# General Category > Creative Area >  A little different, but still kind of creative

## val-ent

Ok, it's a little different, but still kind of a creative venture. I've always had a thing for older cars and when I've got enough cash spare I like to buy one as a restoration project.

Since having a breakdown a couple of years ago I was unable to continue with my pride and joy project of the time and ended up selling it:


Recently I acquired a 25 year old Toyota Celica to restore and drive here and there. Here's the current state of it:







It might not look bad so far considering it's been around for 1/4 of a century and has done the equivalent of driving around the world 5 1/2 times, but my plans are for it to be a show car, which means I must continue until it looks as good (or better) than the day it rolled out the factory.

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## S deleted

I have done a bit of judging in the past at classic car events. It's difficult when you have an every day runaround to got it to, and maintain show standards. I't practically impossible to go for concourse class, but condition is a realistic expectation. It's a shame I don't have the pics anymore of my old cars.

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## Angie

I love the Celica, we used to have the Gen 6 Celica a few years ago and it started out a complete mess including no windscreen, sadly we had to sell it as an ongoing project, but they are an amazing car, one of the car shows we went to the Celica club was there and they had some amazing cars there

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## Zeppelin

I went from having a Rover to a celica, my hand was forced when the Rover 25 died, actually it didn't completely die but it wasn't far off, blown head gasket. My Celica is a newer model too. Yours looks really tidy especially given its age and mileage. Are you planning to keep it standard or modify it for showing?

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## val-ent

I suppose a car that's used will occur stone chips, weathering and so on. I'll go for as good as I can get. It doesn't get too much use as I've got an estate for running the kids about/tip runs etc...

I quite like the gen 6 celica, but eventually fell for the older style and pop up lights. I'm with the celica club, when I'm a bit further down the line I will start taking it to the shows.

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## val-ent

Just missed the new post. The celica will be pretty much standard, although the interior trim will be custom (based on the stock appearance, but reupholstered with new materials).

Ive owned so many rovers over the years, fancied something a bit different. The k and t series rover engines don't offer a challenge any more as I know them far too well.

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## Angie

The last time I saw the Celica's from the Celica club was at the last Rising Sun Car show so was a few years ago now, but there was some beautiful cars on all the car stands,

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## Zeppelin

I really liked my Rover when I had it, was a shame to let it go for something that could be fixed but it really wasn't economical to fix it along with the other work it needed. I have the gen 7 Celica (pre facelift), the 190bhp version. I really like the look of the first generation ones though, like:

They have a real muscle car look about them which I like. Don't think I've ever seen one in real life though, I suspect they would be expensive too.

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## S deleted

Why not take it to shows as it is? It's clean enough for the show stand and people like to see projects and it's a great place to pick up hints and tip. I really miss the show scene, always loved my weekends away.

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## Suzi

Ahhh my husband is car buff!  He was a specialist in car restoration for Aston Martin, Ferrari and other exotic sports cars. He's worked on lots of cars belonging to the rich and famous etc

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Angie (23-07-15)

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## Angie

zep that Gen Celica is amazing when you see them.

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## val-ent

The first generation did have a bit of a mean look to them! There is a show in September that I'm thinking of taking it too, it's only a couple of miles from me too as it's organised by the local classic car group (which I'm a member of).

That's a very expensive range of cars to be working on! It would be lovely to have access to cars of that nature, but for now the Celica offers enough work and joy for me :D

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