1991 Toyota Sera Gullwing Livesound Edition FWD, AC, Auto · 81,833 mi

Available from stock, no wait for shipping from Japan: a 1991 Toyota Sera Gullwing Livesound Edition FWD, AC, Auto, recorded as Black. It runs an automatic gearbox. You will find EXY10-0014101 on the chassis plate.

The details on this one

• Year: 1991
• Make: Toyota
• Model: Sera Gullwing Livesound Edition FWD, AC, Auto
• Chassis code: EXY10
• Transmission: Automatic
• Odometer: 81,833
• Engine: 5E-5HE inline 4
• Colour: Black
• Chassis number: EXY10-0014101
• Body type: Sedan / Sports
• Stock reference: BUC38273

The EXY10 Sera, in context

The Sera is a small Toyota coupe built from 1990 to 1996 with butterfly doors that hinge up and forward, and a glass canopy that extends into the roof. Underneath it is a Starlet-based front-drive car with a 1.5-litre 5E engine, so the running gear is ordinary and the body is anything but. Toyota built it for Japan only and it is widely cited as an influence on the McLaren F1's door design.

Odometer at 81,833 miles, approximately 131,700 km. Japanese domestic-market cars are read in kilometres, so that is the number this one spent its life displaying.

What the specification means

Japanese-market saloons and coupes of this period were built to a domestic specification that never crossed to North America: different engines, different trim, different equipment, and in many cases a model that was simply never offered elsewhere. That is the reason to import one rather than buy a local equivalent — there is no local equivalent.

Between $8,000 and $12,000 the Japanese import market offers cars that have no domestic equivalent at any price — engines, trims and models that simply were not exported. That is the whole value proposition in this band.

Ordering and delivery

A 1991 build date places this vehicle beyond the 25-year threshold that governs importing a non-US-market car into the United States. You do not deal with the import paperwork; we do, and we organise delivery to your address. The figure is $11,995, and a message is all it takes to put it aside.