The Celica That Toyota Should’ve Built: 1UZ Powered RA65 

If you want that Larry Chen peeker sticker head over to the Etsy store. Each print comes with peeker stickers! larrychenprints.com/

I've watched a s*** ton on Autofocus and this is the first time I've ever commented. This thing is one of the coolest cars I've ever seen. Looks and sounds completely OEM. The cop details... Just perfection. And thanks so much to Larry. You're a huge asset to car culture and too modest.

The passion he has on EVERY single detail of the car is admirable

Oh yes I love that this one has been 1UZ swapped not LS swapped Not against LS swapped but seeing a Toyota car with a 1UZ is just special especially with sticking to the brand

For those who see the futility of following automotive fashion, here's a timeless maxim: A V8 in a small car never goes out of style.

This guy is a genius Modern Hot Rodding

My cousin in Ireland bought parts from this gentleman, good guy by all accounts. Great car, attention to detail is key.

Holy shit, that engine bay looks stock ! Like it came with that engine from the factory, thats amazing ! If you weren't in the know, you would never know this thing was engine swapped. Even the wheels look stock, they really do match the car. Absolutely fantastic job done with this build, so clean both literally and metaphorically, everything is packaged so well.

Frank is such an asset to the Japanese car community, very down to earth and approachable guy!

This is why this channel is gold

Yes, the moment every celica lover has waited for. A high end auto channel making a quality video on a celica.

That guy by the dumpster tho... “ when your Uber has a build biology in between destinations “😂✌🏽

This and the Starion look like cousins

Love seeing these 3rd gens getting attention. Ive got a red '85 GTS with a Kaminari aero kit, and Frank's car is the reason I've decided to go with the 1UZ for an engine swap

Everything that has a 1UZ in it instantly gets my love 😍

i love the attention to detail this guy made when building this car. the brand correct engine, decals, everything is so clean, oem looking, and original. good stuff

You know this guy did it right when it looks factory stock but high performance at the same time. Clean af build.

*Can’t stop staring at the 3G Civic in the background*

That Eddie Murphy clip! Sold me!

The SC400/Soarer is a sports car that Toyota made with this motor.

Love old Celicas back in the day had one .

This is basically a japanese fox and I love it

Frank is such a great guy. So awesome to see his Celica be featured.

Respect to the owner taking pride in his ride, you can see the love that has been invested.

Happy to see Larry turning the humble brag to a minimum

I love Toyota ❤️ 99 percent of NON Toyota people would think this is OEM.

Dude in the back gives an unsettling vibe😂

I love this. I graduated HS in 1990. One of my friends got an 85 Celica for her birthday in 1988. The one in this video is the same color and trim. Massive nostalgia vibes, but the era appropriate badges and such that he fabricated are great. I wish my friend's car had had a V8. :)

This is so perfect. I love his attention to detail in making this look like it came from the factory. One of the best builds to hit this channel.

So glad to see a 3rd gen Celica get some love! A great build Frank! :)

The content Larry puts out gives me chills !!!!

This car was a monster on corners at speed

Really wanted to listen to the engine running and the headlights flipping. Great car great video

This has been my dream swap since I got my '85 Celica GT as my first car senior year. She's still going strong with the 22RE though props to 4Runner/Pickup guys

Might be one of my favorites so far. It’s these clean, INTERESTING builds that Larry does that pulls in more viewers.

Definitely saved soo much money going the V8 route.

Oh man, he didn’t replace the starter? That thing is going to be a PITA when it’s time.

Dude by the dumpster made sure that you are seeing a large T-shirt Celica Logo that is a Dragon

duuude I want to do this!! I was thinking of getting a 70's Corolla SR5 sport back with a 1UZ. THIS IS GORGEOUS!

I've been waiting on an A60 for soo long!!!! I'm building one and I'm even more excited to finish it🤤🤤

Top Work. These are totally over looked cars. But like the owner said, in California, 1985 vehicles still have to pass a smog test and can not be altered in anyway. The California Air Research Board (CARB) are full on Nazi's about this stuff. But this guy has done an amazing job.

For someone who claims to know a lot about cars. Larry has never seen those seats? How is that possible

I just love the original トヨタ logo on the shift knob and the wheel 23:47 I am a 51 year-old Japanese guy. My father worked for Toyota from 1962 to around 2004. I remember when I was a kid, Toyota used to have that logo as a company emblem. I’ve never seen a person who has the logo on the actual car in Japan, which I think is really cool!! (He owned Celica 1600 ST coupe from 1970s).

Such a great built! I loved the idea of a 2JZ swap Celica Supra but wow, a UZ Celica is dope 🔥

would have been soooo much nicer if he actually drove it!!!

I really enjoyed that. Takes me back, because my father used to own one. Big thumbs up and to the owner "be safe brother".

oh this car just yells at me for attention. I always had an eye for the good old OEM looks. And as a nice bonus, I spotted a Most Wanted BMW M3 GTR replica in the background

Larry, if you love that Celica, you'd love my 90 4Runner 2 door with a 1UZ. I need to drive down there and meet y'all.

