48-year-old Toyota Celica lives again as a fine restomod

Nikos Bakogiorgas, from Greece, bought a well-used Toyota Celica liftback in 2013 and spent the next several years rebuilding it to perfection. Carscoops had an opportunity to test it and found it a great example of a “restomod done right” – lightweight, easy to steer, just powerful enough and surprisingly comfortable for what it is.

As you’d expect from a car born in 1976, it was due a complete overhaul. Nikos, or Nik Bak as he calls himself, took it completely apart and restored every single small detail. He overhauled the chassis and suspension to be 76 mm (3 inches) lower than stock and sourced numerous parts from other cars for the projects.

This is how the restomod ended up with a Celica GT front grille, BMW tinted headlights, 15-inch BBS wheels and a yellow paint job out of the Prius palette. By the way, the original rode on 13-inchers, so 15 inches is actually a notable upgrade over that.

The stock engine made room for a new 2.0-liter four-cylinder mill borrowed from a JDM-spec Lexus IS. It pushes a modest 238 PS (235 hp / 175 kW) to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual transmission, but it’s plenty to work with in a car weighing as little as 1,100 kilos (2,425 pounds).

In his review, Thanos Pappas points out great handling and acceleration up to 180 km/h (112 mph) and admit he was surprised with how soft the suspension was for a ride height this low. He does warn that some quirks, like fully mechanical brakes, may surprise the latest generation of drivers. Other than that, however, it looks like a properly done revival of a classic.