Why an All-Trac

I'm just curious and want to know why some of you chose an All-Trac or GT-Four in the first place? Mine sort of fell in my lap and I fell in love with it. Did anyone on here buy one brand new? Or have some crazy story of how they got it?

Back in 2001 a friend of mine had a non running 88 celica gt convertible that wasnt running. Told me if I could get it running its free or its going to the junkyard. Turned out to be a bad coil and the car was mine.

Drove it a couple years till I got sick of the leaking top and frame made out of cardboard. It was so bad that you could lift one tire off the ground and the other 3 would still be firmly planted.

Was hunting around on autotrader for another celica and found an 89gt 5speed hardtop for $800. The convertible became a parts car and I drove the 89 till 2010 when I got my subaru.

Some time in early 2005 I was talking to an Australian friend about how much I loved my beater 89 celica but I'm thinking about getting an awd car cause winter sucks in New England with no abs and an open diff, and hes like "you know they made an awd celica right?"

I was dumbfounded. Never knew about it and started searching for one. Took me aboit 6 months of saving money and looking around. Found one for sale on this forum and bought it without hesitsting.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that had no idea that an AWD celica was a thing lol.

I was so happy when I got my All-trac and realized what it was. My 2003 Mazdaspeed protege was terrible in the snow and I never wanted to drive my 2007 Mustang GT/CS in the snow.

I was just up around 2am one night and went on craigslist and found my all-trac.... I knew nothing about the st185 and began to research it. Within 30 minutes I actually called the seller at 2:30 in the morning lol
He didn't answer but I left a couple messages. I didn't even know how to drive with a manual lol
That morning I asked a good friend to go a few hours away to pick it up with me. He drove it back and that's how my love affair began with my all-trac

Bought my 91 GT new in Stamford CT. 2 new children, house payment and early career , I had to make a few sacrifices. Dad had read the issues of the 1.6 performance and convinced me to get the big 2.2 engine.

I had owned a 74 Celica and never met anyone with a 4wd car or turbo so never thought that this would be the better choice.

Looking back, wish I had done it as all of the aftermarket parts are focused on the 2.0 / 4we.

lalojamesliz1":3u6udmx5 said:

I was just up around 2am one night and went on craigslist and found my all-trac.... I knew nothing about the st185 and began to research it. Within 30 minutes I actually called the seller at 2:30 in the morning lol
He didn't answer

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I cant believe you called at 2:30 in the morning lol

sefiroxx":2vk0r53k said:

Looking back, wish I had done it as all of the aftermarket parts are focused on the 2.0 / 4we.

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Well it's hard to know at the time. We all look back and think that about stuff lol

Hindsight is definitely 20/20. I'd change basically everything I did with my car if I could go back and do it again lol.

The very first car I checked out when I was 15 was a 1988 4WD Turbo (Canadian badged Alltrac). The guy had replaced a bunch of stuff but my gut feeling was it had other issues lingering. Looking back I'm guessing it had a blown headgasket and I would've been SOL with no money and no skills to fix it.

After that I stumbled across my 1987 GTS Coupe at the local Toyota dealer. We almost missed it because it had a plate on the back but it turned out one of the sales guys was daily driving it (may as well be adding mileage to a 18 year old car with 430+ km on it vs something new). It turned out the first owner was the head sales rep back in the late 80's, he drove it for 2 years til the 5th gen was coming out and the owner of a tire shop about an hour away bought it. He lived here though so he commuted in it every day til he traded it in on something newer. I absolutely loved that car, bright red, power everything and the interior was immaculate because it only ever had the one guy in it. Sadly I spun a bearing in the motor in the month of it's 20th birthday. I ordered a motor from Japan but the importer sent a completely junk motor. We sent it back but in the end I ran out of time (I needed the hoists and stuff in auto class so graduation = no tools) and had to scrap it.

While trying to fix that I needed a car so I got my 1992 GTS. Lots of stories about that car, I drove it through college and my brother drove it when I moved away for university. During college I got into watching the WRC and dreamed about getting an Alltrac. I ended up registered here and after university a friend of mine told me about someone they knew with a GTFour. She was nice enough to meet up with me and take me for a spin (and even let me drive it) and I was hooked. I started looking around for one and found two black RCs for sale a few hours away so I went down and checked them both out. The first had some mods that were nice and a couple things that were too wonky for the price the guy was asking. The second was in rougher shape but almost entirely stock and the one I ended up buying. I wasn't really wanting an RC since in my mind they're pretty special and I didn't want to try rallying in something like that but if I didn't buy it the guy was going to part it out. That was spring 2011, just going to pick it up and trailer it home was super sketchy and should've been a warning about how buying it probably wasn't the best idea I'd ever had but it sure has been interesting.

That's the car I've still got, I have the GTS as well but I stopped dailying it when the clutch started acting up more back in like 2013? (I thought it needed CV's and then a TOB but the springs in the disk had failed). The RC sucked up all the energy I had for working on a car so it's been pretty neglected, I had some adventures with it a couple years back but since this is Alltrac.net I won't bore you with those stories.

I got a red 94 Celica ST for my first car, that thing was beautiful and timeless! I remember people asking what year it was and their surprised expression when I answered them. I drove that car for about ten years and sold it with 275,000 miles on it sometime around 2010. I learned about the AWD model from this car, as well as Gran Turismo and always wanted one but I knew the 6th gen was never offered here in the states. I had no idea about the AllTrac in the states until some time later.