My first car was my grandpa's celica surpa AT.... I also lived in fontana lol. I didn't mod it, it was fast enough for a 17 year old. Always passed smog, and that engine would run with 2 drops of oil. I drove it until I was 22 and some lady scraped the whole side of the car in a accident in riverside. Ended up totaled.

Frank inspired my 1UZ swap and the video documentation as well!!

I love my Celica All Trac. You guys should do one of those next. I have a first gen but any generation will do. There are a few quick ones in the states also!

I literally just picked up a 1984 Toyota Celica GT last week. It's in great condition but I've been thinking of how to create a build similar to this! Im fairly new at car builds but this was very inspiring to watch!

Nice

I think the he closest sports car Toyota made with this engine was basically the Lexus Sc400. But was definitely more of a cruiser/ GT

Love it, that’s my GT-S that I had until it got rear ended

I like this. It's well thought out to be a cohesive unit. Nice to see when there's so many "I just stuck a (LS/JZ/Cummins) in this car" type builds out there.

The wheels suit that car so nicely, size and style, the tyres aren't to low profile... perfect imo.

Love the guy, love the build, thank you for sharing this with us Larry! Also a request - any chance you could cover that 3gen Civic that was in the background? Couldn't take my eyes off it

I just spent 32 minutes in school, college, university. This celica is the foundation on we're Toyota’s roots we're formed. Always an honor maad respect to you guy's.

My father bought one of these new. I eventually had it in later on after my older brother gave it back to my father as a beater. I loved that car. I lost it in a accident, unfortunately. If a chance appeared to buy one, I'd do it. An '85 GT-S hatchback.

Massive RESPECT!! Awesome build. And always Back the BLUE!!

My favorite episode so far, I owned a 85 celica in red , miss my cars 🙌🙏😷👍

Too many people treat officers like crap...their job is to protect us and uphold the law show'em respect and they'll do the same...you back them and who knows...car guys/gals might not give you a ticket...wink wink

Keep up the good work . He’s so humble you’re humble I love this keep up the respect for one another.

Finally a Celica!!!! A Real Celica, I've been dieing for you To do AutoFocus on An 84-85 Celica Vert! I had a Red 85 Vert and never seen one fully restored/ Slammed on BBS'S/2JZ Swap ETC.!!! 🙌🙏 please find one They were converted to convertible by ASC i believe in California. I used to live in Cleveland Ohio, had to sell mine due to financial troubles.... But found another saving up to get my baby back!!!

Awesome build. I have always liked these cars when I was a kid. I tried to buy one as my first car and it needed a head gasket but dad wasn't going for it lol

How much to make me one? Seriously, i’d go with manual and we can talk engines.

This is beautiful. My Dad owned and I came home from the hospital in an '85 Corolla GT-S.

I'm 61 yrs old and retired NYPD. My partner had a Celica GTS new. It was the car to get for young 20 somethings like us back in the day who wanted a little more room that you got with the Corolla SR5 along with the Datsun/Nissan 200SX. I was the oddball so I drove a Mitsubishi built pre-Starion Dodge Challenger/Plymouth Sapporo. The stock motor in Celica GT and GTS was the 2.2 liter 22R. Wasn't much was available for these engines. The hot ticket was to ditch the stock fuel injection and slap on a pair of Mikuni 40mm sidedraft carbs along with a cam.

What a beautiful build! I used to have a 82 Celica GT coupe and I dreamed about building it to this level.

I agree, engine bay looks like it came from the factory with the V8.. Mad respect to the fact he is a car guy, shares his knowledge (through his adventures) and serves his community... It's safe to say he doesn't do it (peace officer) for the money, most LEO's don't make decent coin/salary for risking their life to serve the community/keeping the peace. Crazy though an athlete can make 6-7 figures playing a sport, but those who risk their life for others (firefighter, EMT, LEO etc) don't make nada, some agency's (from what I've read) have horrible health care these days, thus I wish this man the best and hats off to him for sacrifice and sweet ride!! I'll admit thou, I thought he was sipping some "gin and juice" lmao

Damn, that Celica is so legit! Completely immaculate with all the right little touches 👌

I’ve meet frank a long time ago and I can’t believe it’s still not BAR lol. This car has been swapped for the longest

I LOVE THIS CAR IT MAKES ME FEEL GOOD TO SEE THIS , AND I LOVE THIS SHOW THANK YOU FROM THE BAMAMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ive own a RA65 1985 GT-S. up here in Qc, Canada. with a 22re. W58 it was IRS 4wheel disc digital cluster nice seats. but it was the biggest P.O.S. ive own. always broken. but i do love the car mine sucked. and it was a rust bucket.

