JDM Unicorns Episode 2: Toyota Celica GT-TS 1982

TA64 GT-TS: Car number 226 - Interestingly with door mounted mirrors. Note: Pumped front guards.

For episode 2 we look at the 1982 Toyota Celica GT-TS 2 door coupe of which only 200 were produced as road going versions for Group B WRC homologation. Often neglected, rusted beyond repair, turned into amateur rally cars and generally unknown outside of Group B rally fan circles this would have to be one of the rarest JDM unicorns of the 80’s on the road today. Not to be confused with the TA63 GT-T & GT-TR Celica/Carina/Corona family which used Toyota’s first twin cam, twin spark turbo engine the 3T-GTEU the TA64 Celica was an evolution of this using Toyota’s 4T-GTEU motor. The difference was a displacement of only 21cc more, making it essentially just a 0.5mm over bored 3T-GTEU. At least for the road car it was with presumably and extra pound or so of boost to bump power from 160hp to 180hp for a point of difference. But unlike the TA63’s the trim level was very basic, so why bother?

The reason was Toyota Team Europe wanted to compete using the Celica in the World Rally Championship but they had a problem. The FIA’s rules for turbocharged engines used the multiplication factor of 1.4 to calculate engine displacement compared with non turbo engines. This meant at 1770cc for the 3T-GTEU it could not qualify for Group B as it fitted under the 2500-3000cc class requirements. Due to the Celica’s weight it was actually better suited to the larger class. Simply increasing the capacity to 1791cc and producing the minimum 200 road going homologation versions was all it would take to push the Celica up a class allowing it to compete in Group B. So the agreement was made to produce 200 road versions. In group B they could stretch the engine out to 2090cc to produce an average of 370hp from the KKK/K27 Boosted TRD 396 WORKS Engine in race trim. Power levels were quoted as high as 592hp for qualifying. But little remains the same between the road and rally car when comparing with other Group B road going homologation vehicles of the era and for that reason the TA64 road car is just as reliable and cheap to maintain as any old Toyota.

It’s easy to see why you could easily walk past this rare Group B rally legend

We will leave the Group B rally car for another day and focus on the road version which almost appears as if it was reluctantly built. Firstly why was a new chassis code required? Once again FIA rules meant production would have to stop on the regular Celica so it was easier to create a TA64 as an evolution model for racing and satisfy this requirement. Another topic is how many TA64’s were built, which is still a subject of debate today. Toyota’s release claimed 200 road cars and 20 evolutionary versions for rallying which were converted to left hand drive. Others claim 225 with 25 evolutionary versions or even that 228 were built. Maybe some factory right hand drive evolutionary versions exist? But we found car number 226 which is a road car was alive and well in Japan suggesting that 228 may be the total number produced. But possibly a couple may have been crash tested, used as parts cars or squirreled away for some reason. Another theory is due to Japanese superstition cars number 4 and 44 may not have been built. What seems to be of no debate was that only 200 were sold for road use all of which were built in Toyota Tsutsumi Plant. This was bare minimum requirement and sadly for the GT-TS it seems Toyota only did the absolute bare minimum required throughout the entire process rather than creating a truly unique and memorable car.

For the road car the trim was a lot more basic than the GT-T. From what we have seen they are more like a STi RA or Evo RS of their time. The ones seen to date have no aircon and wind up windows. The fender Mirrors don’t seem to be electric. They have a basic steering wheel and interior trim level in comparison with the GT-T and GT-TR. You would expect it to out class the TA63 in every way being such a limited model but it was quite the opposite. Externally only the front guards which are pumped, but not as much as the rally car are the only hint there is something different other than the GT-TS badge. GT-TS lack side moldings, have steel wheels and look to have a narrower front lower apron than the other versions possibly for ground clearance. Every one we have seen to date has been painted in 038 Ivory White and we can’t find evidence of any other colour availability. Interestingly car 226 has door mounted mirrors and it is not known if it was produced like this or if it was converted later. All other photos show cars with fender mounted mirrors. What is not hard to figure out is Toyota must have presumed that most who would buy this vehicle would plan to strip it out and use it for competition purposes hence such a basic trim.

Engine wise on investigation even cylinder head numbers are the same as the 3T-GTEU engine. Where as all the 4T-GTEU race engines are 11111-blank numbered as per tradition. Actually its hard to see what differences there are verse a 3T-GTEU. Our guess is the road car has nothing more than a re-branded 3T-GTEU with a 0.5mm over bore and pistons/rings to suit but if someone has proof otherwise we would love to know. Would that be enough for 20hp more? If not we guess a little more boost or a bit more flow from the exhaust to bump it up and give it a point of difference. The transmission is Toyota’s trusty W55 which is more than enough. Surprisingly the chassis tag on one I have seen showed it uses a F292 Diff. But what’s not in doubt is this was a car that had the bare minimum done to achieve its qualification purpose rather than becoming a celebration of a special model. For us that’s a shame, we feel Toyota missed out on creating something that should have been as truly legendary road car as the S110 240RS Silvia. Imagine if they had actually fitted the full wide body kit and created a road version of the 2.1 litre making something truly unique. Performance wise they missed the chance to out class Nissan right there.

With out a doubt the most plain looking group B homogolation car of all the manufactures but for that reason the least known and likely rarest on the roads today.

But this is why this car is such a unicorn, so underwhelming was Toyota’s effort with the GT-TS that I could only imagine most road examples left probably trickled out of Japan as grey imports with dealers struggling to sell them with their plain looks or not understanding what they were. This was at the time when dealers bought cars by the row from Japan and didn’t care what they got as they could make money on everything. Some of them were probably sold to elderly owners who got stitched into them by dealers desperate to move them after they had sat on the yard for too long mistaken as a poverty pack. Later some would have been bought as a cheap run arounds and scrapped. This is why we think if you could find a original one of these still alive and well today you would have found a true JDM unicorn. If you know someone who’s got one let us know.

TRD 396 WORKS ENGINE - The 4T-GTEU in ultimate form.