I regretted selling my 6th gen because I wanted to complete it with a 20valve blacktop, projectors, and a 96+ bumper with a lip but life happens. . When the time came to look for another car I narrowed my search to a 1st gen Impreza RS, any newer RX8 ('06+), or a 5th (even another 6th) gen Celica. I searched for weeks until I found the AllTrac I have now on ebay. I bought it sight unseen from Maryland and had it shipped to TN. . it was somewhat of a basket case but I'm not sure I would have changed a thing, it has been a fun project and (somewhat) worth it LOL

Here's a pic of my old Celica that started it all

underscore":21q5xdt0 said:

The very first car I checked out when I was 15 was a 1988 4WD Turbo (Canadian badged Alltrac).

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That's awesome your first car was actually a AWD turbo Celica!

FC Zach":3jvllxvx said:

I got a red 94 Celica ST for my first car, that thing was beautiful and timeless! I remember people asking what year it was and their surprised expression when I answered them.

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That car looks beautiful.

I love hearing everyone's stories about how they got started with these cars!

alltrac801":333xuccz said:

lalojamesliz1":333xuccz said:

I was just up around 2am one night and went on craigslist and found my all-trac.... I knew nothing about the st185 and began to research it. Within 30 minutes I actually called the seller at 2:30 in the morning lol
He didn't answer

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I cant believe you called at 2:30 in the morning lol

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Yeah, I'm very impatient lol

I have a 92 white Alltrac that I just recently bought back in May. My love for cars and mostly these cars started way back when I was 15 looking at what I might want for my first car when I turn 16. I have always loved older cars because they just have a charm to them that newer cars lack, especially 60’s muscle cars and 90’s import tuners.
Clearly anything from the 60’s is a no go. I’ve always been obsessed with anything that had pop up headlights, they’ve always been so cool to me. I saw a couple really cool cars but my parents mandated that living in PA with our winters AWD was the only drivetrain allowable. Obviously couldn’t find anything they allowed from the 90’s so I ended up getting an 06 Impreza. That was a fun car and I regret to say I beat on it hard, poor thing. Maybe a month or two after getting the Impreza I remembered seeing a weird looking Celica that didn’t look anything like the rest and I didn’t know what it was called except a Celica, so I googled Celica and scrolled through image feeds until I saw the exact picture I had seen and I was so floored by this cars styling as it had everything that I had once looked for in a car.
The name Alltrac clear as day.
Searched it up and when I found out it was 4WD I flipped. Took 4 years of searching, but I found the one I drive now and paid for it all myself and sold the Impreza to make up the difference.
I do miss that Impreza because it was my first car and I have many fond memories with it, but my Alltrac puts a smile on my face every time I put my foot down and hear that turbo spool

Skurneha":1ctedt7y said:

my Alltrac puts a smile on my face every time I put my foot down and hear that turbo spool

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This is the exact reason I still have mine lol I absolutely love driving it!

X3 on the turbo spool
I know my all-trac isn't the fastest car but I love driving it.

alltrac801":2gmpyc42 said:

underscore":2gmpyc42 said:

The very first car I checked out when I was 15 was a 1988 4WD Turbo (Canadian badged Alltrac).

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That's awesome your first car was actually a AWD turbo Celica!

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I didn't end up buying it, I would've loved to own it but guaranteed it would've been an endless problem child.

Whats up guys,

Back in 2004 I was working and going to HS. I then got my first job working at a starbucks. I was intentionally saving up money to possibly by a 240/280z back then, really liked them datsuns or VW 1-3 rabbits. When I started actually searching for cars, my next door neighbor had a 86 celica st or gt I don't remember. He said that he was moving and wanted to know if I were interested. Keep in mind he was the original owner and always kept the car cleaned and waxed it at least 2-3times a month. Price was really good for a clean car back then so I bought it. Ended up falling in love with it. Bought a 88 gts a few years later and started thinking about wanting to turbo it. My cousin told me they have a stock trubo awd celica of my exact year. I was like stfu ur lying lol. I got home and researched it and was SOO surprised. So bought 1 a year after that Sorry is this gets confusing, was playing a dota match as i type this lol

Had my first 92 st185 when I was about 17.. cousin keeps on telling me about it so I found one for 7500.. now I'm on my 4th st185.. first one totaled.. 2nd one owned it for 5 or so years.. 3rd one had it for less than 6 month. Then my current one is going to the grave with me

Cool stories.

Mine started at 16 when I got my first car, a 90 gts. I loved that thing and always wanted to fix it up. I learned about alltracs on the old automotiveforums.com site which eventually led me here. After modding my gts and even buying a carbon RC hood for it, I dreamed of swapping in a 3sgte but never had the money as a college kid. I eventually wrecked that car and gave up on cars for about 10 years while driving unexciting a-b cars. Then after I grew up a little, I found myself wanting a cool car again. So I looked around and finally made my mind up to get that alltrac I always wanted as a teenager. After a couple deals falling through including a Vermont alltrac the owner lied about being rust free(I drove from TN to VT to see this car only to find a rust bucket with a failing clutch), I found a JDM import in California. I talked to the guy for a while and got many detailed pics to confirm the shape of the car before traveling. I flew out there, bought it, and had it transported back to TN. After some minor difficulty getting it registered, I got everything in line and have been daily driving it for a year now. It feels good to finally have my dream car and I’m excited to start my journey that started 15 years ago.

I would be livid if I drove from TN to VT and found out the owner lied and completely wasted my time. Glad you have one now though!