Greetings from NZ

Please introduce yourself and Celica or ride(s).
Markm3
Posts: 26
Joined: May 3rd, 2010, 7:40 pm
Location: Christchurch, NZ

Greetings from NZ

Post by Markm3 »

Hi Everyone!

I'm from New Zealand in the deep south of the Pacific Ocean.

I'm looking at a buying what seems to be a mint original 1971 Celica thats selling for NZD$13500 (about US$9700).

I'm new to the "Celica Scene" so don't know a lot about them. Can anyone tell me a good place to look to read up a bit on 1stGen Celica's??

Cheers
Don't knock it til you've tried it.
ChristobalRocks
Posts: 1266
Joined: August 17th, 2009, 11:02 am
Location: North of Boston

Re: Greetings from NZ

Post by ChristobalRocks »

Welcome to the board; you've come to the right place! :)

That's a pretty high price for a Celica. I'm hoping the car you're looking at is 100% complete with absolutely no work needed - a turnkey car. If not, it may be a bit overpriced. Having said that, supply and demand rules and you may not have many choices in NZ!

By way of comparison, I encourage you to look over the for sale topics and see what other people are asking for their rides.
Markm3
Posts: 26
Joined: May 3rd, 2010, 7:40 pm
Location: Christchurch, NZ

Re: Greetings from NZ

Post by Markm3 »

Thanks for that.

It is a high price but it is in great condition.

It's completely original (apart from a cd player and speakers) and everything is there. Only negative thing I could say is that the plastic parts look faded or worn and there is one small rip on the rear seat. Otherwise its pretty much immaculate.

They are pretty hard to come by in NZ. One sold in the last 12 months for (wait for it...) NZD$16K which is about USD$11,500 :shock: . We obviously have a much smaller pool of cars to choose from which makes these old school cars rarer and worth a fair bit more than the US.

Any idea where to look to get a bit of background on Celica's?

Cheers
Mark
Don't knock it til you've tried it.
ChristobalRocks
Posts: 1266
Joined: August 17th, 2009, 11:02 am
Location: North of Boston

Re: Greetings from NZ

Post by ChristobalRocks »

Hmm. Well I don't know what kind of information you're looking for. If you have specific questions, this is the place to ask them. There are people here who know these cars inside and out. For more general info, you can browse these sites:

BBs:

http://www.1stgencelica.com
http://www.classic-celica.com

Background Info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Celica
http://www.toyoland.com/cars/celica.html
http://www.toyotareference.com/

Common FAQs and Engine Info:

http://members.iinet.net.au/~stepho/ - great info about paint, brocures, etc.
http://www.toysport.com/technical%20inf ... 20Main.htm

Check your potential Celica for rust:

For rust, you're primarily interested in these areas:

Lower corners of front and rear screens
Upper gutter rails
Lower sills/rocker panels
Lower rear guard 1/4's
Front guard bottom 1/4's
Tops of doors, bottom corners of doors
Open the doors and above the light switch button near the front cowl
Lower radiator support

Some differences between the 1st Gen years (there are more, but these are the biggies):

71-72
- long hood vents (flutes)
- rear tail lights were flat
- gas cap was behind a flip down door between the tail lights
- smiley bumpers
- front signal lights were mounted on the core support
- slant nose front
- one piece center console
- base plastic behind the wood grain on the dash was silver/gray

73-74
- shorter hood vents
- rear tail light were "bubbled"
- gas cap moved to the C pillar on the driver's side
- smiley bumpers were re-enforced and added addition support (weight) underneath also "bumperettes" added
- front signal lights were moved to the front valance (stone deflector)
- slant nose front
- two piece center console
- base plastic behind the wood grain on the dash was black and they added a light over the temperature controls

75 - most of the characteristics of the 73-74 with
- truck bumpers
- power bulge hood with short hood vents
- crossmember compatible with the 20R engine (can be bolted directly into 71-74 car)

76-77
- flat nose front
- longer front end, with longer power bulge hood
Markm3
Posts: 26
Joined: May 3rd, 2010, 7:40 pm
Location: Christchurch, NZ

Re: Greetings from NZ

Post by Markm3 »

Thanks for that. Will have a look through the links.

