14x02 - 1982 Toyota Supra

[bunniefuu]

Toyota Seleka Supra
is a rear wheel drive dual

overhead cam drifting dream
for the boys of the 1980s.

Toyota nailed it with
this, the Seleka Supra.

And these days it's rare to find one
that hasn't been completely modified.

How long have you had it?

I've had it since 1984 Mike.

That's an awfully long time to own a car.

We found a bone stock 1982 P-Type.

But like anything made
during the era of spandex and

VHS cassettes, this classic
is now showing its age.

Look at the steering wheel.

Yeah, that is a shame.

If Ant and I can return this Supra
to its original sporty splendor.

Someone has bodged this badly.

Without breaking the bank.

Ooh, that's not good.

I reckon we'll be in for a tidy profit.

Here's a confession for you.

I was born in 1964.

So by the time 1982 came
around, I was 18 years of age.

I was obsessed with cars.

I always dreamed of racing a car.

And one car in particular
was a Toyota Seleka Supra.

That car was so right for the day.

It had big shoulder
pads and those sharp

lines that only the 1980s
could get away with.

I've never had the chance to own one.

Up until now.

Because I'm on my way to go
and see an 82 Seleka Supra that's

been in the same ownership,
believe it or not, since 1984.

Now he tells me it's completely unmolested.

And that is really important.

Because due to rising popularity
of films like Fast and Furious,

a lot of these cars
have been snaffled up

by people and they've
been heavily modified.

Now the guy's a pilot and he's
arranged to meet me at an airport.

Now pristine examples of these Toyota
Supras can go for as much as $14,000.

Eric is asking $7,500.

Now the good news is I can
tap into the nostalgia market.

Somebody who wants to relive their youth.

And you know what that means?

Cash profit.

Well that is the way
to present a car, isn't it?

Look at that. I really want to buy it.

You must be Eric.

I am.

Eric, lovely to meet you.

Mike, likewise.

What a great place to sell a car in
this amazing hangar with a red baron.

And we've got the best of
American Air Force right there as well.

And this wonderful 82 Supra.

I'm very excited about this car.
How long have you had it?

I've had it since 1984, Mike.

That's an awfully long time to own a car.

It is.

If you've had the
car for that length of

time, why on earth are
you looking to sell it?

My son is turning 15.

And I was afraid that he would roll this
car and I just couldn't live with my son.

Yeah, I'm probably right. These cars
can swap ends on you quite easily.

Can I start under the bonnet?

You bet.

Here we go.

Wow. Hey, wonderful.

There's that lovely
six-cylinder Toyota engine

that always started up
on the button, you say?

Double overhead cam, it always started up.

It looks pretty good.

Let's just check underneath here.

Oh, dear.

Did you know that the head
gasket looks like it's on its way out?

There's a bit of foam
in the oil filler cap.

It's only 32 years old, Mike.
It might need a replacement.

It could do, but it looks
pretty good on the face of it.

The wheels, they're very
good, nice and period.

There's no glitzy chrome on this car.
It looks really manly.

It used to have Guard
Pilot on the license plate.

Did it really?

GRD PLT.

Did it really?

Because I was a fighter pilot and
I would drive this to the base and

get out of that and then get into
something that flew a little faster.

Oh, that's fantastic. I just see it
now, riding through the danger zone.

That's it.

It's proper Top g*n, isn't it?

And this, I know, is a P-type
model, P-type being performance.

It's got the flared wheel arches. It should
also have an eight-way adjustable seat.

And it does.

Look at that. I love the interior
of these cars. It's so retro.

There's that suspect,
nasty steering wheel cover.

Ah, yes.

And I can see why.
That's horrible, isn't it?

I mean, it just needs tidying up.

It does.

I suppose with a car like this,
it's about the driving experience.

Would you mind if I took
it out there for a test drive?

You have at it, Mike.

An 82 Toyota Celica Supra.

I've got to tell you, Eric
had me at first hook, walking

into that aircraft hangar and
seeing this car sitting there.

This is a car that I fell in love
with many, many years ago, and

I've had a little bit of a
passionate affair with it ever since.

This car almost immediately has grabbed me.
It's got my attention.

Toyota nailed it with
this, the Celica Supra.

