In May 2007, after selling my BMW E30, I looked at Celicas and found this 1989 Japanese-import GT-R model for sale in the same suburb that I lived in.
I think it was listed at $4,000 and I offered $3,000 which was initially rejected, but later the owner called me and accepted. I should have been suspicious that they did accept my offer.
After a couple of drives I noticed the smell of burning oil and eventually realised the car had a cracked cylinder head. It came with service history that included a recent head gasket replacement that cost the owner several thousand dollars, but it looks like the head must have cracked afterwards or maybe they didn't realise this when they replaced the head gasket.
I also found a bit of rust around the A-pillar and there was no Celica badging on one side of the car, so I guess it had been in an accident at some point.
Being a Japanese domestic market model it had a few different features to the local models, like a digital climate control system, cup holders and unique seats.
I did look at trying to repair the car but got sick of the oil-burning smell and trail of blue smoke so I sold it on after a few months.
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