1984 Toyota Celica SA63 - Reader Ride

By: David & Calum Russell with Guy Allen - Words & Photos

Date: 24.03.2020

Somehow one $500 Toyota Celica grew into a fleet of five

1984 Toyota Celica

People didn’t really look after these things and so the rust got them eventually. Calum won a $500 scholarship at school – he was just 15 at the time – and he wanted to spend it on a car. So we went looking. Celicas were cheap at the time and we found this for $500.

The interior was really good – as you see it today – there was no body damage, but the paint was faded. We stripped it back to bare metal and resprayed it, outside on a 42 degree day! at least the paint dried quickly. That was seven years ago.

It’s needed a little on the mechanical side: an air conditioner compressor, and a new head. The latter was leaking badly and turned out to be cracked. We were able to buy a brand new replacement and that’s all we’ve had to do to it.

| 2019 Market Review: Toyota Celica 1971-2004

Toyotas are generally very good mechanically, so the head was a bit of a surprise, but at least the parts were readily available.

It’s running a four-speed auto (including overdrive) and is a really good thing to get around in. Calum has a V8 Soarer as well, but often prefers to drive the Celica.

| Reader Resto: 1979 Toyota Celica LT

We like the car and bought another, this time the red 2.4lt RA65 (also 1984) you see here, and somehow we’ve ended up with another three! One of them is being restored.

Valuation: Still very good buying for a club-plate car at $4-7k for a workable example.

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