And it’s a lot quicker than my old Geo Metro, which, by the way, plotzed on me. Apparently the car has trouble driving if the thingie that makes the front, driver’s side wheel steer completely breaks off.
So I know car guy. I needed a car. He had a car. And I think I’ll be buying it from him. So that’s pretty cool.
It’s nice to have a car that doesn’t suck.
The best car I’ve ever owned, by far, was a 1986 Toyota Celica. That damn thing just kept running, and looked good doing it.
I really wish I’d kept it. A year after I sold it, I met the new owners (they had bought it from the people I’d sold it to). It hadn’t been maintained at all. If I’d had the money, I would’ve bought it back from them right then. I was almost in tears at the state it was in.
That’s my Celica story.
What is it about the Celica’s design? I have a 1990 GT and random people still compliment me on how cool it looks.
It’s starting to get tired, and to protest against those winters in Pennsylvania and my unstable relationship with the maintenance schedule, but it’s been a wonderful car and I hope to have it a few years more.
js_africanus, what gen did you get, ST165 or ST185? 165s are the 88-89 version, 185s are the 90-93 version.
Lots of knowledge out there on these cars, as they are quite the collector’s item. I miss mine, and will own another one day. A good place to start if you need any help is http://www.alltrac.net. Good group of people there. Or feel free to hit me up (email’s in my profile) if you have any questions.
Congrats on your new car!
It’s a ST165, '88. The guy who’s selling it to me posts to the alltrac website, even. Basically, I think it’s essentially going to be half his car whether I like it or not, so that’s good news for maintaining it! 
When he told me that it’s basically the original WRX, I was hooked; when he explained how coveted the car is, I was even more impressed. When I told him that I was thinking of putting a set of Nokian tyres on my Christmas list, he went ape and now he’s looking for a set of wheels that’ll fit, so that I can have the über snow tires for unparalleled winter driving. 
Now I’m trying to think up excuses to leave the office so I can go drive around.
Too bad you’re so far away. I have a complete set of 15" alloys that will fit the car and a set of 14"s off of a 1986 Celica. I think I also have some other parts lying around in my garage, including a complete W/A intercooler system, and a newly rebuilt turbo, if you need any spare parts. 
Have fun with it! They are awesome cars.
Hmmmm… I wonder how much it’d cost to ship them.
I’ve also got my eyes set on a racing clutch.
Mmm, clutch.
Dunno how much it would cost to ship them. They’re pretty beat up, but if it’s economical to ship, and you pay for it, you can have them for free.
If you haven’t seen it, 185 Performance can be a good place to find parts: http://www.185performance.com/ They do a lot of AllTrac business. I think they have RPS clutches, too.
I just emailed the guy I got the car from, and he said that 14" would be better for snow tires, but 15" would look better. I.e., I’d be more interested in the 14" ones. Do you have photos?
In http://home.comcast.net/~madones/celica/sideskirt.jpg you can see the 15" ones.
The 14" ones are here: http://home.comcast.net/~madones/celica/celicaraceice.jpg but if you want 14" wheels, it would be cheaper for you to stop by your nearest import junkyard and pick some up off of a late-80s Celica of any type. There are gonna be a ton around.
Woohoo! Alltrac fun!
http://home.comcast.net/~madones/celica/celicarace2small.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~madones/celica/mud4.jpg
Ooh… a Celica thread! I really wanted one but those in my price range had a glaring flaw: the steering wheel got in the way of the speed - I couldn’t see the speed from 40 (maybe 50) to over 70.
