FS: 91 Celica GT 5 speed $2900 OBO, owned 10 years, excellent condition

[texan_176]

I have yet to take recent pics but the car looks the same as it did last fall. The a few pics from last fall are here:

Toyota Celicas .com - The Toyota Celicas Online Community

More pics will come soon.

email me directly to reach me faster than a PM would.

texan_176@yahoo.com



This is a long read but please take the time and read it.

Many gen 5 Celicas sell for around one grand but it is true that you get what you paid for; a burned out junker that constantly requires repairs and/or looks like garbage on wheels. This car is priced fairly and I am open to reasonable negotiation. I have been very honest and fully disclosed everything I know about the car.

Up for sale is my 1991 Toyota Celica GT coupe 5 speed in Onyx Black with gray cloth interior. I have owned the car since summer of 1998 and have easily put at least $10,000 into the car maintaining and repairing it with ONLY OEM Toyota parts. A folder full of records is available to view. More details will follow but this is perhaps one of the best cared for gen 5 Celicas in the world. I purchased the car from the first owner (female) with 98,000 miles on it and it now has almost 200,000 miles on it. This was the better equipped GT with the spoiler and sunroof plus dealer installed keyless entry/alarm.

To give you a better idea of what has been done and the condition of the car I will just break down things by categories.

ENGINE:

This is the factory installed engine that still runs very strong. The car has always started the first time I turned the key in the decade I have had it. In that time I have had the timing belt, water pump, cam seal, front main seal, plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor, air filter, fuel filter, etc...(major service) done 3 times by my mechanic who owns his own shop and has 35 years of experience. He worked for Nissan as a master technician for 10 of those 35 years and I will be glad to give you his name and number if you want to speak to him about the car.

Anyway, the last major service was done in the summer of 2007 and the car has been driven only 8,000 miles since then so you have 52,000 miles of basically just doing oil changes and buying gasoline for the car. I have always used genuine Toyota oil filters on the car with full synthetic motor oil (Castrol Syntec or Mobil 1). The engine does not leak a drop of any fluid; the bottom of the engine is bone dry. The car also does not burn oil or smoke under any conditions. I suggest you stick with the regimen of premium oil and OEM filters to keep the internal parts in top shape. I HATE leaks so pretty much every seal/gasket that does not require engine tear down with the engine in the car has been replaced. The rear main seal was replaced when the new clutch was installed. The valve cover gasket and distributor shaft seal were replaced during the last major service.

A new OEM radiator was installed in 1999. The cooling system is in tip top shape with clean coolant; not a single flake of rust/scale. I have always used distilled water with coolant. An OEM thermostat was installed with the last major service.

The oxygen sensor was replaced in 2006 due to a check engine light. The light never returned and the car has always passed Texas/Harris county emissions testing. The exhaust system is all factory installed and has never needed repairs; no modification either.

HVAC:

A/C and heat work great in the car! The A/C compressor was replaced 3 times in the car under guarantee after I had it done the first time in 2001. The problem was found to be a faulty expansion valve causing the system to improperly circulate the refrigerant oil and hindering lubrication to the compressor. The car also did not cool down well due to the valve problem. The most recent work with a new OEM expansion valve was done last summer and the A/C has been working fine since then. The system was not “converted” to 134a with the cheap kits you can buy at stores. It still uses R12 refrigerant and I have paid a premium to have this stuff reclaimed and recharged each time the system was serviced.

The HVAC controls do need one bulb for proper illumination at night. I never got around to this job.

TRANSMISSION:

Factory installed unit here as well. I have never had any issues with the transmission. The shifts are smooth, the gears never grind, and there is no leakage of fluid. I did have a new OEM clutch and pressure plate with a throwout bearing installed after having the factory installed flywheel machined to a true flat plane when the car had around 164,000 miles and I noticed some slipping. The clutch is very healthy and if you are conservative in your driving it should last at least another 100,000 miles. I have never raced, modified, or abused the car in the time I had it so the clutch (and rest of the car) is in good shape.

The car got OEM remanufactured CV joints in 2000 when the boot on one tore with age and contamination entered inside. The cheap fix would have been a boot kit but at the time I had over 100K miles so I replaced both sides so I would not need to bother with this job again.

SUSPENSION & STEERING:

In 2003 I installed Bilstein touring class struts on all 4 corners. These cost me twice as much as the more common KYB struts which are made in China and garbage in my opinion. The Bilsteins are made in Japan and gas charged; superior to the oil dampened OEM Toyota struts (made in Japan by KYB in the early 90s). All 4 corners got new OEM Toyota strut mounts and strut piston boots. I also replaced the 2 front springs with the OEM Toyota springs because I always felt like the right spring was sagging but it might have all been in my mind.