Beautiful car! Also the Mitsubishi Starion from that era has some design elements shared with these Toyota’s. Especially with these 5 spoke wheels, it’s got some of that flavor. Very nice!

In mid-80s and mid-90s Toyota celica's and Supra in Washington heights New York City and the Bronx you would find them with all grounds effects rims louvers and big sound systems and all different colors you could take a 82 Celica and make it into an 85 Supra super popular car back in the days in the Bronx and Washington heights.

Great car, excellent interview. Happy to see an owner who can articulate the build intelligently, much respect...

Back in the 80s, that's all they were modifying. Supra, celica, 300zx, Datsun 200sx, 240z and the rx7. This was before the crx and integra days.

that BMW in the back tho o-o *NFS Most wanted sound track starts playing*

That Chen guy is either not a car guy, a Toyota guy, or is playing dumb. Please tell me he knows that the ashtrays, climate control knobs, interior door handles were interchangeable with some Corollas and SR5s... I grew up(kinda) in the 80s installing Viper alarms in Toyotas. I still remember what color wires to look for. 😬 I had an AE86 but I'm in love with this car.

Take a drink every time he says factory. RIP.

As I've grown older, my love for the 80's and 90's cars just goes up. Newer cars are just computers with little to no "soul." You can't explain it, but man, I miss the golden age of cars

“It’s a love hate relationship” nah bro it’s just hate

I was military police back in the day, and even though it is not quite the same, I do have to say most of the guys I did LE with are also car guys. I may or may not have stories of me, or my buddies letting some things slide, like 100+ on a guy who had less than 100 miles on his brand new Mustang GT because, I mean, you just have to let a guy open his new Mustang up on an open, empty road on base. People were understandably pretty timid when I encouraged them to do a burnout. Also, police package Tahoes can do pretty decent burnouts with Stabilitrak off. Motorcycle stupidity rarely got a total pass though because a lot of duded in my patrol section were also riders and didn't want to see fellow riders get hurt. This was especially the case after one of our ASF guys died in a bike crash. Also also, 0-60 times and approximate quarter miles of our Impalas, Tahoes and one Explorer were tested a few times on the backroads. Most of our CHP counterparts and the local sherrif's deputies seemed to be like minded.

This dude is so chill and mellow

I have rebuilt 2 6th gen Celica myself and I used a Corolla engine to rebuild both of them. It's all done right no check engine lights one stick one's automatic. One is a 94 st OBD1 and one is a 97 st with everything OBD2. The only part of the Corolla engine I didn't use was the aluminum head because it does not have the EGR port. I did use all the parts in the head though including the cams. My uncle had a Celica just like that one you modified. I am a big fan and I am super impressed with what you did with that Celica. I've heard a lot of good things about that Lexus 6. Eventually I want to turn both of mine into 7agzes.

That honda in the back needs an episode!

Man I just trashed a 3uz block today, couldn't give it away. It had work miles and was untouched but still had the crosshatching in the cylinders. I put a 1uz in my 89 FJ62, its a great motor.

Damn his Celica looks gorgeous and is flawless in my eyes. Congrats to the owner.

Toyota should build this car again for all enthusiasts celicas the cars in this days not even come close

Bro, just register that thing in Montana, you’ll never have to F with Cali laws again.

Beautiful car. Tastefully done. Anybody else eyeballing that Civic back there?👀

so is he ever going to be able to pass the bar engine swap inspection or be able to drive around ok just because he's a cop? is it possible to pass an engine swap inspection in california when you're running a 1uz and a manual transmission when that engine was never was mated to a MT from the factory so there is no factory ECU that goes with it?

He should just do a Hert and register it in a different state without emissions 😉. Wait you pronounce it ‘seh-lick-a’ in the US? Most people in the U.K. pronounce it ‘Seh-leek-a’.

This is a really rare car, especially the 1's with the "Pop-Up" headlights. I remember my mom bought 1 when I was a kid and she was so happy about it and I remember how mint it was because she got it from an old lady in Alabama. I think she mustve only paid like $2000 and it was basically only driven to the store and it was brand new. I loved that car and now I'm always into these cars when I see them. And it took me a minute to find out about which models are which from that Era because Toyota was trying alot back then with this car and the Supra but I really like this car more so body wise. I wish they would've played around with different engines for it back then too.

I met frank years ago at the old school Japanese car meet in Burbank when I bought my first car. I had a 98 Nissan s14 and was my first time in a car scene. This was the first guy I ever met and is by far the nicest man in the car scene

Fucking love that he dailies this. So much respect for people that daily such unique and custom vehicles. I love my '95 Celica daily but it's a goal to one day be able to build and daily something this cool. Awesome car

Ive owned every American Toyota ever made..i like the Supra that body style..got a ticket doing 135 racing a merkur xr4ti in highschool.my favorite ticket

The Celica was originally created to rival pony cars like the Mustang. With the V8, it basically makes this Celica a Japanese fox-body