1970-72 Toyota Celica 1600 GT by Hasegawa

[Spottedlaurel]

With the Corvette ZR-1 finished and various other slightly more detailed projects moving forwards I felt I was at liberty to start something else. Nothing too taxing, ideally something from the '70s as a contrast to what else I have on the go - this Celica fitted the bill nicely. I toyed with buying a nice exampe in the 1990s, but I think my daily driver use would have been a bit unkind to it.

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I also have an Aoshima version, but I think this Hasegawa kit looks more accurate with some nice separate mouldings for the hood and pillar vents. It'll be built as a sympathetically modifed road car, and I'll keep the arches for something else. No engine, as almost always the case with kits of older Japanese cars, but at least it's not compromised by a battery compartment for a motor or lights.

Colour is currently planned as an automotive can of Citroen Mediterranean Blue, which I think was an '00s shade and reminds me of the pale blue/turquoise seen on some Celicas. A quick test shows that it needs to be built-up in thin layers, and might require a silver base over the grey primer.

All important question, what wheels to use?

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

The kit came with these Watanabe/Minilite-style rims as well as the wheels on the box art, and slick tyres to go with the "race configuration" parts. For some reason I am unable to use kit-supplied wheels on most of my builds, so they can go into the parts box. I had a rummage through the accessory sets and decided on these:

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Despite them saying they're narrow type the rears are still quite chunky, but with painted centres they should suit it well.

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I might have to do a bit of surgery on the rear inner arches to get it sitting how I'd like, and/or find some slightly narrower tyres.

Since the photos I've shaved the badges and primed everything. Weather's not looking too good this weekend so I should find time to move it on a bit.

[stitchdup]

Nice, these are good looking cars

[Tom Geiger]

Very cool!  I have a soft spot for Celicas. We owned a 1995 GT convertible. I’d love to have another one of those!

 

[Spottedlaurel]

51 minutes ago, stitchdup said:

Nice, these are good looking cars

They certainly were, and still are. Lots of late '60s muscle car touches in one nicely-balanced package. After the 240Z they were certainly one of the first Japanese cars to get attention here - there were always a few nice examples at the shows I went to back in the '90s.

I'm pondering building the other one I have as an early '80s street machine.....

52 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said:

Very cool!  I have a soft spot for Celicas. We owned a 1995 GT convertible. I’d love to have another one of those!

Sadly I've never properly* owned any example of Celica yet, I would have liked one of the next-gen late 1970s/early '80s models in the early days of my driving life but even in the late '80s they were getting rare here (and rusty), then I got into Datsuns as my favoured old Japanese cars. My positive experience with '90s Camrys means I'd happily give one of the later FWD models like your old '95 a go.

*I did buy this one for £60, but it was just for parts to trade with other people:

1980 Toyota Celica 1600ST c.1994/95 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

[Dave72]

Very cool so far! Great wheel choice. They look perfect. 

[Steve H]

Hi Nigel,

Well.... I am generally a muscle car guy, however... I LOVE these cars, always have. Looking forward to seeing you work your magic on this. Wheel choice is great. Hoping you will keep it low, I like low! If it is going to be curbside, have you considered adding working head and tail lights? I have one of these in my stash, this might inspire me to pull it out next, need to finish the Ol Comino first.

Cheers, Steve

[89AKurt]

I did the Aoshima kit with some Tamiya parts, look forward to seeing another one of these nice looking cars become a proper model.

[Spottedlaurel]

On 2/6/2021 at 12:23 AM, Dave72 said:

Very cool so far! Great wheel choice. They look perfect. 

Thanks Dave, they look right for an older Jpanese car.

On 2/6/2021 at 3:17 AM, Steve H said:

Hi Nigel,

Well.... I am generally a muscle car guy, however... I LOVE these cars, always have. Looking forward to seeing you work your magic on this. Wheel choice is great. Hoping you will keep it low, I like low! If it is going to be curbside, have you considered adding working head and tail lights? I have one of these in my stash, this might inspire me to pull it out next, need to finish the Ol Comino first.

