Toyota Celica ST | Shed of the Week
Not the most exciting Celica. But perfect for the seasoned shed-finder
Something old and blue this week, and we’re not talking about Shed’s Bristol Rovers bobble hat. The sixth generation Celica was built between 1993 and 1999. This example is an ST, or AT200 in Toyota-speak. The only other gen-six Celica to come Shed’s way in the last ten-plus years was a red GT, or ST202 as it was never called by anyone other than marque nerds.
The GT had a 2.0-litre 3S four with 173hp, whereas today’s ST has just 114hp from its 7A 1.8 and would struggle to break into a single figure time for the 0-60mph run, compared to low eights for the GT. Quite a difference, but Shed says the fact that this car still exists at all is a good enough reason to feature it, and given the mood he’s in these days we’re not about to argue with him.
This model was more of a liftback than a hatchback, but ramming your Colnago in there won’t necessarily be the sweaty exercise you might imagine. A poster on the 2015 GT forum claimed he could get a fully-assembled road bicycle into the back of his AT200, or a medium mountain bike with the front wheel off. He also said that he got perfectly controllable lift-off oversteer around an off-camber roundabout, presumably with a set of Lingalonga Ditchfinders fitted for extra slideyness. Not bad for a 114hp front-driver though, if true, and with a weight of well under 1.1 tonnes you’re not going to cause much damage to anything you crash into, apart from yourself maybe.
The gen-six Celica was notable for its smoothly rounded Supra/Soarer looks which, Shed ventures to suggest, still seem fresh thirty years on. That wasn’t what some forum posters thought in 2015 when that red GT hit their screens though, and there’ll doubtless be some naysayers this time around too. Very few of these haven’t rotted away but this one looks – repeat, looks – very solid with just a few bits of paint missing from the front end. It sits well on its springs, has only done 114,000 miles and boasts nicely unworn front seats. The rears are a bit grubby but Shed’s column is used to that. This Celica has even managed to retain its original Toyota radio. Bet it sounds right tinny, but the radio on its own is probably worth a few bob to restorers striving for originality.
Some rear-end rust was noted in the 2021 MOT test but that was mended in time for its most recent test in October ’22, when the only advisory was for ‘rear most suspension component, anti-roll and trial arm corrosion’. We asked Shed to translate that, but the two minutes he signalled it would take him to get back to us is long past now and he’s still not said anything. In the absence of any advice to the contrary, we’re going to say that they’re replaceable consumables and nothing to worry about.
If your needs are for something that’s a bit different, that will be cheap to run (around 32mpg average, 14-inch tyres), that will hardly ever break down and that’s highly unlikely to depreciate any further, then this £1,295 Celica could well be the solution. If you can keep it going, who knows, it might end up being worth as much as a coke-bottle gen-one Celica from the early 1970s. Original examples of those are going for over £30k now, and like Shed says, they ain’t building any more.
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