Oregon, 1976 Celica GT Liftback Project
Posted: August 21st, 2011, 8:04 pm
Hi everyone,
I'm new here, new to lurking and new to Celicas. I recently graduated from college and was in the market for a car. While I'm a retro Porsche girl myself I was out and about and found a 1976 Celica GT Liftback that needs a lot of TLC for an excellent price (free is always nice). He has been sitting at a neighbor's house for at least the past 5 years, was driven as a DD until up about 2 years ago when it was parked and hasn't had much done with it since. They were glad just to get it out of their yard.
Thankfully the car runs (although it needs a battery) and appears to only have a bit of surface rust (although I have a feeling that might be an understatement). The paint is very faded, has no rear bumper and the front bumper is a bit mangled on one side. The driver side door also has something wrong with the hinge(s) as every time it opens there is a loud banging/popping noise. I'm going to make do with going in the passenger side and sliding over until I can figure out what exactly is wrong. The interior upholstery isn't too bad but the dash is pretty destroyed and missing assorted knobs (I'm going to have to figure out what everything is supposed to be).
My main concerns are that it won't pass smog (doesn't have current tags), but that question will be answered this week or next. Once that happens (or doesn't) I'll start to dig in but right now I'm just cataloging problems and trying to figure out where to start. Like I said, I don't have much (make that any) experience with Celicas, I fell in love, made a few inquiries and all of a sudden had a car. I may have gotten in a bit over my head.
If you know of anyone in the Portland area who is friendly and knowledgeable, I would certainly appreciate the connection. I often find it difficult to get taken seriously being a 22 year old girl, I'd rather learn to do it myself than to hand it off for someone else to do for me (although I'm more than willing to admit when I lack the ability to tackle something).
I'm sure I'll be around asking for lots of advice, any immediate tips or warnings that spring to mind would be appreciated (as well as any helpful resources). I'll post some pictures and a more detailed description of the car once I get a chance to take a real good look at him.
I'm new here, new to lurking and new to Celicas. I recently graduated from college and was in the market for a car. While I'm a retro Porsche girl myself I was out and about and found a 1976 Celica GT Liftback that needs a lot of TLC for an excellent price (free is always nice). He has been sitting at a neighbor's house for at least the past 5 years, was driven as a DD until up about 2 years ago when it was parked and hasn't had much done with it since. They were glad just to get it out of their yard.
Thankfully the car runs (although it needs a battery) and appears to only have a bit of surface rust (although I have a feeling that might be an understatement). The paint is very faded, has no rear bumper and the front bumper is a bit mangled on one side. The driver side door also has something wrong with the hinge(s) as every time it opens there is a loud banging/popping noise. I'm going to make do with going in the passenger side and sliding over until I can figure out what exactly is wrong. The interior upholstery isn't too bad but the dash is pretty destroyed and missing assorted knobs (I'm going to have to figure out what everything is supposed to be).
My main concerns are that it won't pass smog (doesn't have current tags), but that question will be answered this week or next. Once that happens (or doesn't) I'll start to dig in but right now I'm just cataloging problems and trying to figure out where to start. Like I said, I don't have much (make that any) experience with Celicas, I fell in love, made a few inquiries and all of a sudden had a car. I may have gotten in a bit over my head.
If you know of anyone in the Portland area who is friendly and knowledgeable, I would certainly appreciate the connection. I often find it difficult to get taken seriously being a 22 year old girl, I'd rather learn to do it myself than to hand it off for someone else to do for me (although I'm more than willing to admit when I lack the ability to tackle something).
I'm sure I'll be around asking for lots of advice, any immediate tips or warnings that spring to mind would be appreciated (as well as any helpful resources). I'll post some pictures and a more detailed description of the car once I get a chance to take a real good look at him.
