Celica History Summary
This is one of the original adverts for VV G1S
The car was originally used as a demonstrator for the Brundle’s Toyota dealership in Kings Lynn in the late 1970s. After being sold to a customer as a road car, it was bought back by John Brundle Motors Limited a year later.
It was completely stripped to a bare shell, and with the help of friends Kevin Gutteridge and Arthur Coleman (who are still close friends with the Brundle family to this day) converted it for production saloon car racing, and more predominantly both the 1980 and 1981 Snetterton Willhire 24 HR races. It was very much a family affair with the Celica being raced by Martin, John and Robin Brundle on both occasions, winning the Commanders Cup at both events.
Kevin Gutteridge has in fact been in constant contact with the current owner, Chris Dawkins, over recent months and years regarding the restoration. He has said several times that both Martin Brundle and his brother Robin Brundle talk fondly about those Willhire days and the Celica and still have old photos of it back in the day!
Photos of the Brundle family at the Willhire 24hr races
Photos of the Brundle family at the Willhire 24hr races
Photos of the Brundle family at the Willhire 24hr races
After that - with Martin then moving on to his single seater career - Robin did a couple of seasons in the National Production Saloon Car Championship in the 1980s, finishing 2nd in class in 1981.
The car was then sold to Colin Peter Jones in September 1982, where it received a partial colour change with maroon stripes (as documented on the vehicle registration forms).
The car changed hands again in December 1983, when it was sold to Chris Conoley of Cambridge Motorsport.
Here it was again used within the Production Saloon Car Championships, achieving class success despite accident damage sustained at Donington Park (the car received a new three quarter panel and new paint job in 1983).
PLEASE NOTE: We felt it was important, within reason, to keep these repairs visible from the inside to ensure the correct patina and provenance of the car. Even the original aerial blanking plate - fitted by the Brundles - is still present and original.
In September 1987 the car was then sold to Duncan Kirk / Jim Wheels at J&I Motors Limited in Kings Lynn. Again being used within the Production Saloon Car Championships, with an upgraded engine from RS Engineering.
Then in March 1989 the car was brought into the Dawkins family for the first time by Graham Dawkins - the current owner’s father - as a part exchange on a Rover Vitesse SD1 saloon.
The car received a newly rebuilt race engine from the very well-known Toyota race engine specialists DTW Engines Limited in Harlow (all paperwork present), and was then used on the race track again with great success.
Graham raced it in the Slick 50 Road Saloon Championship, which at the time was predominantly overwhelmed by higher powered cars such as SD1 Rover Vitesses and both 2.8i and 3.0S Ford Capris.
During his father’s ownership of the car, the current owner Chris Dawkins used it for his first ever car race at Donnington in 1990, before moving on to race single seaters.
Graham Dawkins continued to use the Celica, before selling it to Martin Williams, the owner of a Toyota dealership In Wales around 1999. It was then bought by David Scriven shortly after that.
The car changed hands again in October 2002 when Mike Cowlan bought it, and it was used within classic Group 1 Touring cars on a couple of occasions. It was then kept in a garage for a number of years until the Dawkins family decided to locate it.
After 2 days of internet searches and speaking to people in the trade, they found the car and it returned to the Dawkins family in around 2007.
Full restoration work was finally started on the car in 2014, to carry out a full recommissioning back to the bare shell. The decision was made to build it to it’s FIA Group 1 homologation papers, obtain it’s HTP and make it useable for Goodwood.
Further details of the restoration work can be found below.
CAR REGISTRATION & SPEC DOCUMENTS
The registration number is VVG 1S, with the log book still present. The registration number is currently on retention, and will be swapped back to the V5. All the chassis numbers stamped in the shell are correct, original chassis plate is present and both match.
DVLA microfiche documents are also included, showing copies of all V5 log books from 1978 onwards and transfers of ownership.
Document registration no 29, as submitted by Toyota GB.
The original “RAC Production Car Spec Sheet” – valid from 1980 – has been stamped by RAC Motor Sports Assn Ltd.
FULL RESTORATION WORK
The engine was returned to Dave Wilds at DTW Engines in Harlow, who rebuilt the engine to the current day specification, dyno’d in house at DTW (printouts present) with the current carburettor settings.
The shell was soda blasted back to a bare shell, repaired and returned to it’s original factory metallic black paint colour.
The complete restoration has been captured and fully documented. There’s a photographic portfolio of the build, along with all the invoices of the parts and any external suppliers used.
With the help of photographic evidence, the FIA homologation papers, Jim Lowry (HTP scrutineer) and indeed Kevin Gutteridge, it has been a comprehensive restoration.
Everything has been rebuilt from scratch and either soda blasted, shot blasted and / or vapour blasted.
Original invoices included from the 1980s, including engine bills and Leda bills for the suspension.
BUILD SPECIFICATIONS
Although built to the FIA Group 1 regulations for that era, it has been built to 2 specifications:
All the “trick” suspension has been fitted - specifically the internally spherical jointed rear arms - along with whatever we feel will make it competitive at the Member’s Meeting.
This is very much the original car, with all the correct provenance.
OTHER INFORMATION:
During it’s time in the Slick 50s the car had to be a legal road car with tax and MOT, and be driven to and from the racetrack (documentation of this is also included).
It’s also worth noting that between Chris Conoley (Dec 1983) and Graham Dawkins (March 1989) owning the Celica, it received a 2 tone colour change to blue and white.
Although the car was in Class B within the Slick 50, Graham managed to regularly beat the higher powered Class A cars. This was due to the superior handling as standard over the other cars, meaning he won overall a couple of times, as per the article below.
Celica Technical Specification
SHELL
RUNNING GEAR
Rear axle
Gearbox
1st 3.525:1
2nd 2.054:1
3rd 1.396:1
4th 1.000:1
5th 0.858:1
Rev: 3.755:1
FUEL SYSTEM
BRAKE SYSTEM
SUSPENSION
STEERING
ENGINE
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