Back then, straight-six engine
produced 145 horsepower.

Now, that's not a lot in
today's money, but this car

also sprinted from 0 to 60
in just under 10 seconds.

Again, not fast in today's money, but back
then, this car really got down the road.

Sitting on the road nicely,
there's no crashing, no banging.

Just a slight knock coming
from the rear every now and then.

I reckon that's the exhaust system.

Seems like an electric sunroof, this car.
Does that work?

Yeah, look at that.

Slides all the way backwards and forwards.

Put the lights up.

Oh dear, only one of
the lights is coming up.

This car is winking.

The one thing that I'm in love
with with this car is the originality.

Eric wants $7,500.

If this car was all up
together, I didn't need to do

the head gasket, do the
headlamps, tidy up the interior.

I'll pay him seven and a
half grand in a heartbeat, but

unfortunately, it needs
quite a bit of work doing to it.

But if I can get this car for about
$6,500, that's about 5,000 English pounds,

this car will be coming back
to the workshop for me and Ant.

What do you think, Mike?

When I was driving it,
the overriding thing that I

kept thinking about is
just how original this car is.

Good.

The bad stuff, unfortunately,
is the head gasket.

The interior is looking tired.

The exhaust has got a
knock and a nasty rattle.

If this car was all up together, I'd
pay you $7,500 and I'll be on my way.

But because it does need that
amount of work, I think it's worth $6,000.

You know, Mike, this has
been a big part of my life

and I think there's
more value in it than that.

I can't hear this.

I'm going to do the
right thing by this car.

If I was to buy it off of you,
I'll make sure this car lives on.

So if you can give me a
better price than the $75

you need, I'm sure we
can put a deal together.

You know, with that in mind, I
could probably come down a little bit.

So what's the best price you can do for me?

$6,500.

Hold out your hand.

Done.

Yes, I just bought myself a Toyota Supra.

I can already see
the mission laid out in

front of me and Ant,
what to do with this car.

We need to retain the originality.

That's going to be
really important with this.

I know Ant, he's a child
of the 80s, is going to be

over the moon when I get
this back to the workshop.

And I can't wait to see
the look on his face.

That is a bit of retro 80s cool.

A Toyota Supra.

I mean, that's got to be one of
the cleanest Supras I've ever seen.

You'd think I found myself a little
time machine, went back to 1982,

and just plucked this off a used
car lot after it was six months old.

Yeah, but how much was it?

Believe it or not, I got all of that
car for just $6,500, about £5,000.

I mean, that is a proper
grand tour at Driver's Car.

It's cool, isn't it?

Don't change a thing.

I ain't going to change a thing.

Now, wait till you see under the
bonnet because it is fantastic, this car.

This is the car that comes with
that double overhead cam engine.

There's an oil leak on the back.

But unfortunately, it gets a
little bit more serious than that.

Head gasket.

Head gasket's gone.

So while you're there doing a head gasket,

let's get this car performing,
looking, sounding right,

because it deserves it.

Yeah, I mean, this car was
designed with all of that work in mind

because what Toyota did is
they made it usable for people.

I mean, there's even a little
torch here in the engine bay.

It's good, that, isn't it?

And the whole car has been
assembled so that it can be disassembled.

They were one of the first generation
of cars that started to colour code things.

Blue for the washer bottle, black
for the oil, silver for the water.

So it was obvious how you
can interact with your car.

And the interactions didn't stop here.

They continued inside.

You're going to love this interior.

Do you know what? I've got one word.

Velour.

Velour is great, isn't it?

I reckon we should start a
campaign to bring back velour.

It's like sitting in the 80s.

It is.

It's a bit tired in here.

The seats have faded a bit.

I'm going to start a campaign.

Get rid of those.

Yeah, but you know why it's on there,
because look at the steering wheel.

That is a shame.

You know what a
signature of a Toyota Supra

is, though, when you're
going down the road?

Pop-up headlights.

It's a pirate.

Argh!

A car who's driving
down the road like that.

Well, hopefully there's something simple.

Let's hope so. Anyway, you like it?

Do you know what?
I'm absolutely blown away.

I can't believe it.

You seem to have stumbled
across the holy grail of Toyota Supras.

