Like I said it was the cheapest paint in the shop...

Our initial feelings off euphoria were short lived when the paint dried matt white, could it be because the paint was "the cheapest in the shop" ?

Undeterred we bought some more thinners and another splash of white paint and added a third coat.

Prime Time Entertainment

Here we go, bar coat being applied and not a roller or paint brush in site.

Don't Panic I know this looks like a lavish luxury to bestow upon our cheap as chips project but the paint that is to follow was the cheapest stuff the shop could supply that didn't need a roller to apply it.

Some of you may notice that these pictures are not in order.

They were when this was put together, who knows why they have swapped places.

It's paint Marc but not as we know it...

We had two glorious days over the bank holiday weekend to paint the car outside, but we chose the third day. When it rained.

This meant we had to move the car to the body shop to prevent rain drops and leaves blowing onto the freshly applied bar coat. This move meant the emptying Marc garage of assorted useful items* and pushing the car back about 12 feet.

However once inside the top quality paint application area we began earnestly masking the car with the Daily Star and other quality publications.

Very soon the car was ready for the Bar Coat, this layer prevents the paint that is already on a car reacting with the new colour causing bubbling and cracks, so in theory this coat should prevent the top coat of gloss white from reacting with the red paint underneath.

What could possibly go wrong?

* although Marc would argue with gusto most would refer to this stuff as junk, with the exception of a compressor that is waiting for a motor.

It's time to apply some paint

With an MOT the next part of our plan is to apply some paint. Now you have to bear in mind that the car cost £124 and not much more than 74p has been spent on it since so I ventured off to the pound shop for some out of date emulsion and paint and brushes.


Marc felt that the car deserved more than that so we went to B & Q instead.


It soon became apparent that it would be generally easier and probably give a better finish if the car was sprayed, so after returning the tins of white emulsion we stopped off at the local purveyor of car paint stuff.



Now fully armed with bar coat and paint we set about removing the last of the matt black paint and unbolting the spoilers and other bits of trim.




And you thought we were going to bodge this.

It has an MOT

Against all of the odds the celica has an MOT, first atempt to.

As you can see most of the black stealth paint has been scrapped, rubbed and softened off with blood sweat and tears to the point where the car is now a matt pink, however the new paint job is just around the corner, we are planning a decent coat of paint having spent at least 10 minutes beating the dents out with a couple of heavy stones we had lying around but it may yet be a roller, a pack of economy brushes and some emulsion from from the pound shop.

Our route has undergone some meticulous planning with hours of research trawling Pistonheads and google maps. We are looking to travel in this order; Nurburgring to Wurzburg to Volkach then to the Alps and the Stelvio Pass onto Lake Como then into Turin. We are then hoping to "pop" into Monaco for a quick photo of the car in casino square before the rozzers move us out for having such a cheap car. This will then be followed by a quick jaunt through the Mount Blanc tunnel then a furious dash through France to be back in Blighty in time for tea and buns.

Drinking wine, eating cheese and catching some rays

Things are really looking good now, a Friend has offered us accommodation after the "ring" and we may have the opportunity to visit a wine chateaux http://www.schoenborn.de/97.html?&L=1

Many thanks Manuel

This picure does not convey the true size of the task, Marc is now manufacturing an entire system from odds and ends that I had in my garage. The exhaust system is now a Range Rover and Marina hybrid.

As Marc is a perfectionist the sytem fits perfectley and sounds very nice.

The whole exhaust cost us 74p........ for a new bracket. We are truly doing this on the cheap.

On the right is the Celica back box that Marc was hoping to patch, however after removal it became apparent that the the box was bereft of any soundproofing as well as being rotten beyond belief, on the left is a Range Rover box that I happened to have lying around.

As they are so similar Marc should have no problem in swapping them over.....

The high beam, or lack of resulted as far as we could tell from a complete breakdown of the laws of physics within the vicinity of the car. Every reading from our test meters were so ridiculous that we opted to simply wire in a new toggle switch for the high beam that would be completely independent from the normal function of the headlights, it did give us the opportunity to strip out the old alarm immobiliser though which was not a bad thing.

Let's not spend any more money!

These pictures show the work that Marc undertook to repair the damage to the hub that carries the bearings, the spindle had been worn away when the bearing race had come loose, the shaft had been waisted so to save costs Marc built the area up with weld then machined the weld down to create a new shaft.

This has saved around £150 and keeps the car on track for £200 total build/ purchase price

10 Weeks To Go

We are up and running, employment has been sorted and despite a 3 month enforced sabbatical we are now giving it the berries.

This picture shows the simple task of breathing new life into the Celicas highbeam, some of you may why ask why the front wing has been removed?

Technically it was removed to beat a dent out, howvever that was an added bonus as removing the wing enabled us to feed a new wire through to the cabin for the high beam. Ironically the car is so well put together that we could not find a simple hole to poke the wired through, removing the wing gave access to the main loom.