Has anybody (on this planet, at least) seen a 1979 Toyota Celica Supra this well preserved?
05/19/2021
In today's Hemmings Find of the Day, I will argue that this 1979 Toyota Celica Supra for sale on Hemmings.com just landed from outer space. One: It's like a personal spaceship in there with all the switches and buttons and lights on every hard interior surface, activating just about every gizmo and feature known to man at the time. Two: How else to account for the preserved, low-mileage state of this car than the lack of an atmosphere surrounding it? Three: That Celica font is suspiciously similar to the NASA worm font. Case closed. From the seller's description:
This Celica Supra Has Had One Owner Since New And Sports Only 7K Original Miles! Well Maintained And Serviced, Owner Kept Vehicle In Climate Controlled Environment, Applied Rusty Jones Rust Proofing From Day One, Driven Sparingly On Very Nice Days.
Features On This Car Include: Smooth Running 2.6L 6-Cylinder Engine. Electronic Fuel Injection. 5 Speed Overdrive Manual Transmission. Console. Full Instrumentation With Tachometer. Power Steering. 4 Wheel Disc Brakes. Air Conditioning. Power Windows. 6 Position Tilt Steering Column. Cruise Control. Working Factory Clock. AM/FM Cassette Radio. 6 Way Adjustable Drivers Seat With 3 Position Lumbar Support. Reclining Front Bucket Seats. Dual Outside Remote Control Mirrors. Rear Window Defogger. Passenger Lighted Visor Mirror. MacPherson Strut Front Suspension. 4 Link Rear Suspension With Stabilizer Bar. Gorgeous Original Exterior In Black Metallic. Gray / Black Moquette Cloth Seat Interior. Newer Blackwall Radials On Factory Aluminum Alloy Wheels
1979 Toyota Celica
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Recent
Earth shaking. Ground pounding. Those are a couple of choice adjectives that describe Steve Kaiser’s 1970 'Cuda as it crackled by us during Hemmings Musclepalooza at Maple Grove Raceway on the way to the staging lanes. Kaiser then took it up a notch by doing a rowdy burnout and hanging the hoops on an 8.80 pass at 151 mph. After our ears stopped ringing, we tracked him down to get the details.
If you noticed the name Kaiser in gold leaf on the door, you might be wondering who that is. Steve Kaiser’s uncle Bob Kaiser started the Twin Hills Oldsmobile dealership in 1977 in Muncy, Pennsylvania, right around the time Olds was getting into drag racing with the glorious G-body Oldsmobile Cutlass. To promote the sport, Oldsmobile gave Uncle Kaiser five Cutlasses to race in the Stock and Super Stock classes. As a young man, Steve Kaiser would vacation at drag strips and attend drag racing events with the family until the age of 16 when he pursued other interests.
During that time, Steve’s father also got into the automotive business and helped create the Kaiser Brothers dealership that expanded into a Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/Ram dealership with a larger facility, also in Muncy.
In 2008, Steve got back into cars. He began by installing superchargers on late-model Challengers and Chargers under a license by Mr. Norm out of the Kaiser Brothers dealership. By 2011, he had started looking for a race car. He soon found a 1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda that was well known around the Kentucky area and raced by its second owner, Johnny Dotson, a Dodge dealer from Paris, Kentucky. The ‘Cuda was painted in the classic black-and-white Direct Connection colors with a 513-inch 440 under the hood, a 727 transmission, and Dana 60 rear. That combo ran 10.80s in Super Pro and had been a track car since 1978.
Steve bought the car and immediately pulled the drivetrain and sent the car out to get painted to match his uncle’s racing livery. He started running 10.80s-90s in the Pro series with a steep learning curve. “I saw red (lights) a lot,” Steve says, “it was frustrating.” To make matters worse, he broke the block and had to rebuild the engine using a Mopar Performance block and a new rotator. The combo was mostly the same with a 0.60-over block, Indy heads and intake, and a 1050 Dominator.
The second year looked a little bit better, and he started winning rounds, but not races. “I got to the finals, but didn’t win,” Steve says. “I bought back in a lot, I can tell you that, I’m not a professional.” Regardless, Steve had fun racing a serious ‘Cuda for five years. As he got more experienced, he wanted to go faster.
By 2021 he had pulled the 440 and had Brian Tilburg build a 572-inch Hemi to go in its place. The Hemi had Stage V heads and a Keith Black block, a pair of Holley 950s, and an MSD Grid system that uses a crank trigger. The new engine made 1,017 hp on 114-octane VP and the car immediately went from running 10.80s to 9.60s in the quarter mile.
Today, Steve races the ‘Cuda in Nostalgia Super Stock and Hemi Super Stock races near his home in Muncy, Pennsylvania. We found him racing at Hemmings Musclepalooza in Maple Grove.
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