzhou Bodi Auto Parts / Alibaba)
As evidenced by the small dots seen all over the AE86 shell, these appear to have been 3D scanned, although that makes no guarantees about how straight and accurate these body shells are since they aren’t OEM items.
Worth taking a punt on for your budget restoration project? We’ll leave that up to you to decide.
