pro's and cons of buyin an old celica.

[noel0leon]

Im sorry if this has been covered before but ive done a decent search and didn't really get the answers i was looking for.

Ive always had a thing for old rwd toyotas, love the 80's style and look. Recently ive been given an oppourtunity to buy a 1985 celica coupe/notchback, 4age, IRS, 4wheel disk and im trying to suss out the pro's and cons of getting it (currently i drive a 95 s14 pfl)
Mod's wise i wouldn't be doing anything too serious with it, i'd focus attention on: wheels, suspension, and light tweaking to the motor (keep it n/a) as it'll be my daily.
id love to put some wide 14" old school jdm wheels on it and get some decent suspension.
kinda like this:
http://www.7tune.com/ayus-1984-a60-toyota-celica/

things im worried about are:
Rust (obviously)
availibility of bolt on parts both OEM and aftermarket performance
Maintanence/reliability, it is over 20years old.

from what ive been reading on here people do more fabrication mods. Is that because of the lack of off the shelf parts for the old celicas? Or more for the love.

As always Time and Money have to be taken into consideration as both these things can get scarce.

anything else i should be concerned with? and most importantly, is it worth it as a cheap, fun, reasonable to run, RWD?

[FXGTV]

Yes, its worth it, if you like to tinker. Ive got a 1982 ra60 celica which has given me something small to fix every weekend for 2 months now But it doesnt bother me beacuse its got so much more character than 90% of cars on the road, and it is really fun to drive being a big RWD boat with body roll from 'nam. Already having a 4age in your one will be a great base to start from, so i say go for it!

[fuel]

would be a good car to get, however the Celica is a bit heavier than the Corolla so the 4A-GE may not feel so powerful in it. IRS and four wheel discs are a bonus though. Rust is always going to be there on older Toyotas, it just seems to be a fact of life haha. Maintenance.. well the engines are bulletproof, gearboxes (not sure if it's a T50 or W55) will be bulletproof too.

Depending on price I say do it.

[sergei]

Rust, rust and rust.
That what comes to my mind on pre 89-91 toyotas.

[FXGTV]

Rust, rust and rust.
That what comes to my mind on pre 89-91 toyotas.

Thats what im taking care of at the moment on my celica. That and drilling holes so im not carting around 50 kgs of extra weight in water which has found its way into the gap my my back wheel arches Oh and when we went to change the brake pads we found out my front brake piston rings/rubber seals are $&#$% too!

[Trls250s]

Rust, rust and rust.
That what comes to my mind on pre 89-91 toyotas.

Your such a downer sergie, the thrill of driving more then makes up for the rust maintanace. You pretty much teach urself how to weld too if your keen enough like i am.

Ive owned a few pre-89 rwd toyotas and worked on a f-load more. They are fantastic cars. AA60 is top of my list of next desirable car, but it would mean id have to part with my AE85 and i dont think i could do that...

[sergei]

Rust, rust and rust.
That what comes to my mind on pre 89-91 toyotas.

Your such a downer sergie, the thrill of driving more then makes up for the rust maintanace. You pretty much teach urself how to weld too if your keen enough like i am.

Ive owned a few pre-89 rwd toyotas and worked on a f-load more. They are fantastic cars. AA60 is top of my list of next desirable car, but it would mean id have to part with my AE85 and i dont think i could do that...

I own ST165 it is a bloody rust bucket even if I welded floors in it.
It will rust no matter what you do. Unless you have Chip Foose budget you will maintain the rust, never fix it.
But I still love old Celicas.
just giving warning of what to come.

[Bling]

dooooeeeeet

nuff said

[FXGTV]

Rust, rust and rust.
That what comes to my mind on pre 89-91 toyotas.

Your such a downer sergie, the thrill of driving more then makes up for the rust maintanace. You pretty much teach urself how to weld too if your keen enough like i am.

Ive owned a few pre-89 rwd toyotas and worked on a f-load more. They are fantastic cars. AA60 is top of my list of next desirable car, but it would mean id have to part with my AE85 and i dont think i could do that...

I see my ra60 as a ae86 on pies In the new Auto Salon mag over here in Aus there is a huge write up of the new ae86. We've all heard the rumors, but they look like they will retain the celica liftback style...as well as a boxer engine and subaru driveline *drools*

[TRD Man]

Rust, rust and rust.
That what comes to my mind on pre 89-91 toyotas.

Aint that the truth!

[Trls250s]

Rust, rust and rust.
That what comes to my mind on pre 89-91 toyotas.

Aint that the truth!

What happened in 89 anyways? My old man has a 165 that was built in 1989 and its mint condition, no rust at all in it and it sat in a feild for 2 years.

My 1989 crown, also mint, not a spec of rust anywhere to be found.

My 1986 AE85 just have to sniff moisture and i get scared...

Did they change the metal composition or the treatment before painting around then?

[xsspeed]

They took rust off the options list

[TRD Man]

Did they change the metal composition or the treatment before painting around then?

Both I think, from memory.
I remember in 85/86 my wife had a new Corolla S/W that had rust patches all over it like the measels with about 18 months. Toyota took a lot of these back and embarked on a new rust prevention programme.

[deaf_rattle]

i would never do an old car again, driving the evo 7 round has changed my mind on modern cars. bells and whistles are where its at.

In saying that, once the supra is going, i dont think ill ever sell it.

But yeah wanted to sell it many a time while its been sitting in bits.

Its probably a good buy, but it depends on what your plans are.

I "doin it up" is your plan, spend the money on a better base(foundation)

IF you buy a car you dont have to panel and paint, you can spend that money on more worthwhile things like engine rebuilds/upgrades.

[Mad Murphy]

I wouldn't buy a rusty old car unless I had a fortune to spend. If its clean and straight it'll probably be fine. Replacement parts are probably pretty easy to get other than body panels. Check everything works is the biggest thing, little niggles will drive you nuts if you're using it every day. Assess how much it will cost to get everything fixed up before you buy, lots of small things add up to one big bill. My AW11 has been very reliable no different to other Toyotas I've owned (ignoring the fact my GTR Corona currently leaks all its vital fluids), only real problem was my alternator the other day but that'll happen on any car.

[sergei]

yeah they changed composition all right, the plates that I made to cover up the holes in the 165 were made out of AE101 guard, and hey that guard sit outside with no paint and hadn't even had a hint of surface rust, while 165 just cleaned it and it started to rust immediately.

[noel0leon]

cheers guys the response has been a lot more positive than i thought.

If i am to buy it the car will be my daily so yeah having it running right from the get go would be a plus.

What about after market upgrades? The main point of interest for me in a car is the wheels and suspension, wheels are easy enough to sort, but how hard is it to find a set of adjustables (or just lowering springs for that matter) for a car this old?

[Dell'Orto]

Probably nothing off the shelf available in the way of height adjustable suspension, but its not hard to make up, and lowered springs should be common.