Celica Collection

My first Celica ever was a nice, technically perfect, TA60 from 1983.

I bought this car to learn how to restore cars. As I didn't know that much about engines and other technical parts so I choose this car. It was cheap (approx $300) and it was technically in perfect condition. The body needed some work, but that would be fun.

I leared the hard way that any Celica can be saved, as long as the body is in perfect or just good shape. The car went juli 26th 2000 to the junkyard because the body was almost gone. Before the car was stripped of the usefull parts (engine and stuff) it was used for some welding lessons.

The second car I found was an ex restoration project of one of the club members of the Toyota Celica Club Nederland.

The TA28 didn't need any welding because the previous owner already welded all the problem areas. After it's first safety inspection they found large holed in the bottem. After removing the interior we found that the welding was really crap and all the areas that were 'fixed' needed to be redone. As of may 2000 the car is stored in my garage. I've planed to start this project as soon as the RA40 has passed it's safety test and the TA22 as a new engine.

While having the TA60 and the TA28 I got an offer of a friend. He had an RA40 that he got from someone that stopped the restoration project after 10 years.

As it was the missing RWD Celica from the collection and I could get it for free, I decided to collect the car and start rebuilding it. It was my intention to get it trough the safety test ASAP so it can be parked in front when I'm working on the TA28.

The car managed to get trough the safety inspecion februari 2nd, so it can be parked legally outside. At this moment I'm looking for a new owner for this car, as it's the least interesting of the cars I have and 5 cars is getting a bit to expencive.

That plan has already changed when I found a nice TA22 while I was at the local dealer for some parts for the 40.

The car has a nasty rattle in the engine and the interior is almost ruined because the previous owner wanted a new radio in it. The rattle turned out to be more serious then we suspected. The engine needs a complete rebuild. I'm glad I had a spare for my TA60 so that engine is going to be rebuild and put into the 22.

I bought this fully restored TA23 as a temporary meeting car untill the TA22 has a working engine. I hate it not to be able to go to the Celica meetings with a good Celica, especially when one is coming up where I can play with a Celica on a F1 circuit for an hour :-).

Sniff... it's dented (but the mondeo that caused the damage was pretty useless after they met :-)). See the damage at this page. The damage is estimated at approx $2000. I hope the insurence guy will see this car as a classic instead of a 22 year old piece of junk. (what they won't do to save some pennies... :-()

Hmm, am I really insane... I'm trying to save this car from the junkyard... And I succeded... I'm collecting the car december 2nd.

The previous owner had to part with it because he has a AT18 now and couldn't keep 2 cars. It now had a nice home with lots of other celicas to play with. ;-) I'll do my best to keep it rolling. As a matter of fact, I'm already looking for a nice dry spot for the car for storage.

As of 28 august 2009, the car isn't mine anymore. I've had it in storage for 7 years and to much projects to keep them all. A friend was interested and wanted to buy it. After long deliberations (almost a year) I've sold it to him today. At least it's still saved from the junkyard and I'm able to drive it when it's drivable again. (and have the first option when he sells it again, both part of the deal)

I'm really loosing it, found this ST 165 GT 4WD at a car market for near to nothing.

It has a few dents and wouldn't start the first time we saw it, but they'll make sure it's in running condition. The only work that needs to be done to get the car legally on the streets is a set of new tires and it needs some work on the breaking system. (according to them) Our 1 hour inspection found lots of problems. List is included on the seperate page.

Yup, I've bought it so it's nr. 6 in the collection. One has to go when it's going to be added to the collection. The TA23 is already Marcel's project, but even 5 cars (of which 4 running and insured) tends to get a bit pricy. The RA40 is scrapped as it has served it's purpose. (building a set of parts back to a car and getting it back on the road again without prior knowledge of the car)

June 11th 2001: Yes!!! it's street legal. Boy is this car fun to drive.

The good news is that the parts that came of the RA40 will be very usefull for my latest addition, a 1978 TA40, also red, just like my 1981 TA40. I know, it looks like crap, but hey, for this price... free :-)

Last year I gave the car away to someone who was restoring onother. It was a nice supply of parts.

Yep, I've gone over the edge (a long time ago accoring to most people I know) Last week a colleague of mine told me he really needs to get rid of the car. He had to have a lot of work to do on the car, but didn't have the tools or the knowlegde, so he had everything done on the car. This resulted in costs 250% of the initial costs for the car. (which wasn't cheap)

I decided to help him and get the car of his hands ASAP. Payment will be a bit later, but his major problem was the roadtax and insurance costs of the car. This combined with the MOT that the car has to pass within 3 weeks and the leaking high-pressure PS hose that needs to be replaced to get it to pass.

The car is completely payed for, so it's mine now. Only thing that has to be fixed now is the thermostat. Ok, that and adjusting the fuelcut, add a BOV, add the boostcontroler, clean the car, fix some interior problems and replace the radio by something desent.

Ok, I now know for sure, I'll never learn. I bought an 1984 TA60 in april 2004. It failed teh first MOT, after which I completely forgot to retake it. That's not so bad, but they reminded me with a fine. Of course it passed the second try without any problems.

To bad the waterpump failed comlpetely 2 days after it passed it's MOT. It's fixed now, but to save costs and to prevent further rust development, I've stored the car.

Ok, one of my cars had tp go... so I sold the TA60. A friend bought it after having it parked on his driveway while I waited for a good moment to part it out.