Cheers, Steve

Thank you Steve, would love to see your take on one of these. The lights aren't something I'll add to this one, but they'd be an easy addition to the Aoshima kit as it appears to have recesses for the bulbs, and I think I have a lighting set in an old Fujimi kit. Hopefully you'll appreciate my results on the ride height see below......

On 2/6/2021 at 3:34 AM, 89AKurt said:

I did the Aoshima kit with some Tamiya parts, look forward to seeing another one of these nice looking cars become a proper model.

I remember you finishing that one when I joined here Kurt. They're great-looking cars with a lot of potential - you'll just have to use your imagination as to what mine might have under the bonnet!

Edited February 8, 2021 by Spottedlaurel

[Spottedlaurel]

Attempt number one on the suspension:

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Too high, and the wheel mounts I initially used turned out to be for the race car with arches so they stuck out too far.

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

A quick look at the struts showed that there was an easy option to lower it, I wonder if that was what they'd intended? The original hole was near the bottom of the strut, it was filled here with the remnant of the original mounts. I drilled new holes higher up and found a couple of plastic pins on the sprue that appeared to be for the non-arched road car. The hole is around 2mm, so I must have lowered it by 3-4mm, near enough to 3-4".

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Try again......

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

That seems to work, even managed to retain some ability to turn the wheels. I might have to shave a bit of the spring to get the wheels tucked-in a little bit at the top but I don't want to go excessive with the negative camber.

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Haven't yet sorted out the rear end, the fat tyres just squeeze in there but I'm going to do a bit of surgery to get them in properly.

Edited February 8, 2021 by Spottedlaurel

[Spottedlaurel]

I thought I was making good progress on this one until a little incident this morning......

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Started getting the interior together. Old brochures I have show it to have been a sea of black vinyl and some 'wood' trim, with perhaps a bit of nylon cloth within the seats.

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600 GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600 GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Got the basecoat of Citroen Mediterranean Blue down. Earlier this week I managed to get some automotive acrylic clearcoat onto it (same Halfords range as the base and primer), that flattened out nicely and I polished it this morning with Micromesh and resin polish. At this point I was very happy, it's probably one of the best paintjobs I've done.

What do they say about "Pride before a fall"?........

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600 GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I was attaching the floorpan to the bodyshell, usually quite a straightforward procedure on Japanese kits, when somehow half of the front valance (rocker?) broke off and the slender panel above it snapped. Kind of frustrating.....

The panel below the grille and headlights has since been glued together, and is hidden by the bumper anyway. I'm going to leave the broken section of valance off until final assembly - if I try and put it together now I suspect I might snap it off again. I can only be thankful that the break didn't go through to anywhere more visible. It's a clean break so a discreet bit of glue and reinforcement behind it should do the job.

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600 GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

First job was to cut out the rear inner arches, as the wider accessory set rear tyres wouldn't fit in there.

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600 GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Next was to narrow the track, achieved by shortening the axle and taking material off the back of the wheels.

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600 GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

This is where I'd got to by the end of the afternoon, with the interior progressing and most of the suspension/floorpan mod's done to get it sitting how I'd like it to. I had to notch the the end of the tunnel, and since then I've had to cut a hole in the floor for the top of the diff. This was the finished result:

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600 GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600 GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Leaving aside the little issue with the front end I'm happy with how this is progressing. The colour works well on the Celica's attractive shape and the ride height is just where I want it, not crazy low and with the wheels sitting nicely in the arches. Other than fabricating some basic new rear inner arches and making good the holes it's just a straightforward curbside assembly job from now. There are some sharply moulded trim pieces to detail and BMF to apply around the windows.

Edit: Looks like I could do with an anti-static brush........

