Whose Your Daddy? - Toyota Celica

Remember when you were young and every time you saw something
you liked you said "daddy, can we get one?" Well for
Phil Fletcher's son, the answer was yes!

"When my son Ben was 5 years old he was flicking through the pages of Max Power looking at all the brightly coloured cars and asked if we could get one, it didn't take me long to think about and when I said 'yup, lets give it a go' he was the happiest kid in town".

If that doesn't get you a nomination for Best Dad in the World then I don't know what does. Firstly for being shown Max P when you're five years old (not on about the cars here) and secondly getting your own way in such radically awesome style! “I'd always wanted to customise a car from when I was a youngster but you know how it is, money's not always available so now I'm a bit older and wiser I thought the time was right, and it was something the family could enjoy too” Phil explained.

With a fistful of cash, Phil made a bee line for his local Toyota dealership and for the latest edition of the Celica in particular. Phil had always liked the looks of them and knew of the infamous Toyota reliability and customer satisfaction, so with an exchange of green he was the proud owner of a generation 7 and his modifying career was about to be launched.

Phil gives us the low down on where things went from the showroom. “Obviously the first thing that needed attention was the wheels, you can't very well start modifying a motor and leave it on it's factory rims now”. In fact over the next five years he owned more rims than Ron Jeremy, constantly chopping and changing the style, size, colour and finish. The current wheels (and that's, current as of publishing this feature) are 18” chrome lipped Ace's which we all think look the part but by the time you next reboot your PC he'll have changed his mind again and fitted something else no doubt.

Next up was the bodywork, being around 2002, the whole UK scene was still in the grips of the original Fast & Furious movie and this was evident at cruises and shows across the country with looks and style overshadowing everything else. Phil and son went cover to cover through Max Power, FastCar and Redline to see what was available for the Celica. Veilside, the fibreglass gods from the East, were finally chosen to take care of business and with new front and rear bumpers, skirts and blown arches Phil was well on his way to show and shine victory. “It wasn't just the wheels that kept changing on my Celica, I've gone through about 6 different colours too from the original chili red to the gemini flip orange I had at the F&M show in 2005 and the latest red candy you saw at Ingliston last month”.

Phil wasn't shy about showcasing his motor and on one outing at Donny he caught the eye of Chris from Absolute In Car, a Cervin Vega installer and distributor who was so impressed with the Celica they offered him an unbelievable ICE system and build which saw Phil without his car for a few months but with the promise that when it returned, it would blow his mind – and when he got the keys back it did! Like an episode of Pimp My Ride, Phil's interior was transformed with nearly everything in the CV catalogue. Trick touches included removing the passenger air bag and fitting power caps in it's place, dropping 4” components in the A pillars and rigging up some custom amplifier voltage and temperature gauges in the dash so Phil can keep an eye on what's cooking when he cranks up the volume.

His latest northern expedition with the Toyota was of course at our show last month and some eagle eyed visitors spotted the latest transformation. Phil explained “I didn't make it to last year's show due my ECU dying the night before, but even with a 2 year gap and a complete redesign I had people coming up and asking if it was the orange car they'd seen in 2005”. With more than 37 trophies and awards collected, 2 TV appearances and numerous trips to foreign car shows, Phil's certainly been a busy bloke but with still more ideas floating around his head he's not going to be stopping anytime soon – who knows what his car will look like the next time we see it!

Spec
Celica 1.8 16 Valve VVTi 140 BHP
Custom Made Stainless 4" Exhaust/Decat
One Off Butane Flamer Kit
Blitz SUS Power Induction Kit
Aluminum Under Bonnet Panels
Chrome Strut Brace

Wheels And Suspension
Lowered 35mm On P.I.Springs
18" Ace Chrome Lipped Alloys

Exterior Styling
Full Veilside Bodykit
M3 Wing Mirrors
Side Repeaters Removed And Wings Smoothed
Custom One Off Headlight Conversion
TRD Rear Spoiler
C1 Raised Bonnet Scoop
Respray In Kandy Apple Red
Vertical Door Conversion
Rear Aftermarket Lights Blended And Smoothed Into Bodywork

Interior Styling
Custom Made Fibreglass Gauge Pods And Interior Panels
Recaro Seats Retrimmed In White Leather And Red Alcantara
Dash And All Interior Plastics And Door Cards Sprayed Pearl White And Kandy Apple Red
Red Alcantara Roof Lining
Red Alcantara Sun Visors
Sparco Pedals
Sparco 3 Point Harnesses
Custom Made Aluminum Harness Mount
Steering Wheel Retrimmed In White Leather
White Leather Gear Gator

In-Car Entertainment
Install Retrimmed In White Leather And Red Mirror Plate
Combination Dvd/Mp3/Cd/Tv Headunit
6 Cerwin Vega V Max 10 Inch Subs
2 Pairs Of Cerwin Vega Hed 6x9s 2 Ways (Door Builds)
2 Pairs Of Cerwin Vega! Hed 4 Inch 2ways ( A Pillar Mounted) (Rear Mouldings)
2 Cerwin Vega! Xl 300.4 Amps
2 Cerwin Vega! Xl 600.1 Amps
2 Massive Audio 1.2 Power Caps
1 Massive Audio Eq In Dash
3 Autogauge Meters In Dash Build
Colour Storm Lighting In Car And Full Exterior
7" Screen Mounting Into Rear Of Install
Big Yellow Top Battery In Boot With Split Charger

















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