Cal Club Autocross Forums

1994 Toyota Celica GT track car with 19,xxx original miles. From the Long Beach Celebrity Grand Prix. Built by Toyota Japan with full roll cage, suspension, brakes, header, exhaust, fire suppression system, 5 point harnesses, etc. Includes 2 sets of rims, 1 set with BFG Traction A/T's, and 1 set with Bridgestone Potenza S-03's (as well as two spares). The only thing I've changed is the addition of a Kaaz LSD. Second place finishing car in RallyX SM2 class last year. Selling because I no longer have the means to tow it around $5,000.

Awe man.. I need MORE streetable cars.. not LESS!

Aaron Goldsmith wrote:Awe man.. I need MORE streetable cars.. not LESS!

You know you want it... buy now, and I'll throw in the dog for free!

Ashley Armstrong wrote: You know you want it...

I do, but we don't always get what we want.

Awe man.. now i have that damn rolling stones song stuck in my head.

Do you have a "streetable" title for that car?
I know the car is not street legal in it's current configuration.

Steve Lepper wrote:Do you have a "streetable" title for that car?
I know the car is not street legal in it's current configuration.

No, I don't, or I'd be driving it to work every day

Having driven one of these at WSIR during one of Danny McKeever's schools I can say that these Celicas are very forgiving and a great starter car for track events and wheel to wheel racing. I don't know what class they would run in with SCCA Club Racing, but its a great, cheap, relaible way to get started.

Toby? Beverlee? Patches? Tom?

a great, cheap, reliable way to get started

Truly. The ones at WSIR have an open diff, for the record, so this one is even better! ;)

if i wasnt getting married in a month i'd be all over this

Chris Manacop wrote:if i wasnt getting married in a month i'd be all over this

I hear every girl secretly dreams of receiving a race car as a wedding gift!

I don't know what class they would run in with SCCA Club Racing, but its a great, cheap, relaible way to get started.

Toby? Beverlee? Patches? Tom?

You want to sponsor me?

John Coffey wrote:Having driven one of these at WSIR during one of Danny McKeever's schools I can say that these Celicas are very forgiving and a great starter car for track events and wheel to wheel racing. I don't know what class they would run in with SCCA Club Racing, but its a great, cheap, relaible way to get started.

Toby? Beverlee? Patches? Tom?

I've also driven one of these and only an idiot, uh, I mean, only a complete moron, uh, I mean only someone with no track time would spin one of these.

My bet is that these cars couldn't be made street legal even if returned to stock. They're probably pre-production cars; no reason for Toyota to provide a car that can be sold at a dealer for the celebrity race.

Bob Beamesderfer wrote:My bet is that these cars couldn't be made street legal even if returned to stock. They're probably pre-production cars; no reason for Toyota to provide a car that can be sold at a dealer for the celebrity race.

I had to sign a thing that I wouldn't try to register it. I looked up the VIN, once upon a time, and the Carfax said something along the lines of "1994 shipped from japan" and then nothing. Pretty cool, if you ask me

Ashley Armstrong wrote:

Bob Beamesderfer wrote:My bet is that these cars couldn't be made street legal even if returned to stock. They're probably pre-production cars; no reason for Toyota to provide a car that can be sold at a dealer for the celebrity race.

I had to sign a thing that I wouldn't try to register it. I looked up the VIN, once upon a time, and the Carfax said something along the lines of "1994 shipped from japan" and then nothing. Pretty cool, if you ask me

Yep, that sounds like a pre-production vehicle. Probably has a very low VIN. They can't be registered because technically, they're not federalized. Normally, they're driven by Toyota employees to put miles on them for wear testing or used for training purposes. When they're done with them they're crushed. Not every carmaker has pre-prod vehicles, generally it's the big companies.

Bob Beamesderfer wrote:

John Coffey wrote:Having driven one of these at WSIR during one of Danny McKeever's schools I can say that these Celicas are very forgiving and a great starter car for track events and wheel to wheel racing. I don't know what class they would run in with SCCA Club Racing, but its a great, cheap, relaible way to get started.

Toby? Beverlee? Patches? Tom?

I've also driven one of these and only an idiot, uh, I mean, only a complete moron, uh, I mean only someone with no track time would spin one of these.

My bet is that these cars couldn't be made street legal even if returned to stock. They're probably pre-production cars; no reason for Toyota to provide a car that can be sold at a dealer for the celebrity race.