Edited March 7, 2021 by Spottedlaurel

[FLHCAHZ]

Great build!  Really brings back memories!  I had a 1974 Celica GT in bright red. What fun times were had in that buggy 

[Spottedlaurel]

4 hours ago, FLHCAHZ said:

Great build!  Really brings back memories!  I had a 1974 Celica GT in bright red. What fun times were had in that buggy 

Thanks Chaz. Good to hear from a former owner and that you have fond memories of it.

I don't know about in the USA but 1:1 examples are worth quite a bit here now.

[FLHCAHZ]

8 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Thanks Chaz. Good to hear from a former owner and that you have fond memories of it.

I don't know about in the USA but 1:1 examples are worth quite a bit here now.

I have seen any around here in a long time. The winters and rock salt for melting snow and ice from the roads turned them in to rust buckets quite quickly. 

[1972coronet]

I'm digging on that Celica quite a bit ; I especially like its paint colour -- reminds me of Chrysler's GB2 Glacial Blue ( Plymouth ) / Light Blue Metallic ( Dodge ) . 

There used to be a lot of those Celica's of that era / design around here in the U.S. in the 70's - 80's , being especially popular during the gas shortages of 10/1973 - 03/1974 and 1979-1980 .

Too bad about that front panel ; disappointing (on their end) , truly . Perhaps --room permitting-- you can reinforce it with a length of uncoiled paper clip and epoxy ?

Keep up the great work !

Cheers !

[Modlbldr]

Nigel,

Thanks for posting this build. I've been wondering what that kit looks like. Exactly the one I want. I'll have to get me at least one. 

I love the color that you've chosen for it and that you built it without the race parts. It looks great!

Later-

[Spottedlaurel]

5 hours ago, FLHCAHZ said:

I have seen any around here in a long time. The winters and rock salt for melting snow and ice from the roads turned them in to rust buckets quite quickly. 

Same here, most of them became cheap, rusty cars by the 1980s.

 

3 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

I'm digging on that Celica quite a bit ; I especially like its paint colour -- reminds me of Chrysler's GB2 Glacial Blue ( Plymouth ) / Light Blue Metallic ( Dodge ) . 

There used to be a lot of those Celica's of that era / design around here in the U.S. in the 70's - 80's , being especially popular during the gas shortages of 10/1973 - 03/1974 and 1979-1980 .

Too bad about that front panel ; disappointing (on their end) , truly . Perhaps --room permitting-- you can reinforce it with a length of uncoiled paper clip and epoxy ?

Keep up the great work !

Cheers !

Thanks John. I've also been thinking about reinforcing that broken piece, a piece of metal might be a better soloution than the flat plastic I'd ben considering.

29 minutes ago, Modlbldr said:

Nigel,

Thanks for posting this build. I've been wondering what that kit looks like. Exactly the one I want. I'll have to get me at least one. 

I love the color that you've chosen for it and that you built it without the race parts. It looks great!

Later-

Thank you Tom. If you're able to choose between Hasegawa and Aoshima versions, and you want to build a nice road car, then the former is definitely the way to go. I'm keeping my Aoshima version for something more modified, as it's a little cruder (but still pretty decent). The Hasegawa kit also has the option of LHD dashboard and wipers.

Since these photos I've done a trial-fit of the glass, interior and floorpan into the bodyshell and it seems to go together quite happily. My larger-than-standard rear tyres are continuing to necessitate more clearance and trimming, but that's a self-inflicted problem.

Edited March 7, 2021 by Spottedlaurel

[Steve H]

This is looking fantastic Nigel. Stance is just right, and I agree with John that the colour choice is spot on. Nice to see one of these being built up, thanks for sharing sir!

Cheers, Steve

[Spottedlaurel]

On 3/8/2021 at 2:41 PM, Steve H said:

This is looking fantastic Nigel. Stance is just right, and I agree with John that the colour choice is spot on. Nice to see one of these being built up, thanks for sharing sir!

