MORLEY’S WORKSHOP

NEW TOYS AT MBC AND A PLAYBOY BUNNY

After all these years of swimming against the tide, I am completely comfortable with the idea that most people think I’m a rat-bag. Fact is, I couldn’t really give a monkey’s these days. So much so, that I can now reveal that the newest car at the Melbourne Bloke Centre is the unloved Toyota Celica RA40. As old Celicas go, the RA40 was the difficult second album.

But I love `em. In fact, I’ve been looking for one for the last couple of years and the scarcity of the Coupe version had almost convinced me that the even less desirable Liftback would do. As it turned out, though, a Coupe cropped up in the small ads. Even better, it was the steelbumpered Series A version. Naturally I leapt on it.

The car in question fulfilled my most important musthaves: Mainly that the body was straight and the paint was good. I just can’t see the point in spending ten-grand on a five-grand car to get it looking right. Okay, so it’s not a stock colour (I was imagining some 70-s-era beige or that gorgeous pale yellow) but if you’ve got to have a non-stock colour, then Ford Blood Orange is about as good as it gets. Actually, Peter Williamson’s last Bathurst Celica was a very similar colour… Hmmmm.

The other thing I was sweating on was that the car was mostly all there. Finding some of the jeweller y for these things is tough these days and even though the interior on mine is pretty trashed, it can all be redone on a budget. I already have a set of period-correct front seats (which will be getting the Blood Orange tartan treatment) and since I’m not going for any concourse trophies, I can afford to be a bit creative with the rest.

But why an RA40? Okay, I had an RA23 as a kid that I plonked an 18RG Twin Cam into. Loved it… never should have sold it (sound familiar?). Fact is I still have dreams where I’ve found it and bought it back (Sad, I know).

Despite having a bigger footprint an RA40 is no heavier than an RA23, a fact that helped it to be a class-winning Bathurst car and the quickest thing across the top of Mount Panorama in the late 70s, early 80s. Bar none.

Sadly, mine is still fitted with the dunger old 18RC single-cam engine, but it’s a pretty healthy one with no oil leaks, no smoke from the zorst and no fumes from the crankcase. Maybe I’ll stick with it for now. Beyond that the plan is to lower it and make it a kind of mutant cross between a Peter Williamson tribute car and an outlaw/ canyon-racer style of thing. Yeah, I know, that’s a pretty loose brief, but these things have a habit of developing as you go, and I’m okay with that process. Wheels? I kind of like the idea of widened steelies in keeping with that outlaw thing. Oh, and I’ve gotta find one of those fourspoke SA AS steering wheels Williamson used.

First job, though, will be to get her roadworthy and legally on the road. The suspension is sloppy and the front rotors want replacing. But the underneath bits are all dry (as in, not covered in oil) and there’s zero rust. Even so, I’m expecting a fair old list of things to be done before the number plates are on. But hey, that’s old cars, right?

I actually drove it home the 130km from where I bought it in the bush to the MBC, an experience not without its challenges. First up, the left-front caliper was sticking (it freed up after a quick cool-down) but the bugger stopped twice on me as the fuel filter gradually clogged up with all the old fuel and gunk in the tank. I’d taken the precaution of adding about 15 litres of fresh ULP before I left the seller’s place, but it wasn’t enough. Made it home after giving the filter a shake each time it stopped, though.

I’ve already f lushed the tank, replaced the filter and rubber lines and re-set the idle. But I also discovered that the electric choke is toast (it’s broken away from the carb body) so maybe I’ll plonk a 32/36 Weber on it. I’ve already removed the choke butterf ly (`cos the shaft was lolling about, messing with the mixture on the primary throat) so maybe I’ll just live without a choke. We’ll see.

Meantime, if anybody has one of these rotting away in a paddock, I’d love to come and scrounge a few trim bits and – inevitably – talk crap about old Toyotas. And for those who reckon I’ve finally lost the plot: Like I said earlier, I couldn’t care less. How about you show me your chromebumper Bathurst hero?

Now you’ve heard my wild plans for the old dear, what do you reckon? Am I heading down the right path, or is there another direction I should steer this latest project-Ididn’t-need?