What's the weirdest car you've seen a 1UZ swapped into, anywhere in the world?

[lexboosted]

Spent some time scrolling Toymods, Australian Toyota forums, NZ build threads recently. The Aussies have been putting these motors in stuff most Americans don't even know exists. RT142 Coronas. RA60 Celicas. Hilux Surfs. Old Crown wagons.

Curious what the strangest, most creative 1UZ swap is that anyone here has seen. International examples welcome. Drop links if you have them. Looking for the chassis nobody talks about. The weirder the better.

I'll start: the 1UZ-into-VW-Beetle conversion that floated around years ago is the one that still sticks with me.

Anyone got something more out there than that?

 

[isturbo]

I'll go first with one I saw documented here years ago: a first-gen MR2. Mid-engine, rear-wheel drive, roughly the right weight distribution once the builder sorted the subframe. Absolutely unhinged in the best way. The packaging challenge alone looked like a full-time job.

Close second: a guy in New Zealand dropped one into an old Bedford van and used it as a daily driver. No performance pretensions, just wanted a reliable V8 in something unusual. It worked.

The 1UZ is genuinely one of the most swap-friendly V8s ever made -- compact, reliable, light for its displacement, and well-documented on this forum. I'd be surprised if there's a common chassis out there that someone hasn't already shoehorned one into.

What's the most unusual one you guys've come across?