It Came from eBay Hell: Once a 1974 Toyota Celica GT, Now a Faux Ferrari

The first generation if the Toyota Celica is somewhat of a cult hero here in Australia. Affordable, sporty-looking and well equipped at the time of its launch in the early 1970s, it proved a popular alternative to the heavier, thirstier American and Australian built offerings of the time.

Let’s put that aside for one moment and focus on our eBay entrant for today. It’s a 1974 Celica GT model that’s been the victim of one of the shoddier-looking Ferrari conversions featured on this site. It’s supposed to look like a 308 GTB, though at best it looks like a 400 that’s been severely shortened.

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Monster Toyota Celica Beats F1 Cars and Everything Else at Goodwood Recording the Fastest Hill Climb Time

Over the past weeks we’ve been bombarding you with news about exotic cars such as the Aston Martin Zagato V12 that would participate at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. The event took place this past weekend and the spectators gathered to marvel at every car enthusiasts dream garage.

But they also came to watch more than 200 production, tuned and racing models including recent Formula 1 cars, race against the clock in the famous 1.6 mile hill-climb. However, much to everybody’s surprise, the winner was not an F1 car but a tuned, 800+ horsepower Toyota Celica that recorded a time of just 48.07 seconds.

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Frozen in Time: Brand New 1970s Toyotas Abandoned on Dealer Lot in Cyprus

The Green Line is a 180 kilometer-long (112 miles) stretch of land that divides the island of Cyprus and its capital city of Nicosia. It was created as a demilitarized zone or a buffer, if you prefer, between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot controlled areas of Cyprus after Turkey invaded the Mediterranean island back in 1974. Here, lies an unoccupied piece of land that seems to have been frozen in time.

Now, we know some of you may be wondering what any of this has to do with an automotive website like Carscoop, so let’s cut to the chase and get to the story.

The answer is a stunning gallery from Bo de Visser, a photographer and journalist from The Netherlands, who was able to visit the Green Line in Cyprus and discover an abandoned Toyota dealer lot with an amazing collection of new cars from the 1970s.

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It Came from eBay Hell: Toyota Celica-Based Ferrari F430 Replica

There are probably more Pontiac Fiero-based imitations in the world than real Ferraris. Today, though, we have something a little different. No, it is not a Pontiac Fiero-based Lamborghini Miura (we have already had one of them), it is a Toyota Celica that has been transformed into a passable F430 replica.

Did I say passable? Well, only just. From the front, it looks okay, with the hood, headlights and A-pillar being sufficiently F430-like. As you move back, however, it all starts to unwind. The awkward side window treatment, slab-sided rear flanks and the shape of the rear windscreen just seem wrong. Though you can’t expect much from trying to transform a front-engined, front wheel drive Japanese coupe in a mid engine, rear wheel drive Italian exotic.

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Toyota Suplica Caught in Transition in Texas

Marton from San Antonio, Texas sent us these pics he took at a local auto parts shop thanks to his handy-dandy iPhone. What he and a friend initially thought was some poor Supra turned out to be, in his words, a Suplica; "but good god its ghetto." That one gets a digital high-five.

Marton, if it's ever seen again in a better state of kit, get some more shots and we'll see if the Suplica's gotten any prettier. More photos after the jump.

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New Wallpaper Gallery of Toyota FT-86 RWD Sports Coupe [plus Video]

The trickle of photos on the Toyota FT-86 Concept continues as the Japanese firm's European Design and Development (ED2) center in Nice, France, which is responsible for the coupe's styling, released a fresh batch of pictures and a short video of the rear-wheel drive sports car.

In a couple of shots, Toyota remembers its sporty past depicting the FT-86 alongside the Corolla AE86, Celica and Supra coupes. The updated gallery also includes some of the original sketches from the ED2 center.

During the company's press conference at the Geneva Show earlier this month, Andrea Formica, Senior Vice-President of Toyota Motor Europe, noted that the FT-86 would reach showrooms in early 2012.

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