Yep, Glenn’s heard all the
‘hairdresser car’ jokes, but
mid-11s and 113mph does mean
there’s plenty of hairdrying
action with this Celica!FOR a long time, 1970s Japanese coupes
were derided, slinking along in the shadow of
Aussie two-door classics such as Toranas and
Falcon hardtops, and stacked three-deep in
wreckers’ yards after P-platers had crashed
them. Not anymore, as this lovely RA28 Toyota
Celica proves. Not only has its chintzy, tinselly
70s-era styling finally come of age, but this
one has enough mojo to put down sizzling
11-second runs!
It’s the handiwork of Glenn Archer, who drove
the Celica from Canberra for a Drag Challenge
‘holiday’ with his partner Sarah. “It’s my first
Drag Challenge,” Glenn said on the eve of the
event. “I’ve only been to the drags a couple of
times before – once at Sydney and once at the
Toyota Nationals at Mildura.”
It’s powered by what Glenn – and other
Toyota nuts – refer to as a 1.5J six-cylinder
(a 1J head on a 2J bottom end – Google it!).
He built the donk himself with an Australian-
delivery 3.0-litre Supra bottom end under a 1JZ
six-cylinder head that came from a wrecker,
which Glenn had installed and has tinkered
with since he bought the Celica five years ago
out of a shed in Melbourne.
All that running gear had been in Glenn’s
previous car, an earlier-model RA23 Celica
coupe. “It was a little old lady car I heard about,”
he says of the fastback model. “I flew down,
bought it, changed the fluids and drove it home.
I really wanted a Mustang-style Celica.”Adding punch to the package is the Garrett
GT35/82R turbo mounted on a steam-pipe
manifold that Glenn built himself. “I did all
the fab work on the car except for the diff
housing,” he says, referencing the cut-down
ex-VP Commodore diff. Between that and the
Haltech-controlled, E85-burning engine is an
MV Automatics-built auto from the same Soarer
the first engine came from. Helping with much of
the prep was good mate Ken McCauley, who’s
Glenn’s boss at Totally Tuned in Canberra.
Most of what you see inside and outside the
car is standard, but Glenn has slid in a Sparco
seat and RPM harness and keeps his eye on
conditions with a set of Speedhut gauges in
the original binnacle.
“I drive it as often as I can,” Glenn says,
pointing out that his brisk Celica has now
travelled more than 25,000km in its present
configuration. To keep reliability up – and stay
out of the 10-second zone with his no-rollcage
car – Glenn backed off the boost and used
pump petrol during Drag Challenge.
“The car went great,” he says of the Celica’s
performance. “It towed my little box trailer along
perfectly with a little tool box and some spare
tyres, just in case!
“My biggest drama of the whole week was
that my headliner sagged onto my head, and
with no air conditioning, it was almost like
driving a shitty old Commodore,” he laughs.
“We’ll have air con next year for sure.”SEVERAL DC COMBATANTS TURNED TO THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN FOR THEIR POWERPLANTS
1977 TOYOTA
CELICA RA28
Class: K&N Dial Your OwnSPECS
Engine: Toyota 2JZ-GE 3.0-litre
six-cylinder with 1JZ head
Turbo: Garrett GT35/82R
Transmission: Toyota A340 four-
speed auto
Converter: MV Automatics 3500rpm
Diff: 3.89:1
Power: 340rwkWPrevious PB: 10.7@134mph
Best Drag Challenge Pass:
11.5@113mphYepYep,G, Glenlenn’sn heheeardardardalalall thehe
‘hahahairirdirressercacar’r’jokjokokkes,esbububuttt
midmidmid-1-11-1s andnd 113113 mphmphdodoes meaeaean n n
theththheere’reres ps pplenlenety of fhaihairdrrdryinying g
actacta ionioniononwiwwiwithththththitththis Cs Cs Celielielca!caFOR a long time, 1970s Japanese coupes
were derided, slinking along in the shadow of
Aussie two-door classics such as Toranas and
Falcon hardtops, and stacked three-deep in
wreckers’ yards after P-platers had crashed
them. Not anymore, as this lovely RA28 Toyota
Celica proves. Not only has its chintzy, tinselly
7 0s-era styling finally come of age, but this
one has enough mojo to put down sizzling
11-second runs!
It’s the handiwork of Glenn Archer, who drove
the Celica from Canberra for a Drag Challenge
‘holiday’ with his partner Sarah. “It’s my first
Drag Challenge,” Glenn said on the eve of the
event. “I’ve only been to the drags a couple of
times before – once at Sydney and once at the
Toyota Nationals at Mildura.”
It’s powered by what Glenn – and other
Toyota nuts – refer to as a 1.5J six-cylinder
(a 1J head on a 2J bottom end – Google it!).
He built the donk himself with an Australian-
delivery 3.0-litre Supra bottom end under a 1JZ
six-cylinder head that came from a wrecker,
which Glenn had installed and has tinkered
with since he bought the Celica five years ago
out of ashedin Melbourne.
All that runninggear had been in Glenn’s
previous car, an earlier-model RA23 Celica
coupe. “It was a little old lady car I heard about,”
he says of the fastback model. “I flew down,
bought it, changed the fluids and drove it home.
I really wanted a Mustang-style Celica.”Adding punch to the package is the GarrettGarrett
GT35/82R turbo mounted on a steam-pipe
manifold that Glenn built himself. “I did all
the fab work on the car except for the diff
housing,” he says, referencing the cut-down
ex-VP Commodore diff. Between that and the
Haltech-controlled, E85-burning engine is an
MV Automatics-built auto from the sameSoarer
the first engine came from. Helping with much of
the prep was good mate Ken McCauley, who’s
Glenn’s boss at Totally Tuned in Canberra.
Most of what you see inside and outside the
car is standard, but Glenn has slid in a Sparco
seat and RPM harness and keeps his eye on
conditions with a set of Speedhut gauges in
the original binnacle.
“I drive it as often as I can,” Glenn says,
pointing out that his brisk Celica has now
travelled more than 25,000km in its present
configuration. To keep reliability up – and stay
out of the 10-second zone with his no-rollcage
car – Glenn backed off the boost and used
pump petrol during Drag Challenge.
“The car went great,” he says of the Celica’s
performance. “It towed my little box trailer along
perfectly with a little tool box and some spare
tyres, just in case!
“My biggest drama of the whole week was
that my headliner sagged onto my head, and
with no air conditioning, it was almost like
driving a shitty old Commodore,” he laughs.
“We’ll have air con next year for sure.”SESESESESESESEVERAL DC COMBATANTS TURNED TO THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN FOR THEIR POWERPLANTS
1977 TOYOTA
CELICA RA28
Class: K&NDial Your OwnSPECS
Engine:Toyota 2JZ-GE 3.0-litre
six-cylinder with 1JZ head
Turbo: Garrett GT35/82R
Transmission: Toyota A340 four-
speed auto
Converter: MV Automatics 3500rpm
Diff: 3. 89 :1
Power: 340 rwkWPreviousPB: 10 .7@1 3 4mph
Best Drag Challenge Pass:
11.5@11 3 mph