Owning a Toyota Celica]

Jeff Markham

Three years ago, Jeff Markham bought the Celica Gt-four pictured. ‘I wanted an Audi Quattro but prices had gone crazy, so instead I bought a different four-wheel-drive turbocharged car with rally pedigree. I knew a good Celica would be reliable but finding an original UK car that hadn’t been molested wasn’t easy. So far, the car has done 168,000 miles on its original engine, which is still in excellent health. ‘There’s not much on it that you can’t tackle yourself either. It’s simple in its engineering and construction and no special tools are needed. New panel supply is pretty poor but a lot of used parts are available because these cars are still being broken for spares. Mechanical parts are cheap and easy to come by though, because they’re shared with millions of Toyota saloons.’

Malcolm Graham-jones

Malcolm is in the Celica Club and is press officer for the Toyota Enthusiasts’ Club (TEC), for which he also runs the early Celica register. He owns six Celicas, including a MKIV, MKV and MKVI. ‘I bought a Celica MKI in 1976 and have stuck with them ever since,’ he says. ‘They’re reliable, costeffective and easy to work on.

‘The classic car market has yet to cotton on to them yet, although prices are firming up as the supply of cheap, worn-out ones dries up. Even though the Gt-four has doubled in value in the last decade or so, it still looks like good value compared not only to the likes of the Quattro and Delta Integrale, but also the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo and Subaru Impreza it competed against.’