Nov 29, 2021
When I at the age of 14 realized that I was close to driving, I started to get into cars. My favorite cars were (in no particular order):
I looked around my area, starting with old muscle cars and classics. Then I looked for old Japanese cars (imports), and then for everything else on my list. My only requirement was that the car had a manual transmission and was reasonably priced.
I was upset because I couldn’t find a car in my price range that wouldn’t take forever to fix. When all hope seemed lost, My dad noticed a new listing on Facebook marketplace. A 1990 Toyota Celica. He drove 30-45 minutes to meet the seller, and paid cash for it, all while I was in school.
It sat in a barn for 2 years, and it had a lot of problems, but they were all fixable. Here’s a list of some of the major issues starting out:
Today, I’ve fixed most of the above issues. As it stands, All issues are cosmetic. The paintjob is ugly and faded, there is some rust around the hatchback, the window tint is chipped and peeling, and the A/C needs Freon. Other than that, everything is perfect.
It drives very well, and I’ve pushed it up to ~95 mph on the highway with no issues. I also learned to drive stick on it with no problems. I can’t wait to see it when the bodywork and painting is done.
Here’s what it looked like when I first got it:
And here’s what it looks like now:
I still have a lot of things I want to do to it, and I’ll do my best to update this article as I make changes.