Toyota Celica GT4 1991 model - today's tempter

By: Guy Allen

Date: 10.12.2016

Carlos 'el Matador' Sainz signature model might change your mind about Toyotas

Carlos Sainz signature Celica should be very collectible one day.

If ever you were going be tempted by a mid-sized Toyota, this Celica GT4 might be the one.

Produced as an homologation series for the world rally championship, the ST165 (1986), ST185 (1989) and ST205 (1994) series cars were all 4WD turbocharged fours and, one day, they must be a collectible.

Japanese collectibles historically seem to do this weird thing in the market where nobody pays any attention for a couple or more decades and then, for reasons which we can't fully explain, they take off in a big way.

These cars have all the markers of collectibility: not massive production figures, premium end of the model range, they're fast, and you can draw a direct connection to a race series - in this case a world championship.

As for Carlos Sainz, the Spanish driver won two world rally championships and enjoyed a professional driving career spanneing a few decades.

And the car? Toyota threw a lot of effort at this series and what you ended up with was an all-wheel-drive turbocharged inline four (approx 200hp) with a five-speed manual transmission.

It (or at least a race variant) won the world rally championship in 1992.

The car advertised here claims to have 210,000km, which is significant but not necessarily a car-killer mileage. The owner says the timing belt, tensioners and pulleys have been replaced recently, which is critical.

Condition is said to be good and the asking price is $20,000. If it cheked out, you'd have a quick club permit eligible car in Victoria right now and other states in four years' time. And it would definitely be something a little different.

From our archives: Toyota Celica GT4 buyer guide

Unique Cars magazine Value Guides

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