Allo folks, just dropping by in here. Soon to be ST185 owner here. The currently belongs to a friend of mine, but I'm buying it from her at the end of the week, then it'll be all mine! A bit of a funny story behind it actually; my husband have always joked with our friend every time we went to visit her, "Hey, you ready to sell the celica yet? Eh? Eh?" Usually the answer was a laugh and a resounding "Nope!". But this time, she said yes! Came as a bit of a surprise really, as it was always something we just poked at as a bit of a joke (she knows my husband and I adore the car). But she's moving, and felt it was time to let it go. So, it's ours! Or well, will be in a couple days.
The car itself is in pretty good shape, 190k on the chassis with exterior problems beyond a bit of faded pain and a small dent in the rear quarter panel. Inside, looks practically brand new save for the worn steering wheel and a tear in the driver's side bolster. The engine has a bit of interesting history too. Our friend's friend, who owned the car before her got it after it had set for several years, and over that time ended up leaking out all the oil. This friend had it taken to a Toyota dealership to get fixed up with the explicit instructions "Do not run it until you put oil in it, it's dry as a bone." And what do they do? Literally while he's still there in the parking lot after having it rolled off the tow truck? The tech starts it up, revs it, and promptly frags the motor. RIP 3S-GTE, we hardly knew yee. Drama ensues, legal threats get thrown around, and eventually the car comes out the other side of it with a new motor (after all, motor's are cheaper than lawsuits) on the dealer's dime.
Fast forward 20k miles and that new motor is still running perfectly, the car was DDed by the other friend, then by our friend and soon by us! Somewhere along the way is acquired a so called "CT-27". Unfortunately it's never been properly tuned so as soon as it hits (I think?) 12psi the computer goes all FUN STOPS NOW and cuts fuel. That'll need to get fixed of course. But other than that all the spinning bits are in perfectly good working order.
Of course, no 24 year old car is completely free wear related issues. The bushings in the rear very much need to be replaced, and the cushion thing for the rear differently also needs to be replaced (where the hell do I find one!? Arrrg!), and the struts could do with replacement as well before too long. Though ideally I'd rather convert it over to coil overs.
Anyway, all in all, 5k out of pocket for the car, which doesn't seem too bad to me, considering the cheapest one I could find on craigslist was $4500, doesn't pass smog, and has one of the fenders smashed in.
So anyways, hi all, that's my little story, etc etc!
The car itself is in pretty good shape, 190k on the chassis with exterior problems beyond a bit of faded pain and a small dent in the rear quarter panel. Inside, looks practically brand new save for the worn steering wheel and a tear in the driver's side bolster. The engine has a bit of interesting history too. Our friend's friend, who owned the car before her got it after it had set for several years, and over that time ended up leaking out all the oil. This friend had it taken to a Toyota dealership to get fixed up with the explicit instructions "Do not run it until you put oil in it, it's dry as a bone." And what do they do? Literally while he's still there in the parking lot after having it rolled off the tow truck? The tech starts it up, revs it, and promptly frags the motor. RIP 3S-GTE, we hardly knew yee. Drama ensues, legal threats get thrown around, and eventually the car comes out the other side of it with a new motor (after all, motor's are cheaper than lawsuits) on the dealer's dime.
Fast forward 20k miles and that new motor is still running perfectly, the car was DDed by the other friend, then by our friend and soon by us! Somewhere along the way is acquired a so called "CT-27". Unfortunately it's never been properly tuned so as soon as it hits (I think?) 12psi the computer goes all FUN STOPS NOW and cuts fuel. That'll need to get fixed of course. But other than that all the spinning bits are in perfectly good working order.
Of course, no 24 year old car is completely free wear related issues. The bushings in the rear very much need to be replaced, and the cushion thing for the rear differently also needs to be replaced (where the hell do I find one!? Arrrg!), and the struts could do with replacement as well before too long. Though ideally I'd rather convert it over to coil overs.
Anyway, all in all, 5k out of pocket for the car, which doesn't seem too bad to me, considering the cheapest one I could find on craigslist was $4500, doesn't pass smog, and has one of the fenders smashed in.
So anyways, hi all, that's my little story, etc etc!
Hopefully i'll see you around 
