Hello from Ohio! New to forum. Options

[broderp]

Hello, I'm the proud owner of a 1995 Celica GT. I bought the car in 1995 with like 40 miles on the odometer. I literally bought it the day the dealer got it and had it ready for sale. It was the best looking car on the lot.

I hope there's some appreciation for cars like mine. Most forums cater towards those who mod and turn their cars into race cars. My car is about 100% stock.

ST204 (I believe)
GT, 5 speed
Bright Iris Pearl

I have (and you wont believe this) original brakes pads, all brake components, exhaust, engine etc... The only think I've had to change was oil and air filter.

How is this possible? I babied this car like you wouldn't believe, I have 136171 miles on it, all of it highway miles. Always changed the oil 3-5K miles with Mobil1 and kept it clean and as safe as I can in parking lots.....until about 4 years ago.

I was involved in an accident, were I actually went under the rear end of a Honda Civic. The driver side highbeam light was destroyed and pushed back. As you all know, behind it is the airbag sensor. So off they went.

Insurance totaled my baby. I was given over 7K for it, but pocketed $6300 because I refused to let it go to the crusher. The damage to the body was not that bad. In fact I drove it home that hot day, with the AC on full blast.

Fast forward 4 years, the car has been sitting in a garage. Its time to fix her up. I know it's not worth much and I may be paying more than what its worth now to repair, but I KNOW this car and it has some sentimental value. Not to mention, its the most eurgonomic car I've ever driven.

I look forward to seeing what goes on around here and hope my knowledge of electrical systems (I'm an engineer) can help others and I can learn from you all as well!

Here is my car after sitting in a garage for 4 years and having the winshield replaced. It was NOT ready for the car crusher.


This is how much of the dash that has to come out to replace the passenger airbag....... All rust on the support were painted black with rust converter before being put back together.


All back together and looking good......


Stripped down to see the damage under the skin.... Having second thoughts, these parts are welded..radiator support and headlight support are toast as are a few other structural parts.


OEM parts welded on, and other parts awaiting to be welded. I opted for a used fender (drivers side) and hood to keep the car with OEM parts as much as possible. The front bumper will be the only part that is not OEM, due to cost. But if it doesn't fit well I will see about getting an OEM cover. But they are $$$$$$$.





This post has been edited by broderp: Dec 3, 2012 - 12:26 AM

[broderp]

Just got back from the garage. My car was in the booth. It had been painted and just sitting there doing what newly painted cars do..lol ...cure? harden? but wait til you see the color on this baby. I was REALLY impressed with the work from what I saw. It will be finished tomorrow, then I will have to assemble it back together after I wire in my new lights. Then I have to get it inspected....


I had almost forgotten how much I loved this color. I will really need to buff and clean the rest of the car to match this new front end. The garage says they checked and it matches the rest of the car, but I've got years of wax and dust that I will strip off to bring back to a like new shine. Shame there are a few paint chips here and there.....makes me want to get them all fixed.....but I'm broke after this car is done.




I'm going to cry the first stone chip this front end gets......