Anyone who has sat at home playing Colin McRae Rally on the PlayStation will have a soft spot for the Toyota Celica GT-Four. Whereas a lot of rally cars have been based on mundane saloons and hatchbacks the Celicas were always a far prettier coupe shape. Arguably the pick of the bunch has to be the ST-185, piloted to victory by Carlos Sainz in the World Rally Championship in 1992. With its familiar red and green Castrol livery the ST-185 GT-Four is one of the all-time classic rally cars, a curvaceous coupe, recognised by its wider body over the standard Celica.
Of course the cooking Celica was seen everywhere and although good-looking was hardly exotic. The name ‘GT-Four’ however, having been introduced in 1988 as the ST-165,
had already acquired cult status and was suitably rare to make it stand alone in the Celica range. The Celicas were a pure slice of futuristic late eighties design – there were no retro gimmicks here. Having had rallying success with the ST-165, Toyota worked on an even more high-tech replacement. Launched in 1989 in Japan, the ST-185 had a CT26 twin entry turbo to cut exhaust gas interference. The Type 3S-GTE 2.0 litre motor was transversally mounted and gave out 204bhp@6,000rpm. The 4WD system had a viscous coupling and whole thing was wrapped in a pumped-up Celica shell.
The car came with luxuries such as a 10-speaker sound system, A/C and a load of other comforts, although in Japan you could get a basic spec GT-Four with plastic wheel trims. The bonnet gained a scoop and Cossie-style vents on the side. The car was quick both on the road and at international rally venues. It blended dependable handling with turbo power, all held together thanks to legendary Toyota reliability. That said a friend of mine did have a Celica that broke down so much he renamed it the ‘Toyota Silly-Car’, but that’s beside the point.
Whereas other classic rally homologations all command huge prices the GT-Four can be bagged for next to nothing. But GT-Fours have to be a good investment if looked after, a cult car and a future classic. Not many appear under £1,000 (apart from some very iffy imports) but we came across this one which doesn’t appear all that bad. It has 135,000 miles, some MOT, and is in ‘good condition’ according to the seller. It’s a shame the original wheels aren’t still on it but generally it seems to be original and unmolested.
So go on – you won’t get a working Integrale for that price…
Ad reads: 1992 TOYOTA CELICA GT-Four 3dr 4WD Liftback.Manual, 135,000 miles, Red, wide bodied twin entry turbo model, dump valve, boost guage. good condition short MOT no Tax,usual GT4 refinements. £1,000. ono