When Han is showing Sean what he’s going to be doing around Tokyo to pay him back for the car he wrecked they stop at DK’s hangout. Morimoto makes fun of Sean’s racing which leads DK to bet Han that Morimoto can beat Sean to which Han says “I’m ready to take that 86 Corolla off your hands.”
The AE-86 has been made famous by comics and movies. Mostly known for it’s appearance in the movie Initial D. Below are some images of the very cool looking AE-86 (grey 2-door hatchback) that was the basis for the 3rd major race in the movie.
Cool, I had not catched that.
It would be cool to find out why the creators of the anime/manga chose that car to be the main one.
Also, I always choose the AE-86 when playing Initial D at the arcade.