What's the catch?

Unfortunately, the problems
don't stop on the interior.

When I was driving it back to the workshop,

the exhaust started
banging against the rear axle.

Also, the other signature feature on
this car has to be those alloy wheels.

The problem is they've been
acid-baffed about 1,000 times,

and it's really et into the
aluminium of the wheel.

But what I'd like to
do is to try and find a

process where we can
bring them back to life.

Yeah, and we must keep
these original wheels.

Correct.

Let's try and get this car back in that box
and put it back on the shelf on display.

If we can do that, I reckon we could
turn it up for $12,000, $13,000, $14,000.

Okay, so if I get it right, we need
to focus on original, original, original.

You got it. Perfect.

Right, should we get it in the workshop?

I still can't believe you managed
to find such an original Supra.

This is amazing.

Somehow, Mike's managed to
find one owner, totally unmodified,

totally original Supra.

But it's still a 35-year-old car,

and 35-year-old cars
have 35-year-old problems.

And the first one I'm going
to tackle is the head gasket.

To get to the head, I need to
remove all the components around it.

First, the throttle cable.

Then the air intake tube, which
delivers air from the air cleaner box.

Next, the spark plug leads.

Then the distributor.

And finally, the exhaust
manifold heat shield.

Ooh, that's not good.

There's a crack in the manifold.
I have to add that to the list.

We've got ourselves a 1982 Toyota
Supra that's untouched by tuna hands.

The one thing that I'm in love
with with this car is the originality.

But sadly, not all of its
original parts are in good Nick.

You know, the crack on
this manifold's pretty bad.

It runs all the way through.

The car won't drive effectively like this.

I reckon I can save it.

The first thing I'm going to do is
use a grinder and cut into the crack,

create a little channel, and it's
that in which I'll drop the weld.

That's the channel.
I'm now going to fill that with weld.

Basically, I'm adding molten
metal to fill in the channel I made.

Next, I'll grind down the weld
and give it a smoother surface.

To finish it off, I'll apply a quick
coat of ultra-high temperature paint.

Now, back to replacing the blown head
gasket, which means moving the head.

Now, if you're taking an engine
apart, my advice is really simple.

Make sure you take it
apart at top dead centre.

At least then you stand a
fighting chance of putting

the engine back together
again at top dead centre.

Now, Toyota make
that really easy for you

because they give you
the marks on the camshaft.

I know that this dot
here lines up with this

dot here and lines
up with a casing dot.

So, all I've got to do is ensure
that all those dots line up.

If it doesn't go back and it's only a
few millimetres out, it's going to go bang.

And bang's expensive.

This Toyota head is held in
place with 14 bolts, so I need

to remove them as well as the
head to get to the head gasket.

The bolts are hard.

Separating the heads
off on the hardest bit.

That looks encouraging.

Blimey!

Now that I've removed the
head, the gasket pops out easily.

When Toyota put this
car together in 1982,

they actually used
asbestos for their gaskets.

I'm pretty sure that stuff's bad for you.

Now, if I'm going to use a
new gasket, I need to make

sure it sandwiches between
two perfectly flat surfaces.

Any little deviations or gaps,
the gasket isn't going to work.

So, I'm going to get this head sent
off and have that surface skimmed.

I've sent our cylinder head off
to a machine company literally

around the corner and they're
going to skim the head for us.

And it's going to take a couple of hours.

So, in the meantime, I've tidied
myself up, I've had a cup of tea

and I'm going to demonstrate to
you exactly how a head gasket works.

I'm going to do it using this,
half a destroyed V8 engine block.

And in it, you can clearly see
the separation, the four pistons, the

oily bit, the waterway around the
edge, that's where the coolant goes.

But instead of using a gasket, I'm going
to use simple bathroom silicone sealer.

Plus, I'm only going to
put it on half the engine.

Now, the trick is to make
sure I create a watertight

seal that separates
the oil from the water.

Now, the point of
this piece is that the

silicone now replaces
the need for a gasket.

Now, I need to fill up the water
jacket and I'm going to do that using

genuine antifreeze that looks like
some sort of rubbish energy drink.

The outside of the
engine is filled with coolant,

the inside of your
engine is filled with oil.

