Hello Everyone :-)

[Caldina_GTT]

Hello all on TOC

Thought I had better make my first post a hello :)

My name is John and I am 35 from Blackpool Lancashire u.k

I am now a bit of a Toyota convert having come from a mainly ford background.

this was my last performance ford before i became a convert to reliable Toyota's ;)

it was an XR3i but basically all the best bits of a series 2 RS turbo were transplanted into the Shell including engine and lsd gearbox.

I then sold that and bought this lovely machine.

a jap import 1990 ST185 celica gt4 which i kept for 5 years( the longest any car has kept me interested)

also whilst owning that one this also came into my ownership.

again a 1990 import ST185 which i did this to it :-)

Late last year I sold the grey car and reduced the Castrol car to spares and replaced it with this my user name has probably given the game away lol.

I think they are pretty rare as I have not seen another for sale in the U.K since I bought mine.

its basically an Avensis estate on steroids celica gt4 engine running gear around 250 ish BHP and perm 4WD.

any more ST215 owners about in the U.K

[T600]

Welcome John.

Beautiful cars. I even like the Escort and I'm not normally a fan of Fords.

Love the 215. I've never seen one, though I was aware of them. Hope you'll get it to a few shows so we can all see it.

[Boro Sera]

Hi and welcome.

Great Car history mate - even the Ford !

[Calisto]

Hi and welcome to TOC.....I love all the Celica's.

[Fizz]

Welcome to the club and love the car history...

I have never seen a Caldina (apart from the Fensport jobbie) in the UK and your the only one i personally know of that is on uk soil so congrats on being unique!

Bet its fun pulling up at the lights with that 'taxi'!

A lad who used to be on here called Ken took his Avensis and transplanted the 3SGTE engine into it and but left it FWD. Ohh.. and it was orange.. :)

You got the bug for the GTE engine then... didnt you fancy the ST205 during your ST185 ownership?

[Caldina_GTT]

Thanks for the welcome and nice comments about my cars :)

fizz my caldina is different to the fensport one theres is the ST246 and mine is the ST215 mines basically a mk 1 avensis estate where as i beleive theres is based o the matrix?

I beleive a few more like mine will arrive soon as they are now 10 years old so do not need the ESVA and model report

The reason i bipassed the ST205 was practicallity I have a family and the celica was just to limiting space wise.

The caldina seemed a logical move as I am now familiar with the 3s-gte though the caldina has a few differences to the 185/205 engines

[Fizz]

Yeah... The Fensport one is the latest revision and i believe its the only one in the country.

Well i wish you all the best with the car... are you planning on any stage one mods to the 'family car' then? A little exhaust here... a little boost controller there.. :P

[JappyBeast]

That Avensis is crackers!

[Caldina_GTT]

Hello Fizz

Not really got any major plans TBH

it came with Tein coilovers fitted so did not have a choice in that!

i have fitted a hks ssqv which came off my celica

planning to change to 17" late spec 10 spoke avensis alloys at some point and also a stainless 2.5 maybe 3" exhaust when the oem one rots away.

bit dubious about upping the boost as it already runs a higher compression ratio than the standard 3s-gte along with agressive mapping for jap fuel so its purely a V power drinker.

[buddster33]

Hi John,

I am also in the Blackpool area and am looking to buy an auto ST215. Please could you contact me as I would like to quiz you on it!

Robin