In 2001 the entire steering rack was replaced with a remanufactured in the USA unit from the Toyota dealership. The tie rod ends were also replaced. In 2006 further work was done on the steering system when the power steering pump and all of the high pressure and return lines were changed. Gen 5 Celicas are notorious for steering fluid leakages; there are none on this one and you should be okay for several years.

WHEELS:

The car came with 14 inch steel wheels with hubcaps when I bought it. I upgraded these to the OEM 15 inch 5 spoke 92/93 Celica GT wheels in 2003. You will get these wheels with the car along with the lug nuts for them. The wheels are not perfect but look good on the car. The clear coat on them has vanished because they came from Chicago and were probably driven on in the winter at some point before I purchased them. The tires (Continental Conti-ExtremeContact) on those wheels have about 10-15% tread left on them. I also have the 14 inch steel wheels and 3 of the 4 hubcaps if you want to take them with the car as well. There are no tires mounted on the 14 inch wheels.

In 2006 I purchased a set of 16 inch 00-05 Celica GTS wheels that were after market chromed. These wheels are currently on the car wrapped in Z rated BF Goodrich G-Force 205/50/16 tires with 85-90% tread left. I had the car aligned at least once a year so wear is even on the tires.

The chrome is peeling a bit on 3 of the wheels but they look great from a few feet away. Recently the peeling has created a slow air leak in the two rear wheels because air is escaping where the bead of the tire meets the rim of the wheel. The rears will lose about 10-20 pounds of air in a week and will go completely flat in 10-15 days if you don't check up on them. I have just used my compressor to top them off in the garage every 5 days or so. Your options here are to rechrome them or find replacements but you can just top the air off once a week as I have been doing. The wheels/tires were installed with new OEM lugs and an OEM wheel lock kit.

BRAKES:

In 2004 I converted the rear brakes from drums to disc brakes. This was a simple bolt in job with donor parts coming from a 1993 Celica GT. Just remember this when you do a brake job and need the rear pads. The rear pads still have over 60% of the compound on them. I went as far as to buy new OEM parking brake shoes for the rear at a cost of around $80. These pads have 99%+ compound on them since I NEVER use the emergency brake for anything but to lock the rear wheels and I am parked. FYI, there was no difference I saw in braking performance with the conversion. However, it just looks much more modern so that is a plus.

The front brake pads are under a year old and have plenty of life left on them. I also installed new OEM brake rotors in the front when the pads were changed because the old rotors were too thin to machine down.

The master cylinder in the car is the factory installed one and has never given me problems. That is a testament to Toyota quality. The only thing non-OEM about the brake system is the brake fluid which is auto parts store bought.

BODY:

In my opinion this is the part of the car that needs at little TLC. The paint is factory paint and nearly 18 years in use has meant wear and tear. The top of the trunk lid and roof are no longer a deep glossy wet looking black. The clear coat is still there and has not peeled at all. I never attempted to polish the car and buff out the finish but this might improve things greatly. The car has normal dents and dings on the sides that can be expected on a car of this age. It is unfortunate few people these days respect the property of others and are careful when opening car doors. The worst dent in the car is in the right rear quarter panel and has been there the entire time I had the car.

The hood and pop up lights were replaced by Mike Calvert Toyota in Houston with a repair that cost around $3500 in the year 2000. While the car was parked, a delivery truck for a local business backed into it and crumpled the hood. There was no frame damage to the car and the title is clear because the company at fault paid for all repairs and we settled without involving insurance. I have the paperwork for this repair. You will notice if you look closely that the hood, pop up lights, and front bumper cover are darker than the rest of the paint because they were painted in 2000.

As you may know, the gen 5 coupes had a very poor trunk lid design that was known for problems. I replaced both of the hinges on this car around 2002 when one broke and the other was failing. The hinges are fine now but you still have to be careful when you open the trunk. You have to pull the lid towards the rear of the car and then lift at the same time. Otherwise, the corners of the front edge of the lid contact the body shell of the car and the lid fails to open. I will show you what to do when you come see the car. There is no solution to this other than getting in the habit of doing it this way.

The car had really ugly tint that was full of bubbles and purple in color when I bought it in 1998. In 2002 I had all of that film removed and a professional tint job was done with LEGAL film. As I recall, it is 35% VLT all the way around.