And instead of putting a head on,
I've made a piece of clear perspex.

This way, we can see
exactly where it fails.

And see the silicone spreading
underneath, it's creating an

airtight and watertight seal
between the water and the oil.

And that's exactly what a gasket does.

It looks pretty airtight on this half, but
the only way to really test is I've hooked

up an airline to mimic the pressure that
an engine would be under when running.

It's the moment of truth.

Yeah, it kind of worked.

Right, I can see here that the water
is coming out on the left-hand side, the

side where there is no silicone, but
on the right-hand side, it's perfectly dry.

This is exactly what happened with our
super head gasket, so I need to replace it.

While the head's been at the
machine shop, I've used the

opportunity to give the engine
bay a little bit of a tidy up.

And it looks fantastic, and so does
the freshly skimmed head, perfectly flat.

But the truth is, you can't
really tell with the naked eye.

If I put it into perspective, if there's a discrepancy
on this surface of more than 0.09mm, which is basically

the thickness of a regular piece of paper, then even
the modern replacement gasket will probably fail.

I need to know that this
surface is perfectly flat and

the top of the engine
block is also perfectly flat.

So when I bring the two surfaces
together and the new gasket is

squashed between the two, we
stand a fighting chance of it working.

Otherwise, all of this will be for nothing.

Now I've gone with a modern graphite composite
gasket. This should work really well.

Now changing a head
gasket is labour intensive,

and that's where the
majority of the costs are.

The parts themselves, well
they're relatively cheap. I

pay just $35, that's about
£25 for the gasket itself.

It's really important to get
the bolt pattern correct, and

the torque setting too. And to
do that, I rely on the manual.

My advice is to always use new
head bolts. And the reason is, they're

put in with so much pressure
that the bolt itself actually stretches.

That's the head bolted down.

Our plans for the interior
get turned upside down

when I find out Volua
vanished with the 1980s.

Did you have a word with your
guy about the material for our seats?

No, they can't find it.

I bought a piece of pure 1980s GT
history, an 82 Toyota Celica Supra.

And sorted our cracked manifold and leaky
head gasket, but if we expect to turn a

profit on this motor, we'll have to find
a way to spruce up its tatty upholstery.

I really love this interior, it's
classic 80s retro. But sadly, like the


use, this steering wheel's bashed.

I'm just going to take it all
out and give Mike the problem.

Removing the seats gives me
an opportunity to see parts of

the carpet that haven't seen
daylight for literally decades.

Plus, I can give the whole
carpet a lovely clean up while

Mike gets the seats trimmed,
ready to drop straight back in.

The carpet in the
boot, it is totally ruined.

Really, that's only down to one thing.
Sunlight.

It's literally falling apart in my hands.

If you look at the colour spectrum
from Violet all the way down to

red, Violet's really good with
UV, it reflects the majority of it.

But by the time you get to
red, red is the worst. It absorbs

the majority of UV, which
effectively amplifies the problem.

So when you consider this is a car
in sunny California with a massive

rear window and a red carpet,
it didn't really stand a chance.

So Ant's given me the problem of
the interior, but don't worry because

I've got a fella called Revo who
knows how to sort an interior.

Where is he? Revo!

Hey Mike, what's happening?

How you doing? Always well on you.

Yeah, not bad at all, thank you very much.

I see that my interior
has been sent down for my

wonderful 1982 Supra.
What do you think of it?

Love it. Isn't that cool?

The biggest worry I've got is
this nasty looking steering wheel.

This looks like somebody's had
their hand on there and they've had

their arm on the window and
they've just been cruising for 35 years.

California driver.

Down PCH.

What can you do with this?

I'll just remove it, cut it all off,
repattern it, put it on the digitizer and then

we'll do a little refresh, perfect the
pattern and cut it with the automatic cutter.

Change the stitching if you
want, something a little bit nicer.

Stock, stock, stock.

Right, I want to keep it stock. Most
people have thrown this away but I want

to keep the wheel because it's got a
detail in it that's replicated on the car.

Can we have a go at doing it?

Yeah, let's go.

Revo takes torn bits of
old steering wheel cover to

prevent any further damage
from happening as he removes it.

We only really have to digitise and pattern
half and then we can just mirror the image.

