SoCal I.E. New Member
Posted: June 30th, 2012, 9:21 am
Hola Celica Owners,
My name is Alejandro and I would first like to thank the creators of this website. It's inspiring to know that there are somany 1stGen Celica enthusiasts both here in the U.S. and around the world. I am the proud owner of a 1975 RA-22. It's my first car that I bought with my own money while I was in college in 1985, thats 27 years now! When I first saw the car I knew it had race potential. It was the original Toyota green for that year but it had a black hood, a black vinyl landau top, and cragar street sport wheels. I saw that the fenders had drilled holes telling me that someone had removed sport flares. The owner at that time was my mechanic friend. He would fix and sell cars often and during those days he was driving this Celica. He had no real attachment to it so when he saw and heard how interested I was about the Celica he later gave me a call and offered to sell it to me. The catch, a blown head gasket on the 20R engine. He was busy fixing other cars and was already driving something else but said if I fix it he would sell it to me, he even let me fix it at his dads shop, so I did. He sold it to me for $500 bucks and even let me pay him in $100 dollar installments! So much has happened with my Celica since then and those 27 years that I think I need to document it here in various parts. It's been on and off the streets several times and has gone through various mechanical and appearance changes. Now that I have a carrer and my family, my sons are by my side learning tools and general mechanics via this Celica. My daughter says she still remembers me taking her to day care in it. They love it when I take them for a ride because I let them hold the shifter then shift the gears as I drive and push in the clutch. I hope that I can regularly post info on this awesome website as work and family often gets busy for me. When I learn how to post pix, I'll first post current pix then add older pix of when I first got my Celica. Thanks again to the creators of this site as well as all the members who post both general and detailed info that helps us keep our unique old school sport compact cars on the road.
Adios for Now,
Alejandro
My name is Alejandro and I would first like to thank the creators of this website. It's inspiring to know that there are somany 1stGen Celica enthusiasts both here in the U.S. and around the world. I am the proud owner of a 1975 RA-22. It's my first car that I bought with my own money while I was in college in 1985, thats 27 years now! When I first saw the car I knew it had race potential. It was the original Toyota green for that year but it had a black hood, a black vinyl landau top, and cragar street sport wheels. I saw that the fenders had drilled holes telling me that someone had removed sport flares. The owner at that time was my mechanic friend. He would fix and sell cars often and during those days he was driving this Celica. He had no real attachment to it so when he saw and heard how interested I was about the Celica he later gave me a call and offered to sell it to me. The catch, a blown head gasket on the 20R engine. He was busy fixing other cars and was already driving something else but said if I fix it he would sell it to me, he even let me fix it at his dads shop, so I did. He sold it to me for $500 bucks and even let me pay him in $100 dollar installments! So much has happened with my Celica since then and those 27 years that I think I need to document it here in various parts. It's been on and off the streets several times and has gone through various mechanical and appearance changes. Now that I have a carrer and my family, my sons are by my side learning tools and general mechanics via this Celica. My daughter says she still remembers me taking her to day care in it. They love it when I take them for a ride because I let them hold the shifter then shift the gears as I drive and push in the clutch. I hope that I can regularly post info on this awesome website as work and family often gets busy for me. When I learn how to post pix, I'll first post current pix then add older pix of when I first got my Celica. Thanks again to the creators of this site as well as all the members who post both general and detailed info that helps us keep our unique old school sport compact cars on the road.
Adios for Now,
Alejandro
