As some of you already know. I built a 1973 Celica a few years ago that turned out pretty nice. I loved the car, but hated the motor that was in it. It was a very troublesome thing that gave me more frustration then I was prepared to deal with. In one of my fits I decided to part with the car and regreted the decision for a very long time. I have been looking to fix that mistake and took some detours along the way. A few Carinas, Corollas, Crowns, and Mazdas to name just a few. But I always longed to hop back into another Celica. I knew one thing for sure. I had to be an early one. I did all the work to make my 73 a 72 poser, but it just wasn't the same. I wanted a true center fill, flat light celica. Well low and behold the ideal candidate popped up for sale and a very resonable price was arranged. "OR SO I THOUGHT." Turned out the car that was suppose to be a runner was not at all. The motor was shot and the cooling system was plugged solid. The interior reeked and short of a few positives I loaded up the car a bit upset with my purchase. I began to plot out my attack for the build.
Like all my cars I just wanted a very simple, and old school build. Old school by todays standards of F20C's and 3SGE's, but still effective for having fun and reliability. I searched for a 2TG to build, but as fate would have it I stumbled across a very clean and built 18RG that was practially given to me. I know the power of the 18RG so I thought I'd give it another shot. "I AM GLAD I DID." I then got lucky again and found a TRD header, TRD wires and a few other bits to complete the floss and the drivetrain was done.
After that it was only a few days of grunt work to polish her out, get the radiator rodded out and assemble the parts that I had aquired. What I ended up with is a damn fun car to drive and one that I'm most pleased with. The motor is very responsive and has very respectable power. The interior and exterior of the car cleaned up well too. Anyway I think I got a little long winded so here are some pictures for entertainment.

Here she is the day I picked her up.




Old Heart


New Heart


And a couple of the currenty state of assembly.







And here is my Helper. Kickin back as usual.



Oh and last but not least.

The car I'm replacing.

damn this thing is uber clean

Looks hot b.

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These are so sick!
I think im gonna get one after i finish my Corona.

Excellent

DAMN!!!

So sick!

I want a Celica

That blue car always looks good. Where did it go to?

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Got any more pics of the blue one Pertano?

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http://classiccolt.forumcircle.com
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'69 Honda C50
'79 Honda C50
'73 Honda ST90
Custom Honda Chaly
'85 RX7
'79 B1600

never tired looking at that blue celica from time to time in the internet, i have to say, the one and only reason why i want the celica stripe is after looking this car at the first place



BTW back to the black celica, got any spec on the wheel?

Looks sick! Good work! Why'd you ditch the blue one?

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'70 sl350, '86 spree, '88 cressida

As far as the blue care goes. The car ended up in Chicago after I hurt the motor for the 5th or 6th time. I hated the TRD gear drive that was in that motor. It would always jump time. That's how I ended up getting the car in the first place. The guy hated fighting the car and sure enough I got tired of it too. But anyway it's gone now and I have seen or heard from it in about 2 years now.

This black car runs alot harder then that blue car ever did though. Has a nicer sound and is all around a much better car IMO. Just need to get the body work done one day and it'll be even better then the first one.

For those that asked. Here are some pictures of the old car.

hey since you've had both the celica and the carina, how do they compare afa driveability and aesthetics? guessing you prefer the celica but why?

Tough call. The Carina is a great car. I loved my white car, but it was too hard to find the rear window gasket when I painted it and lost interest. The blue one that I got after that just wasn't as nice a car as the white car and I lost interest in that one too.

As far as driveability goes. They're nearly identical. The Carina feels more like a corolla inside though. With it's higher roofline and seating position it feels just like what it is, a sedan. But other then the xtra room you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference in the way the chassis feels. Just the lower seating position and sporty guages of the celica makes you believe you are in a more sporty car.

As far as a perference. I actually prefer the 73 Carina. I'm not a fan of the 72. But like I said. They're a very difficult car to find parts for and as a daily driver that's not a good thing. If I had to do it all over again I wouldn't have painted my white car and just left well enough alone. I really miss that Carina. That was my favorite of all of them.

hey rob,

it's luis, good to see you post it up on here. this thing looks killer.
is it done or do you have any more plans??

luis

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i might be young, but i love old school cars.
1981 corolla wagon
1985 corolla gts
model car blogspot
http://zenkitrdcoupe.blogspot.com/

no future plans for the car after I get the suspension done. After that the orange RX3 has to get done. It's been too long.

Gotta get that Kujira Crown back on the road....OR.... maybe I need to tow it away and help you out!

What do you mean tow it??? My Crown runs and drives. I take the kids out in it from time to time.

My bad....when I lasted asked you some time ago you said it needed some work...then in one of your pictures I remember seeing it being used as a storage device in your garage

Hope to see it again soon!

Ehh. Everything in my garage is a storage device. I don't have enough room for all the crap I have shoved in it. The motor on the car runs a little rough from time to time. But I think it's mainly due to all the sitting that this poor car does.

I won't be pulling this car out again til I get all my major modifications done to it. I've got a twin now. A guy I know built his Crown to look identical to mine. And I mean Identical!!! So I'm going to change my car up pretty drasctically.

beautiful car man i like how the black one is shaping up whats the paint code on the blue one? i think that color would look good on my 610

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