Let's just line that up, top
and bottom and get a Mark.

I'm using a razor blade to cut
the old cover off the steering wheel.

Nice, look at that.

Look at that, the steering wheel.

But now this is the
difficult part for you because

somehow you need to
make a pattern out of that.

We'll just try to keep it
flat and I'll just make some

key points for what we're
going to do on the digitizer.

Is this ready for digitising?

Yep, let's go over here.

So how does it work then?
You've got the crosshair and

you just hit the button and
it draws it on the computer.

Want to get us started?

Yeah, which button?

Ones are for straight
lines, threes are for curves.

One step at a time,
Revo creates an outline

for the new cover
using a pattern digitizer.

I love it, look at that.

This machine will aid us in
making a new cover by scanning a

precise set of measurements of
the old cover into the computer.

Two for close.

Once the pattern is in the computer
it's over to the cutting machine.

So if you want to get us
started, the green one twice.

So this is taking the design for the board
here into the computer and then from the

computer it lays it out and cuts it down into
the material and it's millimetre perfect.

Brilliant.

Wow, all cut.

Right, let's have a look at these pieces.

And there's one, that looks incredible.

And there's the other piece.

So now you're measuring it up
against the steering wheel and if you're

happy you'll lay down some
leather and cut it in leather, right?

Yes.

Revo uses the pattern to cut a spot
on copy of our tatty original cover.

The new cover is stitched by hand.

Details like these are going
to be the key to selling this car.

This is looking fantastic,
look at that wheel.

What, you're doing this by hand?

Do you think I can have a go?

Yes, you can try it.

Let me try it.

At least I can say I had a hand in it.

Look at you go.

Yeah, look at that.

Yeah, you can pull the thread.

Just keep pulling, yeah?

My sewing teacher at school is
going to be immensely proud of me.

Those lessons that I had when
I was a kid, I never thought I'd

be doing some proper hand
sewing on a leather steering wheel.

That's wonderful. But look, I think I
should leave the professional to do this.

I need to talk to you about these seats.

So did you have a word with your
guy about the material for our seats?

Absolutely.

What did he say?

They can't find it.

Can't get the fabric?

Nope. You've got options.

What are the options?

Start with just maybe
matching this up with a velour.

Probably can't get it
exact, but it'd be close.

But the problem is, it's so specific,
the colour of the interior of this

car, if we wasn't to match this
velour, it's just going to look odd.

I think the right thing to
do is to just leave it, just

don't change the seats at
all, just keep them as they are.

Can't leave it like this.
How about the other option we still have?

We can take it all apart, we
can clean it, we can fix all the

stitching, we can put all new
foam in here, tighten everything up.

We've got some issues on the back
with the netting, we can tighten that

up and fix all the framework and
make it look as pristine as possible.

There you go.
That's what I was waiting for.

That'll work for you?

That would really work for
me. And we retain the originality

if we can shine them up and
make them look a lot better.

It's going to really help me sell this car.

Revo, that's why you're the man.
Thank you for that.

Thank you. You're the man.

Right, now what about, Wade, are we done?
We finished?

Yeah.

Yes? Seriously? Oh,
that's wicked. Right,

I'm going to drive this
back to the workshop.

Hey, up.

Yo! There she is, the little Supra.

They're getting on with it.

She runs beautifully.

Excellent.
That's exactly what I want to hear.

Look, how nice is that? Hand stitch,
beautiful job, we match the leather.

I love the way the stitch
matches the pattern.

It does. And what about the seats?

Okay, so there's a bit of
a problem with the seats.

Okay. We can't get the material anywhere.

What, velour?

Yeah, we can't find it. I think
velour was just screwed up in the

year 2000 and thrown in the bin
because it doesn't exist anymore.

I've taken an executive decision and I've
decided not to do anything with the seats.

Revo has promised me that he will enhance them. He
will take the covers off, he'll wash them, he'll

re-stitch them, put some more padding in where the
foam's a little bit baggy, clean up the frames.

They will look original,
but they'll look nicer.

It's the right decision.
It is the right decision. What's next?

Right, remember you had
that knock at the back? Yeah.

I'm pretty sure it's the exhaust.