I know a bit about most 1970's Jap cars and the 1980's Toyota's but the early Celica's are a bit of a mystery to me, probably because they weren't actually sold in NZ. The only early ones around were imported and the are pretty rare. I'm also not sure how the US specs compare to this one either although as far as I can make out they're pretty much the same, emission controls excluded.

The car is a 1600ST (a yellow version of the one on the 1972 lineup booklet at toyotareference.com) and is being sold by a dealer (http://www.fazazz.co.nz) on behalf of the owner. I spoke to them earlier today and found out that it was imported in about 1973/74 from Singapore and its been repainted in the original yellow. Its been sitting there for a few months so think I should be able to beat the price down a bit. Took some photos on my phone as well but not sure how to upload them so any help appreciated.

Rust isn't a problem with this one, a bit of minor surface rust underneath but otherwise rust free.

Any help with the photo thing would be appreciated so you can give an informed opinion.

Cheers
Mark
Im jhun_hapi
Posts: 1777
Joined: February 21st, 2008, 2:14 pm
Location: Antioch, CA (Bay Area)

Re: Greetings from NZ

Post by Im jhun_hapi »

try photobucket.com easy. i know there some other ones..
User avatar
Hamza
Posts: 139
Joined: January 5th, 2009, 7:29 pm
Location: Adelaide, SA

Re: Greetings from NZ

Post by Hamza »

Have you thought about importing a celica form OZ? there is a nice one in Queensland for $13,500 fully restored.

Have a look at
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Toyota-Celica-Ta ... 914wt_1167

Also look up shipping costs as i believe it was quiet cheap to ship engines to SA from Auckland last i checked.
User avatar
mrm76gt
Posts: 232
Joined: November 15th, 2009, 9:55 am
Location: St. George, UT

Re: Greetings from NZ

Post by mrm76gt »

ChristobalRocks wrote:Some differences between the 1st Gen years (there are more, but these are the biggies):

71-72
- long hood vents (flutes)
- rear tail lights were flat
- gas cap was behind a flip down door between the tail lights
- smiley bumpers
- front signal lights were mounted on the core support
- slant nose front
- one piece center console
- base plastic behind the wood grain on the dash was silver/gray

73-74
- shorter hood vents
- rear tail light were "bubbled"
- gas cap moved to the C pillar on the driver's side
- smiley bumpers were re-enforced and added addition support (weight) underneath also "bumperettes" added
- front signal lights were moved to the front valance (stone deflector)
- slant nose front
- two piece center console
- base plastic behind the wood grain on the dash was black and they added a light over the temperature controls

75 - most of the characteristics of the 73-74 with
- truck bumpers
- power bulge hood with short hood vents
- crossmember compatible with the 20R engine (can be bolted directly into 71-74 car)

76-77
- flat nose front
- longer front end, with longer power bulge hood

Is the wheel base longer or wider on the 76-77 cars or the same as older models?
'76 Celica GT
'86 K5 Blazer
'03 Harley FXDL
'00 Celica GTS
ChristobalRocks
Posts: 1266
Joined: August 17th, 2009, 11:02 am
Location: North of Boston

Re: Greetings from NZ

Post by ChristobalRocks »

Markm3 wrote:The car is a 1600ST (a yellow version of the one on the 1972 lineup booklet at toyotareference.com) and is being sold by a dealer (http://www.fazazz.co.nz) on behalf of the owner. I spoke to them earlier today and found out that it was imported in about 1973/74 from Singapore and its been repainted in the original yellow. Its been sitting there for a few months so think I should be able to beat the price down a bit. Took some photos on my phone as well but not sure how to upload them so any help appreciated.

Rust isn't a problem with this one, a bit of minor surface rust underneath but otherwise rust free.

Any help with the photo thing would be appreciated so you can give an informed opinion.

Cheers
Mark
I'm not an expert on Celicas, nor am I as well versed on non-US models, so you can take what I say with a grain of salt. I'm assuming that a 1600ST is referring to a 2T-G engine. I've heard these are desirable, but have no personal experience in this. My 1st gen Celicas have all been RA models and they came to me with US market engines (8R-C, 20R, 22R)... and I am by no means an expert on those. :oops:

Anyway... the price they're asking does seem high to me, given that you said there is some rust on the car. When you say rust, do you mean just rust on the frame, or rust through paint? If it's rust through paint, then that means you need to consider doing some restoration and buying a car at the high end of the price range doesn't leave much room in your budget for restoration, assuming you may need to sell the car later and want to get it sold without taking a bath on the deal.