Cheers, Steve

Thank you Steve. Funny thing about the stance is that I actually had to raise the rear up a touch since I took those photos in my last post - it looked like it was dropping slighty at the back end, and the wheels were just a bit too tight in the arches.

I'd very much like to build my next Celica as an early '80s street machine, jacked-up at the back with slotmags, sidepipes and perhaps a small block Chevy under the bonnet?

Must finish this one first, and I shold be on course for that over the Easter weekend........

Having already broken the front part of the bodyshell I then managed to snap the front bumper in half. Maybe it was the plating process, but the chrome sprue did seem to be unusually brittle. It's a clean break, I'm just going to carefully glue it back together (and the front plate will hide some if the join).

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600 GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I've been chipping away at the foilwork. In the week I decided that to accentuate the pillarless coupe styling I needed to open-up the side windows. All of the glass was a one-piece moulding, so that meant some careful and nerve-wracking cutting without wanting to break something else on this nice kit.

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600 GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Pretty much everything prepped and painted for final assembly.

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600 GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600 GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

First look at it on the finalised suspension height.

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600 GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I managed to glue in the broken piece of front valance . Also started to add the nicely-moulded brightwork which have really started to bring it together.

I'm pleased with how it's going, musn't rush this final stage and break anything else.........

Edited April 3, 2021 by Spottedlaurel

[FLHCAHZ]

That looks really good!  The stance and wheel/tire combo are excellent 

[Bainford]

Wow, that’s looking good. 

[NOBLNG]

Looking really nice Nigel.?These cars always remind me of a mini-Camaro. 

[69_Stingray]

Very nice!  Those wheels set it off! 

[Draggon]

I love how this is coming along!

20 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

I'd very much like to build my next Celica as an early '80s street machine, jacked-up at the back with slotmags, sidepipes and perhaps a small block Chevy under the bonnet?

 

 

I'm sure you've seen this. If not, perhaps it's some inspiration?

[Steve H]

Looking awesome Nigel! Ride height still looks killer to me, and wheel/ tire combo is spot on. These Celicas, and the Subaru WRC are, in my opinion really cool little muscle cars. Like Greg said, reminds you of a mini Camaro. I would like to order some Fujimi and Aoshima wheels, but it seems that the ones I want are sold out everywhere...

Cheers, Steve

[Spottedlaurel]

Thanks for the interest and kind words everyone!

12 hours ago, Draggon said:

I'm sure you've seen this. If not, perhaps it's some inspiration?

I haven't seen that particular one, cool! I do have 'hot rod' versions of a couple of other Japanese kits along similar lines.

4 hours ago, Steve H said:

Looking awesome Nigel! Ride height still looks killer to me, and wheel/ tire combo is spot on. These Celicas, and the Subaru WRC are, in my opinion really cool little muscle cars. Like Greg said, reminds you of a mini Camaro. I would like to order some Fujimi and Aoshima wheels, but it seems that the ones I want are sold out everywhere...

Cheers, Steve

Thank you Steve. Shame you're finding the wheels difficult to find, I was lucky in that I bought a few accessory sets 10-15 years ago and I've been able to keep 'topping-up' my stock of them since then. Also I can swap wheels around between kits, especially when they come with an optional set. Sometimes I'll buy a particular issue of a kit because of what wheels it comes with (the Japanese sites that show the box contents are great for checking that).

I finished it last night, subject to some possible tweaks when I see it in the cold light of day. Better photos to come when the sun shines and I can get some outside shots, then I'll add it to the Under Glass section, but for now......

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600 GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1:24 Hasegawa Toyota Celica 1600 GT kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I found a large bore exhaust tailpipe in a Fujimi accessory set that looked more purposeful than the original. I need to see if I can find larger registration plate decals, those I wanted to use broke-up and it was getting late. There are some details I'd do slightly differently if I built it again, but the automotive paint I used worked out well and overall I'm pleased with how it came out.