JAMES BANNISTER’S 2001 SUPER RED SUPRA
Between the release and end production of the MKIV Supra, Toyota had created two varieties of signature red paints—the common Renaissance Red (3L2) which was assigned to 7655 Supras, and the rare Super Red (3P0), which was available only to the Japanese Domestic Market on 57 models.
The distinction between Super Red—as it’s title suggests—and Renaissance Red—associate this colour to Medieval times; older, darker and duller—is that Super Red is much brighter. It’s super, red. Super Red.
Lucky man, James Bannister’s 2001 Supra is 1/7 SZ models with a manual transmission baring the brilliant Super Red V (3P0).
Willing to go the extra mile for his Super Red Supra, James quickly snatched up his find in Victoria three months ago, driving overnight and interstate from Sydney to secure his loot. Having owned five previous to his Super Red Boy, he knew how quickly they disappear from the market and wasted no time.
“My first car was a red Supra which I’d wanted for years, when I first got it I really didn’t like red but after a while it became my favourite colour on Supras.”
Imported to Australia from Japan in 2009, the Supra is in top knick for its age, has no structural damage and is completely factory, hosting a healthy 2JZ-GE engine, W58 manual gearbox with a loving 315,000 genuine kilometres—and still on it’s original OEM wheels.
James also enjoys the luxury of a complete leather seat set—which only came factory on a single other Super Red SZ model. Of course, how could one enjoy such fine things in life without resting his feet on some Pure Sport floor mats after a good session of smashing some heavy-duty aluminium pedals. And not a single crack in the dash. Bravo—truly, bravo.
Riddled with OEM options, when Toyota built this particular Supra, they must’ve been thinking—“how do we get one to truly indulge themselves”—the answer was—whack on some gold plated badges, give it GPS navigation, a Supra phone, an airbag and some extra boot space. James’ model also came with three-channel ABS system, 17 inch wheels opposed to the standard 16 inch wheels and an LSD opposed to an open diff – all the works!
Too scared to cosmetically modify the car and ruin its authenticity, James’ current plans are to upgrade his set-up to suit a rebuilt 3.4L VVTI and install a 6-speed Nissan 370Z Nismo gearbox.
“I wanted to use an SZ for this project rather than an RZ, because if it were an RZ or RZ-S—I’d keep it completely original for value sake.”