Perfect. So that means you've got to
do some work on the exhaust. Yeah.

And I'll find a customer.

When Mike drove this
car, he told me that it had a

bang from the exhaust and
straight away I can see why.

It's leaning against a drive shaft
and someone has bodged this badly.

I mean think about two,
three, four hundred degrees

leaning against a rubber
gator and a moving part.

That's not good. Plus, there's your knock.
It's got to come off.

And once the whole exhaust
system is off, I can see which

parts I need to salvage
and which I need to replace.

If I look past how tatty this exhaust
is, it actually serves its primary function

and that's to safely and
quietly take gases out of

the engine and put them
out the back of the car.

And really an exhaust breaks
down to three main components.

The manifold, which is at the
front of the engine, and that has to

be really strong and built to
withstand six, seven hundred degrees.

The catalytic converter in the middle, that
gets rid of all the poison in the gases.

And then the sil*ncer at the
end, it's that that makes it quiet.

The rest of it, the bits in
between, are just pipes.

The problem is on this
exhaust, they're just bogged.

You know, I can see here exactly
where it's been hitting the drive shaft.

It's actually dangerous.

Now I could take a spanner to this and try
and take it apart the old-fashioned way,

but I can see it's really
rusty and it's going to

cause me a problem, so
I get to do it the fun way.

With this little friend.

This exhaust has been so
badly bogged, they've put

the catalytic converter
on the wrong way round.

There's a little arrow on
the front that denotes the

way the gas is supposed
to flow, and it's back to front.

I'm going to keep the
front section of the exhaust.

That bit's usable again, but
from the catalytic converter

back, I'm going to replace
it, starting with a new cat.

Now the science behind
how a catalytic converter

works is really simple,
but absolutely genius.

Inside it is a ceramic honeycomb
that's coated in elements like

platinum, and it's those elements
that cause a chemical reaction,

so when harmful gases go in, like
carbon monoxide, they get converted

and then they come out less
harmful, like nitrogen and water.

Now the fact that there's
platinum in here makes them

really stealable, because
platinum's a precious metal,

but on the plus side, it
makes them recyclable, so the

one we're taking off our
car isn't going to go to waste.

The first step is to weld the new catalytic
converter into the old exhaust header.

Next, I'll bolt it back onto the manifold
and make sure it's seated properly.

Now I need to fabricate new
brackets to support the sil*ncer.

Finally, I'll test fit all
of the components.

I've refitted the repaired
manifold, reused the

downpipes, fitted a
new catalytic converter,

and you'll notice the
arrow's now flowing in the

right way, and I've also
fitted a new sil*ncer.

The trick is now to join
the cat to the sil*ncer

using a piece of pipe,
avoiding all the moving parts,

like the prop shaft, and of course,
the drive shaft. Bending time.

Now this exhaust won't be
original, but it will be safe.

I'm going to bend the new exhaust
pipe at just the right angle so that

it follows the line of the original
exhaust and doesn't hit anything.

This exhaust needs a lot of
complicated curve, so it's easier to

bend several shorter pieces of
pipe and then weld them together.

I have the tools and I have
the time, so I'm fixing this

exhaust myself, but a
store-bought kit works just as well.

Now I can mount the
exhaust sections together

under the car and weld
everything into position.

For me, it's at this stage that all
the extra work is worth the effort.

Yes, you can just buy one in a box
and bolt it on, but being able to look

back at something that you've made
from scratch, now that's satisfying.

I'm going to see if I can get
this Supra to stop winking at me.

The problem must be around here somewhere.

Mike and I have been working
really hard to make sure that this

Supra is ready to hit a 1980s
showroom floor, and she's almost there.

I fixed the leaky head
gasket, sorted the cracked

manifold, and even put
a new exhaust system on.

Now I'm into the bit of car building
that I love the most, the final details.

These are awesome. They're
going to transform the look of the car.

To get the rims looking
like this, they've been

refinished with a process
known as diamond cutting.

It uses a CNC machine to
shave off a thin layer of metal.

These rims look brand new.

I've gone ahead and installed new carpets,
sent over by Revo. Now I'm onto the seats.

These original seats look amazing.

The guys at the upholstery
shop did a fantastic

job on this Supra's
original velour interior.

