1982 Toyota Celica GT review from North America

Bought it with a blown engine, frankensteined a new one out of various 22R's/RE's that were lying around my brother's shop (he's a Toyota mechanic).

Body's in decent shape considering it's an '82, but I'm currently waging the War on Rust. Planning on winning it this summer when I redo the body.

Hatch is made out of Bondo.

Doesn't like to stay in first gear. You have to hold it in place until you're ready to shift.

Front windshield wipers quit working on me.

Rear wiper is lacking a control switch... there is just a peice of plastic where one should be, leading me to believe that the interior (or at least the dash) had been redone at one point.

Rear defrost doesn't work.

Lumbar pump doesn't work (it's a hand pump... how cool is that!).

Front right fender lost a bolt, and is now just flapping around (see War on Rust above).

Driver side door doesn't open all the way.

Various trim pieces in the hatch don't seem to be fitting as well as they ought to.

A few minor issues aside, this is still my favorite car out of all the ones I've owned. My previous car was a '96 Corolla LE, which I sold to my grandma when I started university because I couldn't afford to make the payments anymore. Anyway, I was looking for a cheap old car to drive around while I was in university, when my brother (who works at Toyota) bought this one with a blown engine and a parts car for $1000. So I bought it off him and we put an engine together for it, and it's been a blast to drive ever since. The first time I drove it after getting it put together I almost missed my turn, and cranked the wheel at 50km/h to make it, and I was amazed at how easy the car took it. This car gives you a lot of confidence in handling, and even at 170km/h the ride is very stable and quite effortless. I've had complete strangers walk up to me and offer me $5000 for it! The handling is amazing, which is saying a lot considering the rear springs are sagging. My '82 Celica GT seems to be more like an '83 Celica GT-S in terms of body stying, with seriously wide tires and fender flares that as far as my research could dig up weren't offered on the '82, so I think whoever owned the car before me did some "frankensteining" of his own. There is also evidence of this in the interior. The seats are some of the most comfortable I've seen in a car, and you can even adjust the sides of them to hold you snuggly in place. And the headrests...gasp...even support your head!

All in all, this has been my favorite car owned to date, and even though I might buy another car in the future, I wouldn't dream of selling this one.

BTW, the flip forward headlights on the 82-83's...pure genius. Very unique, and it's a shame that they went to the pop up headlights for the 84-85 years.