The suggestion of looking into shipping a car to NZ from OZ seems like a good idea, if only for comparison sake. In the US, you can find a really nice Celica for $6000, and I mean REALLY nice. I paid much less for my 1st gen cars, but then again, mine all needed lots of restoration. After restoration, I expect I'll have spent $15,000 - $20,000 US on my current project car, including the car (and a parts car). Some of that money will be recouped on selling extra parts from the parts car, but not a whole lot, I'd imagine, and I have to believe that it'll be better than new which means something.

we do it for the love. :screwy: :2thumbs:
Markm3
Posts: 26
Joined: May 3rd, 2010, 7:40 pm
Location: Christchurch, NZ

Re: Greetings from NZ

Post by Markm3 »

@hamza - I'm struggling to convince my wife I should be allowed to spend NZ$13K let alone AUS$13K!!

@jhun_hapi - will give it a go.

Does anyone have any brilliant ideas to convince my wife that an old 2-door sports car is what we need for our family of 4 when we could be spending that money on the mortgage?? :roll:

Perhaps someone has a few spare $$ they could give me...... :wink:
Don't knock it til you've tried it.
Markm3
Posts: 26
Joined: May 3rd, 2010, 7:40 pm
Location: Christchurch, NZ

Re: Greetings from NZ

Post by Markm3 »

Just trying the photo upload ...

Image
Don't knock it til you've tried it.
Markm3
Posts: 26
Joined: May 3rd, 2010, 7:40 pm
Location: Christchurch, NZ

Re: Greetings from NZ

Post by Markm3 »

It worked!! So here's a few more....

Image
Image
Image
Image

And just for your interest although you may have seen it before - here's a bike made in the 1990's by a kiwi guy John Britten (died of cancer unfortunately) in his garage. Everything was handmade except for tyres and a couple of electronic bits.
Image

Google "Britten motorcycle" if you're interested and have some spare time.
Don't knock it til you've tried it.
User avatar
1JZRA21
Posts: 3069
Joined: February 18th, 2008, 8:11 pm

Re: Greetings from NZ

Post by 1JZRA21 »

That is the Briton or something like that right? That was such a cool bike for its day. Now to as far as that goes. Nice car interesting parking spot.
Markm3
Posts: 26
Joined: May 3rd, 2010, 7:40 pm
Location: Christchurch, NZ

Re: Greetings from NZ

Post by Markm3 »

@1JZRA21: The dealer was a motoring memorabilia place but, being a car nut, got into selling classic and vintage cars. He's the NZ Morgan dealer and has had old and new Ferrari, Maserati, Aston Martin, BMW and other older European cars in stock. Doesn't usually stock this sort of "Jap Crap".

The photos don't really do it justice - I used my phone to take the pictures so not great quality.

@CrystobalRocks: I believe its the 2T engine. I've found it a bit difficult finding any info on the interweb as most of it relates to the US cars.

It doesn't need any restoration, apart from repairing the small rip in the back seat. The rust is only surface rust so is pretty insignificant and its on the underside of the car. Paint is immaculate. Keep in mind that if you spend US$15K on your restoration that's about NZ$21K so in comparison its not that bad. I'd like to keep it standard other than putting some new wheels on it so the price is pretty much all I'd need to pay.

I also don't have time with a couple of kids to do a full restoration, let alone the garage space and spare cash.

I had a look at Aus cars but it doesn't work out much cheaper. The cars are definitely cheaper but I'm not really one to buy without viewing first. So a trip or 2 to Aus plus currency value plus shipping costs plus importing costs plus compliance and certification costs ends up not much better.

Problem is I'm now hooked on 1st Gen Celica's!! wink
Don't knock it til you've tried it.
User avatar
Hamza
Posts: 139
Joined: January 5th, 2009, 7:29 pm
Location: Adelaide, SA

Re: Greetings from NZ

Post by Hamza »

Here is a couple of thinks you can check to see if it is actually a ST model, check the engine. it should be a 2T-B and be with twin ASIAN carbs, The dash should have a oil/amps gauge the first from right next to the cigarette lighter. Different Grille to the LT.

For the rest, here is some healpfull info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Celica

If it is a ST, then it would be quiet rare as they were hard to get in OZ as well.
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