Hello from the Netherlands! '84 GT Coupe

[Gijss]

Hey guys,

I've been strolling through the forums for a little while now and thought it was time to introduce myself and my '84 Celica GT Coupe.
My name is Gijs Spierings, 27 years old and I work as an automotive photographer. I live in Eindhoven, NL and last year I've bought my second Celica Coupe.

It was fully restored by the previous owner and it looks and feels good as new, even though it's got 301.000+ km's on the clock.
Here are some pics.

[corax]

Welcome!
That is a clean coupe

[Teranfirbt]

That's a super nice car! Makes me want to do a 4AGE turbo one.

[Sigma Projects]

God damn that is a clean AA63! Welcome to the forums!

That's an interesting setup since it has the 84/85 front end and 82/83 rear. Are you sure it's an 84 model year? Also surprised to see fender flares on a GT let a lone a AA63. Never the less it looks awesome.

[twotone_ra64]

Welcome! That is a SUPER clean coupe, love the 4AGE. I bet it's a blast to drive.

[swan song]

Ever notice cars in other countries always appear better? What’s the deal?

[twotone_ra64]

Ever notice cars in other countries always appear better? What’s the deal?

I think it's mostly because the Celicas got only ONE engine option for the states, and that our ST/GT has SRA and no flares while the GT-S has IRS and flares. Other countries got all the spicy engine options plus different trim levels with various combinations of flares/no flares with SRA and IRS.

[danf]

Ever notice cars in other countries always appear better? What’s the deal?

California emissions.

[firstgenrex]

Damn beautiful car! Makes me really miss my old coupe. Welcomeh

[Sigma Projects]

Ever notice cars in other countries always appear better? What’s the deal?

I honestly think it's that cars cost more over seas so if it's done up it's got money into it.

I think it's mostly because the Celicas got only ONE engine option for the states, and that our ST/GT has SRA and no flares while the GT-S has IRS and flares. Other countries got all the spicy engine options plus different trim levels with various combinations of flares/no flares with SRA and IRS.

That's one of the weird things. True we got shafted on engine options, but if you look at sales brochures and parts diagram you don't see Celicas or Supras with fender flares. I found it really odd. Almost like fender flares were mostly a N/A option. That's why I was surprised to see flares on this Celica, especially being a GT and with a 4AGE since I never saw any of the AA63s with flares.

Edit: Also an oddity was that in Japan it seemed like they almost exclusively sold 3rd Gens with IRS. The SRA option seemed pretty rare. And obviously backwards for the US.

[Gijss]

Thanks for the kind words guys! Glad to see there's a Celica forum so alive!

God damn that is a clean AA63! Welcome to the forums!

That's an interesting setup since it has the 84/85 front end and 82/83 rear. Are you sure it's an 84 model year? Also surprised to see fender flares on a GT let a lone a AA63. Never the less it looks awesome.

Thank you! Yeah it's a '84, the fender flares were added during the restoring from a US donor car though. Which I'm really glad because for me that really makes such a good difference in how the Celica looks! This was the car, as bought new by the first owner (I'm the 3rd owner). I think the fender flared Celica's weren't for sale in Europe as I've never seen any on the internet. 3rd gen Celica's are really really rare here!

Welcome! That is a SUPER clean coupe, love the 4AGE. I bet it's a blast to drive.

Thanks man, yeah the drive is so nice!

Ever notice cars in other countries always appear better? What’s the deal?

I think it's mostly because the Celicas got only ONE engine option for the states, and that our ST/GT has SRA and no flares while the GT-S has IRS and flares. Other countries got all the spicy engine options plus different trim levels with various combinations of flares/no flares with SRA and IRS.

I think it's about the same here, I'm not sure but the previous owner told me that the 4AGE engine was pretty rare here. I had one before and it had a different engine (don't know which one, but it was a old shady ST)

The reason why the cars appear better I think is because cars like these are enthousiast cars, not really used as daily's.

I honestly think it's that cars cost more over seas so if it's done up it's got money into it.

They really do! A good example is the modern day Ford Mustang GT 5.0, that they now officially sell here in the dealers since 2016/17. Price is €112.901 from that is €64.275 BPM(Tax)

[Sigma Projects]

113k Euros? For a Mustang? Oh man that's nuts.

Ah that makes now about the fender flares. I'm still curious about the build date. Since the front fascia can be swapped between early and late model Celicas but the rear sheet metal around the license plate and tail lights is actually different between the early and late model Celicas. I'm wondering if in Europe some of the 83 bodies were sold as 84 models with the front from an 84. Do you know what the manufactured date is on your Celica?

[Gijss]

113k Euros? For a Mustang? Oh man that's nuts.

Ah that makes now about the fender flares. I'm still curious about the build date. Since the front fascia can be swapped between early and late model Celicas but the rear sheet metal around the license plate and tail lights is actually different between the early and late model Celicas. I'm wondering if in Europe some of the 83 bodies were sold as 84 models with the front from an 84. Do you know what the manufactured date is on your Celica?

Right! But the high tax mostly depends on the engine/fuelconsumption though, the price difference without tax betwheen the 5.0 V8 and the V6 Ecoboost is just around €6000, where the Ecoboost costs around €50.000. Still, huge amount of money for such a car.

Just checked the original papers and the manufactured date was 09-02-1984 (that's 9 Februari 1984)
Maybe it's a 'in between' model or something? To my knowledge the first owner did nothing to it, as he was 64 years of age when he bought it new.

[Sigma Projects]

Yea, that's pretty crazy. I forget how expensive the taxes are on cars in other countries. We generally don't have to pay much taxes on most cars.

If it was built in February of 1984 it would be a 84. Just to be sure, if you look on the placard on the door jamb (usually driver side) it will have its manufacture date stamped into it. Here's an example.



Also your VIN should indicate its model year, which might be different from your manufactured year. You'll see it as the 10th digit, usually for our old cars the last Letter in the VIN.



E for 1984 and D for 1983.

[swan song]

Lol. That vin pic is killing me! The “R” in “RN13 is not for “safety braking”, it designated the R series motor! Wtf! Although, the 22r was so slow, I guess you could consider it more of a safety feature than performance option.