The fabric was cleaned,
stuffed with new foam,

and re-stitched to
complete this retro look.

I'm so glad we kept this
original interior. This velour

is of the period, and once
it's gone, it's gone forever.

What we have done is
sorted out this rear panel,

nice new chrome trim,
and a brand new net.

This newly trimmed steering wheel is
lovely, but it has to be. It's so important.

It's the bit that the driver
is always in contact with.

It can make all the
difference to the feel of the car.

Final touch, and that's it. The interior's
done, and it leaves just one job to do.

The winking headlight.

I know that both these headlights
are wired together on a single loom,

and because this side's
working, it discounts an

obvious issue like a
blown fuse or a blown relay.

But it also means the problem's
going to be from here forwards.

Now, Toyota, genius, and like
many other car manufacturers

with pop-up headlights,
has this, a manual crank.

Turn this, and it raises
the mechanism on the light.

And actually, that appears
to be working as well. It

feels really smooth, which
means it's not the mechanism.

So the problem must be
around here somewhere.

So I look at the plug.

The terminals on the
male side look okay, the six.

The terminals on the female
side, one of them is an in.

It wasn't seated.

Push that together.

Let's try that.

Here goes.

Simple fix.

Well, she no longer knocks,
leaks, or winks, and this car looks

and drives exactly how it would
have done over 30 years ago.

And all that's left to do now is give her
a really good clean, and we're finished.

Mike's going to love her.

Just like video games
and big hair, the Toyota

Celica Supra enjoyed
massive popularity in the 1980s.

With a William Moser
five-speed gearbox, this

car is still fast and
still fun to drive.

The distinctive bodywork that
made the Supra so memorable

back in the day possesses
real retro appeal right now.

There was some wiggle room in the price.

So what's the best price you can do for me?

$6,500.

Hold out your hand. Done. Yes.

And that's a good thing because this Supra
needed a fair bit of work under the bonnet.

That's not good.
It's a crack in the manifold.

And sorted the cracked
manifold, leaky head gasket,

and tidied up the original
sun-damaged interior.

It's literally falling apart in my hands.

I got into the act by stitching
up a new steering wheel cover.

My sewing teacher at school is
going to be immensely proud of me.

The Toyota had an iffy tailpipe.

It's a slight knock coming from
the rear every now and then.

And saved us a bundle of cash by
fabricating a new custom exhaust.

He also restored the pop-up
headlights to proper working conditions.

Simple fix.

This Supra went from being
a tired old relic in need of TLC

to a fully functioning original
piece of 1980s nostalgia.

So what's it all cost us?

We spent $6,500 on the car.

The head gasket cost us $685.

Manifold and exhaust set us back $180.

Diamond cut in the wheels was $500.

The freshen up of the
interior ran us $3,000.

From start to finish it took 39 man
hours and a total of $10,865 or £8,400.

Now it's time to see if our completed
classic lives up to its 80s legacy.

You have really pulled it off.
This looks incredible.

And I asked you to
do three things didn't I?

Yeah, original, original, original.

You pulled it off because I'm staring
at the original wheels on the car.

And dare I say what a great job.
They look incredible.

The original paintwork that's
been polished up looks great.

Yeah look inside though.

And the original interior.

These days it's really easy to change
out an interior for something else.

But to keep the interior
original it just looks incredible.

So what about the way the car
moves and drives down the road?

Let me show you.

No, let me show you.

I'm showing you. I'm driving this one.

No you're not. I'm driving.

Be careful with it.
Just be really really careful with it.

Remember this car is for
sale and I haven't sold it yet.

So gentle.

Come on tell me what's it feel like?

Listen, drop a gear.

Go on.

You love it, don't you?

Oh my god it honestly
drives like a brand new car.

It's that twin cam. That twin cam is mega.

It suddenly just feels like
a proper grand touring.

Engine sounds on point.
Was it a joy to work with?

It was an absolute privilege.
Working on this car was

brilliant because it's just
simple Japanese engineering.

Everything comes apart,
gets fixed, goes back together.

Yeah but a head gasket
is a big job on any car.

Once you take away
the fear factor, attack it

with a bit of confidence,
it's just a head gasket.