I worked at Toyota when these cars were built. Being that a '94 was the first year for that generation (ST204) there is a very good chance this is a pilot-production car. All Celicas were made in Japan (Tahara) so Carfax would say that about any Celica. Most cars that had a pre-production VIN (meaning non-conforming 17-digit number: usually has lots of 0's in it) were imported under a temporary bond so would have to be shipped out-of-country of crushed after three years. If import duties are paid up-front a car could stay in country, but it's usually cheaper to just replace the car (remember, the cars are very cheap to the importer.) Companies like Toyota have exemptions with the State of California so they can get regular license plates on cars with non-conforming VIN's: most of my department's prototypes wore standard California plates so they would not attract the extra attention a mfr's plate brings. Over the years most Celebrity cars have started life as production cars so could easily be converted back to street use... this one could be easily put back to smog-legal trim, but if it's got an oddball VIN could not be licensed by the average person.

All the Celebrity cars arrive as stock vehicles and then are prepped by the TMS Motorsports Service Garage in Torrance (hidden away in a corner of a TMS storage warehouse.) IIRC, in that era Aase Brothers did the cages (they also did them for some of my dept's driving school cars) and the springs & swaybars came from Suspension Techniques.

These are pretty un-bustable cars as long as you don't try to add any more power to the 5S engine. With a little JDM parts shopping, you can bolt a complete 3S-GTE (turbo) engine into them. Fun cars... I wish I had the space for it.

One possible issue that a purchaser will need to address is roll cage legality. Since SCCA updated the roll cage specs in the GCR to require 1.750" x .095" wall tubing for IT cars (I think this Celica is an ITB car) you will need to check the cage to make sure it complies before getting an annual tech. If the cage already has a SCCA tech stamp, then its allowed under the grandfather clause. You might also be able to convince the tech inspector that, because the car has competed legally under another sanction (Champ Car, USAC), the cage should be grandfathered.

Companies like Toyota have exemptions with the State of California so they can get regular license plates on cars with non-conforming VIN's: most of my department's prototypes wore standard California plates so they would not attract the extra attention a mfr's plate brings.

The Toyota press fleet cars are a mixed bag; some with standard plates, come with MFR plates. I've never had any issue driving a car with MFR plate, but one of the GM product managers I've met got a boatload of grief from a CHP officer in Torrance for driving a Vette with an MFR plate. The cop tried to tell him he had no business driving his employer's vehicle.

Hmmmm, Craig says we have a lot of money to spend this year. Sounds like a perfect Trophy Dash/Seniors car to me!

For those that don't know, we used to have a car (Hyundai SCoupe donated by Hyundai) that the class winners from the previous event got to take 2 runs in after their class runs for year end Best Driver award. We also had a Senior's Class for those over 55 with the same deal, 2 runs after your class runs. Year end trophy was a cane mounted on a plaque. And there was a secret index done by Craig that was based on your age.

Bob Beamesderfer wrote:

Companies like Toyota have exemptions with the State of California so they can get regular license plates on cars with non-conforming VIN's: most of my department's prototypes wore standard California plates so they would not attract the extra attention a mfr's plate brings.

...but one of the GM product managers I've met got a boatload of grief from a CHP officer in Torrance for driving a Vette with an MFR plate. The cop tried to tell him he had no business driving his employer's vehicle.

We've all had run-ins with that (@#$%) officer: he's got a rather large chip on his shoulder when it comes to company cars. I got a plate ticket from him which basically got laughed out of cout by the judge when I went to plead. One of these days that officer should take a minute and read the California Vehicle Code.

Luckily I've escaped his attention the times I've gone to get cars from Toyota, Prietive or A&M. The GM guy filed a complaint against him, which went nowhere.

you know we have an off topic forum right guys?

this is 'for sale' not 'brag about driving company cars' forums

is this the same car that was at Cal Speedway Infield last week ?

William Chen wrote:is this the same car that was at Cal Speedway Infield last week ?

Not unless someone stole it from my garage and is actually putting the poor car to use.

Marshall Grice wrote:you know we have an off topic forum right guys?

this is 'for sale' not 'brag about driving company cars' forums

I think comments about the likelihood that this is a pre-prod car are very much on topic. As for those that drifted away from that point, is this not the Solo2.com message forums? }:)

19,000 miles seems real low until you remember it isn't street legal. At maybe five miles per rallycross, that's a lot of dirt. Maybe it got onto the street once or twice?