This car was purchased new in 1991 at Sterling McCall Toyota in Houston. It has spent its entire life in the Houston area so it is completely free of rust. It has never seen snow or ice let alone a road covered with salt, chlorine, and sand.

The only modifications to the body have been with Toyota parts. I installed the Japanese version OEM fog lights (very rare) that light up yellow instead of clear in 2001. Also, the tail lights were upgraded to the smoked look 92/93 versions in 2002. You will get the factory installed tail lamps with the car.

INTERIOR:

The interior is in good condition based on the age of the car. There are no rips or tears in the seats or carpets. However, the first owner did not clean the carpet often so it has been stained with coffee since the day I purchased the car. I have the OEM gray floor mats but I considered them dirty so I had a custom set made in black. You will get the OEM mats with the car. The dash does not have any cracks or tears and all trim is as it should be.

I have made an upgrades inside by replacing the rubber/plastic steering wheel with a leather wrapped version from a GTS Celica and replacing the rubber shift knob with a leather wrapped TRD knob (new OEM shifter boot as well). You will get the OEM steering wheel and knob with the car. Also, I have installed an auto dimming rear view mirror made by Gentex. This mirror has a built in compass and exterior temperature display. Again, you will get the OEM plain rear view mirror with the car.

When I bought the car it had an after market single DIN cd player in it with an orange display. The radio was okay but the display looked bad at night since the rest of the car lighting was green at night. I found a used double DIN radio with tape and CD out of a 1996 Supra for the car. The factory amplifier was installed with this radio and everything works great. The first owner upgraded the speakers to made in Japan Pioneers sometime in the 1990s so I never did anything to fix something not broken there. The stereo sounds nice and YES the factory tweeters actually still work on this car! The only issue with the audio system is that the electric motor for the power antenna grinds when the antenna deploys. This antenna works fine but there is a problem where the motor “thinks” the antenna is not fully deployed when it is. The fix might be as cheap as a used motor assembly. The antenna does retract perfectly.

There is one small cigarette burn the fabric of the driver side door trim. The first owner told me her brother borrowed the car and did this but she was not a smoker and neither am I. I have also upgraded all of the illumination bulbs in the main cluster to the bulbs Toyota puts in Lexus models. The display is very rich and bright at night.

Again, this car is nearly 18 years old so expect imperfection but that said it is well kept. I had planned on buying an after market carpet for the car since you can no longer buy the OEM part. However, I never got around to this. A new carpet would do wonders for the interior.

OVERALL:

The car is very reliable and extremely fun to drive. If you shift the gears at around 2500-2800 rpm, avoid fast starts, coast as much as possible, and minimize using the engine to brake you can get around 28-32 MPG in mixed road/highway driving!

SO IF IT IS SO GOOD WHY IS IT FOR SALE?

Well, I was a freshman in college when I bought this car and drove it for a few years even after college. When I bought my first car after getting out of school my dad took the Celica because he liked it much better than the car he was driving at the time. This year my dad turned 69 years old and we decided he was way overdue for a nice luxury car instead of a car that was made for the younger crowd (5 speed 4 cyl combination). We bought him a Lexus as a belated birthday present so this car is no longer needed. I wish I had the room to keep it but it would not be practical to do so. This car has a lot of sentimental value for me so ideally I would like to see it go to a Celica enthusiast who will maintain it and perhaps add to the tasteful modifications I have done over 10 years. YES...this car survived the late 1990s, when junk automotive accessory use peaked, without a coffee can size muffler, clear lighting lens kits, fake HID headlights, and a single “APC” sticker that was rumored to be good for 20 horsepower back in those days.

LEGAL STUFF:

The car is still titled in my dad's name and is located at his home. You are welcome to come take a look at it by making an appointment with me first so I can be there. Salesmen, dealers, scamers, etc....need not waste your time or mine. The man that lives across the street from my dad is a sergeant in the local police force and is a good friend of ours. If you are planning anything not on the up and up please scrap your plans now.

I will accept cash only for the car and NO I will not finance this thing. Once we make a deal on the car I will make arrangements for dad to go with you to the county courthouse to sign over the title there. You will be responsible for any and all taxes and fees with the county. If you are not a local buyer I will provide you a bill of sale with the title but I will need a copy of your driver's license. I will remove the plates and registration sticker from the car and you will need to purchase temporary tags from the county courthouse to drive the car to your county and register it there.

I apologize for taking such measures but there are just too many scams going on these days and this way we are both protected.