Daily Driven: 1G-GE-powered TA22 Celica

28 December, 2016

 

Owner: Sam McGill
Location: Auckland
Occupation: Navy able marine technician (electrical)

NZPC: Hey, Sam. You don’t see many people daily driving an old-school Japanese car in this condition any more. How long have you had it, and what have you done?
Sam: Hey, guys. I bought it nearly two years ago from an old guy down in Wellington. It was a bit rough around the edges, but I’ve been bringing it back up to tidy condition, and have added the ST-model bonnet vents, grille, and oil-pressure and ammeter gauges.

Being an able marine technician in the navy and getting deployed on the ships regularly, how do you find time to work on the car?
I actually took the door cards on the ship down to Antarctica with me — the side louvres and grille went on a trip up into the islands, as well. They’re pretty good like that; I’m allowed to work on bits in my own time. I also helped build an RB30 on a ship, but that’s another story.

The wheels look period correct for the car, giving it that awesome Japanese-muscle vibe.
What are they?

They are 1970s TRD Toscos; pretty hard to come by these days. For me, they absolutely make the car, and I’m so glad that I’ve got them. People leave notes under my window wipers asking to buy them [laughs].

Rad, and we see that it’s had a bit of an engine swap with the addition of a 1G-GE and five-speed box — do you have plans for more modifications?
For sure, I love the one-and-a-half 4A-GE [1G-GE]. I’m currently in the process of buying a 4A-GE individual-throttle-body set-up from a friend and want to get a high-scroll header.

That should make for some crisp noise! It’s missing some of the modern comforts newer cars come with — have you had any issues daily driving a 42-year-old car?
Not since I’ve owned it. I took it down to Christchurch over Christmas and it loved the 2000-ish-kilometre journey. Don’t think I could ever let it go now, to be honest.

A good choice. Look after the old girl, Sam. Thanks for the yarn.

Make/Model: 1974 Toyota Celica LT (TA22)
Engine: Toyota 1G-GE, 2000cc, six-cylinder
Interior: Factory, new carpet, custom centre console
Exterior: Resprayed green-purple pearl
Wheels/tyres: 13×8-inch TRD Tosco, 205/60R13 Cooper Cobra
Suspension: Shortened shocks, compressed springs 

1975 Suzuki RE5

Suzuki had high hopes for its RE5 Wankel-engined bike launched in 1975. It had started looking at the Wankel engine in the mid-60s and bought the licence to the concept in 1970.
Apparently all of the big four Japanese makers experimented with the design, Yamaha even showing a rotary-engined bike at a motor show in 1972. But Suzuki was the only one of the big four to go into production. Like many others at the time, Suzuki believed that the light, compact, free-revving Wankel design would consign piston engines — with their complex, multiple, whirring valves and pistons, which (can you believe it?) had to reverse direction all the time — to history.

Westside story

For the young Dave Blyth, the Sandman was always the coolest car and he finally got one when he was 50. “I have always had a rule. When you turn 50, you buy or can afford to buy the car you lusted after when you were 20. I was 20 in 1979 and the HZ Sandman came out in 1978. It was the coolest of the cool — I just wanted one,” he says. “Back then a Sandman cost $4500 new and a house was worth about $20,000. I made about $30 a week so it was an impossible dream then.”
Dave was heavily influenced by the panel van culture of the time. “I started with an Escort panel van and upgraded to a Holden HD panel van with a 186ci six cylinder. I started a van club, Avon City Vans.