Tell you how good this car is. Back in


Third place, Mercedes Benz.

Second place, BMW.

Both cars much more
expensive than this car.

First place, Toyota Supra.

It was Motor Trend's import
car of the year in 1982.

I mean the way the car
looks as well. What with the

new wheels, the beautiful
paintwork and this interior.

Do you know what?
Why did Velour ever go out of fashion?

This seat grips you in all the right
places. They're nice, aren't they?

By doing less, there's no doubt
in my mind we've done more.

It was the correct decision to make.

No, no, no. Listen, there's no bang.

No, it's gone.
Did you put a new exhaust on?

Nope, I took the whole exhaust off,
threw it away and I've built a new one.

A whole new exhaust? From scratch.

Did you really? Yeah.

Fantastic!

So the only other thing was the headlamps.

Ah, ready? Yep.

Look at that.
No longer is this car a pirate.

It's now got both eyes open
and it's facing forward to its future.

Who would have thought
this car is 35 years old?

Pulls perfectly, drives
perfectly, feels brilliant.

There's no noises, no
creaks, no rattles, no squeaks.

And the steering wheel is half decent.

Speaking of future, selling this car.
Who's buying it? Where are you selling it?

We're in a good place right
now. We've got the guy that wants

the nostalgia of a car that
he lusted after 35 years ago

but he doesn't want the
stuff that goes with owning

a classic car broken down
on the side of the road.

He wants a turnkey classic,
something you can drive every day.

This is a daily driver.

Now this guy behind me is called Scott.
He must be keen.

He's come all the way from the
other side of America, from Florida.

Now he used to have one of these back
in the day and he's regretted selling it.

I've asked $12,500 for
our car, which I think is

a fair price for a car
that looks that original.

Question is, have we
tickled his nostalgia bone?

Right then, Scott, you're pouring
yourself over this car, aren't you?

Yeah, the car looks wonderful.

Well, thank you very much. That's all
we can hope for, that when we present

a car at the end of all the hard
work, that people like what they see.

So you used to have one of these?

I used to have an 84,
yes. It was a wonderful car,

dependable, had a cloth
interior just like this one.

I think I traded it in on another car,
but I'd always wanted another one.

It's one of those cars that when
you sell it, you regret selling it.

Oh, I did.

Yeah, well this car's been
on a bit of a journey with us.

So Ant repaired the head gasket, but also
set about tidying up the whole engine bay.

And we repaired the headlamps,
one of those wasn't working.

Do you like the wheels?

I do, it looks like they're
just rolled off the showroom.

They are good, aren't they, the wheels?
They look amazing.

And then the interior. And the interior for us
was a bit of a problem because we wanted to keep

this car as original as possible so we could
literally put it back in the showroom in 1982.

Yeah, carpets look brand
new, seats are in good shape.

It's really easy to throw all
this stuff out and to replace it

with leather stuff and bucket
seats and change the interior.

That's what a lot of
people do, but we wanted

to keep it going down
that original route.

So we found a way to re-dye the
seats, I replaced the steering wheel

with leather, and I'm really
pleased with the way it turned out.

It looks beautiful, you did a great job.

Thank you very much. And these days,
originality sells and that's what people want.

And this car is still on the
ascent in terms of its price.

Oh, I agree.

So this is a great GT Cruiser,
and the question is, does

it want to cruise all the way
back to Florida with you?

I believe it does.

Well that's good news. I
want a very fair price for

this car, that's $12,500.
Where do you want to be?

Can we do $12,000?
I've got to get it back to Jacksonville.

Well I know it's going
to cost you more than

$500 to get it all the
way back to Florida.

And I know this car's going
to a good home, so hold

out your hand. You just
bought yourself a Supra.

Fantastic. Thank you.

Right from the start, Ant
and I shared the same vision

for this Toyota Supra,
and that was originality.

And I think we've pulled it
off. This is a car you can now

put back in that little box
and put it on the shelf in 1982.

Plus, we've managed to
sell the car to a guy that I

know is really going to
appreciate it for $12,000.

That's around £9,500, so we've put
some money in our back pocket as well.

If you want to see more iconic
cars like this being turned around

by me and Ant, then join us
again soon on Wheel of Dealers.

Sala.