Welcome

[Andy_Vang]

Hello, and welcome to my 1st Gen Celica forum.

I've owned a few 1st gen Celicas in my lifetime. I started out with an 18RG powered 1971. The 18RG was purchased from Cary Miller at Cary's Automotive. It was an efi model with a set of Webber 45's, HKS 304, 288 cams, electronic ignition, shorten strut casings for Tokiko shocks, TRD springs, AE86 Zenki LSD w/4.3 gears. Like most, I sold it thinking, I will shake off the Celica bug.

A year went by, I found myself with another 1st gen Celica. This time it was an immaculate red 1972. It wasn't long before I swapped the 18RC out for a 3TGTE. I used two Mitsubishi Starion intercoolers welded together, ct26, 7mge injectors, and a 22re ecu. It wasn't long before I had to look for a cap and rotor and I knew I would be paying big money for it. Long story short, I started researching a 3SGTE swap and after doing the math I figure it would be cheaper to go with an SR20DET. The 3TGTE in my 1972 Celica was replaced with an SR20DET out of a JDM S14 Nissan Silvia. I needed bigger brakes so I decided to use 1985 Cressida struts shorten for Tokiko's, AE86 Zenki LSD w/4.3 gears, 91 MR2 seats. It was a fun, fast street car. Again, I sold it thinking I can shake it off.

Another year went by, I ended up with a clean 1973 Celica and my most current 1st gen Celica. The idea was to build my '72 again but this time do a total restoration on the body but different things came up and I decided to go with an F20C because I always found myself in the higher RPM's when driving my SR20 Celica. Plus, how can I go wrong with a much lighter engine, revs up to 9K, and has a six speed transmission? I've had this car running since May of 2005 and I can honestly say I'm still not tired of driving it. I don't think I'll be selling this 1st gen Celica anytime soon because the Celica bug is now in my blood!!!

Again, welcome to 1stGenCelica.com. We are still working on some of the bugs, if there is any questions or suggestions please feel free to PM the Moderators or myself.

[sweet77]

Andy,
Hats off to you!! You did a great service for all of us with 1st gen Celicas! This is about the only place, at least that I'm aware of, that we could go to swap info. Since the other site went down, this is a very nice find! Thank you.

[22RTEdragon]

Much respects to you andy,

im a 25 year old kid in love with a 38 year old car just cuz it looks good. ive learned so much about the car in the 5 days that ive owned my prject car and whats best about it is that ive learnd most from the cats in your forum.

you can consider me a local now.

thanks

[73celica]

Andy, it is me Fuji...finally get a chance to log on.....i am interested of investing on a s2k swap on my 73 celica, it will happen soon after i get rid of my other project car....what do you think???

[drummingpariah]

Well hi! I haven't purchased a 1st-gen yet, but am in the market and want to do a bit of research first. I come from a versatile automotive background, with Datsuns and Hondas and domestics all thrown into a parts pile and sometimes even making them work together. It's been fun, and I'd like to turn one of these into a serious project (right now I'm hooked on the idea of a rotary powered 1st gen with proper IRS, but we'll see what I come up with that's for sale in California. Thanks for setting this place up!

[toyboyracer]

Hey there Andy.
Great Site and I'm glad I found it !

Hat's off to you on a job well done.

[74 18RG]

Andy


WOW Big big thanks for all the man hours and energy it must have been to start this BB.

I thought I outgrew my love of my old 1974 GT Celica with a 18RG to google celica with 18rg and me

I found your 1stgencelica bb. then a few days later i noticed my old bloke Cary Miller = was still at it with the 71-74 Toyota celicas.

So i went down to his shop and very soon it will be a 18rg 1973 st celica in my driveway just have to sale off the 87 FJ60 25th Anniversary Ed-

and THE WIFIE will be kewl about it all (if shes happy then me and the 2 kids will be too)

anyhow thanks and look forward to meeting you all soon.

Jayden .

[madmarz]

nice

[TheGoGoSquirrels]

Hello ! I'm glad to have found this website. Now hopefully when I ha some cash and and go about scouring the classifieds here in hopes of scoring a fairly cheap 1st Gen Celica. I had one many, many years ago but I didn't realize what I had (I was only 17 or 18 then). Weird story on how I got hooked up on Toyotas in the first place (I'll go into that later). Hope to have a good time here !!

[stickman89]

hey hey celica peoples im new here and its cool i found this site so maby if i get stuck i can ask for guidence. im currently building a 20/22r hybrid motor for my 76 gt trunk car.

[xengo]

Whats up everyone, just got a hold of a 73 St version automatic. Looking forward to fix it up once the body work is finish. I will be asking questions soon. Great work Andy on your rides, I just got bit by the celica bug. Nice to meet you all.

[72Argee]

That was very impressive Andy. These Celicas were just hard to let go and I must say I had a Celica bug since my sophomore year in College when these cars came about. My version of the story goes when I first saw one driving by and thats the start of the bug. I finally had an RA29 in 1976 and dove it for 25 years until I can't drive it anymore due to an accident. What i did to it was just simple: I replaced the carburetor with a Weber 32/36 DGAV, install headers, enlarged the exhaust to 2-1/4 and install a 280/280 TRD cam along with an adjustable cam gear.....that was it and the car ran to about 250,000 miles.

Now I'm maintaining my '72 RA21 which have the traditional 18RG, bored to 92MM and a some gadgets to support it. I am very interested in seeing the old schoolers in the local area. I missed the Treasure Island meet last time but I hope I'll be able to go to the next one.

[DeanH]

Hi Andy,
Great to be on board. Im restoring a 1975 TA22 Celica GT and will soon be on the look out for some bits and pieces, so im looking forward to making some new friends and maybe require the help need to complete my restoration.

[rosien]

Awesome site Andy - thanks and well done

[clinty]

Hello!
I am glad to have finally signed up here. Wish I did so sooner.
Thanks a bunch to the owner and admin here in starting and maintAining this site.
Cheers!
Clinton