There’s always a lot of cool cars for sale on Bring a Trailer. This stands head and shoulders above them. It’s a 1990 AAR-Toyota Eagle HF89, and if none of those words mean anything to you, know that this is a mega-fast sports prototype racer from one of America’s great racing teams, restored to total perfection.
Toyota began a partnership with Dan Gurney’s All American Racers in the late 1980s, first to campaign the Celica in the IMSA GTO class, then to run prototypes in the GTP field. AAR initially ran two cars in GTP, the Toyota 88C, whose chassis came from Dome in Japan, and the HF89, a car of its own design. This uses one of Toyota’s all-time great engines, the 503E, a 2.1-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that easily and reliably made 800 horsepower.
Photo by: Bring a Trailer
This is chassis number #4, which AAR raced in the 1990 and 1991 IMSA GT championship, mainly with Juan Manuel Fangio II at the wheel. Fangio drove the car in victory at Heartland Park, Sears Point, Del Mar, and San Antonio in 1990, and at Watkins Glen in 1991. AAR replaced the HF89 with the Eagle MkIII, a car so dominant, it effectively killed GTP racing until IMSA brought the name back a couple of years ago.
So, the HF89 is overshadowed by the MkIII, but it’s a damn fine race car in its own right, helping AAR and Toyota take third in the 1990 IMSA GT championship. It’s also a mega-high-downforce prototype from one of the most legendary teams in racing, and sporting a nuclear bomb of an engine.
Canepa in Santa Cruz, California restored this car in the mid 2010s, evidently to the tune of $800,000. And it presents immaculately, as you’d expect. It’s race-ready too, and it’s made appearances at the Rolex Monterey Reunion. So you can campaign it in historic racing, and expect to run near the front.
Or at the very least scare the bejesus out of yourself in an old-school prototype capable of new-school speed.
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