Toyota Celica GT-Four ST185 – the rally legend explained
A short history of the Toyota Celica GT-Four ST185 – the turbocharged, all-wheel-drive homologation special behind Toyota's early-nineties World Rally Championship success.
Project: Toyota Celica GT-Four ST185
Before it was my project, the Celica GT-Four ST185 was one of the most important cars in Toyota’s motorsport history. Here’s the short version of why it matters.
A rally car you could buy
The GT-Four badge meant one thing: this was the Celica built so Toyota could go rallying. World Rally Championship rules at the time (Group A) required manufacturers to build road-going versions of their rally cars, so the ST185 you could buy from a dealer shared its basic recipe with the cars sliding through forests on TV.
The recipe
- Engine: the 3S-GTE – a 2.0-litre, turbocharged, twin-cam inline-four.
- Drivetrain: full-time all-wheel drive.
- Body: a wide-arch coupé shape that looked the part even standing still.
That combination of a turbocharged two-litre and all-wheel drive is what made it such an effective rally weapon – and why it’s still such a fun road car today.
Rally success
In the early nineties the ST185 carried Toyota to the very top of the WRC, winning drivers’ titles and giving Toyota its first manufacturers’ championship. It cemented the Celica GT-Four as a legend of the Group A era.
Why restore one now?
Good ST185s are getting harder to find. Many were modified, crashed or simply rusted away. Bringing one back to its best is a way of keeping a piece of rally history on the road – and it’s the whole reason Przemsport exists.