Sold 1991 Sera Phase II, MoT to 2018, HGF, parts included, £800.

[Bear]

Getting old sucks. It feels like only yesterday I was a manic 20-something, rescuing weird old cars from crappy garages and listening to industrial music and J-pop in the oddball environment of a Phase 1 Toyota Sera.

 

 

 

 

 

And it was so addictive, that my sister bought one.

Then it hit another car, so I got it...

 

 

And straightened it out a bit...

 

 

 

 

Then my sister decided to get rid of the one she'd got to replace it - a black Phase 3 manual.

 

I put the most effort into that one...

 

 

 

It's 10 years, pretty much, since I last had a Sera. And at some point this week, the fourth one will be appearing. A black Phase 2 automatic in very shabby, but usable condition, I've got plans for it...

 

[Jim Bell]

Lovely.  Saw one of these today coincidentally.  One of the Newcastle rollergirls drives a red one.

[Bear]

#4 is going, ultimately, to look like this.

 

At least, this is making me think I need to preserve the band of colour around the windscreen.

[dollywobbler]

I think I need a Sera in my life. Do you reckon anyone would swap one for an Omega?

[Bear]

You can but try! I may put the Twingo up to swap for another Sera when it's done - depends on how well the incoming one behaves

[HillmanImp]

I was just stealing photos from the forsale thread on the blue forum for the one Volksy and I got off Kinkersaab, and noticed you were the first person to comment on it.

 

Have the photos anyhow.

 

[Felly Magic]

Que Sera Sera Not seen one in yonks, and one would certainly stand out from the crowd in custard yellow

[LessThanEqual]

Seras are 100% FIT.

[anonymous user]

Who had the one with the beautifully* painted interior?

[ifc63]

Picked my Sera up about 10 days ago, it'd been stood for 10 months but after pumping the tyres up and some fresh fuel, it drove 20 miles home with no problems (on trade plates). It's cleaned up reasonably well, but I need to get underneath it to sort out the blowing exhaust and check how rusty it might be. It was a blind, impulse purchase off a work colleague but was cheap enough to take a chance. I didn't really need another Toyota as I have 7 already, but I was told the formula for the ideal number of cars is n+1, where n is the number of cars you already own, as long as this number do not exceed s-1, where s is the number of cars that could cause marital disharmony. At the moment, the wife does not know of this purchase as I fear I have reached the 's' threshold.

[HMC]

I remember being wide eyed when I saw one for the very first time in 'I spy cars 2' Anyone remember that? A publication that awarded points for the spottage of a catalogue of vehicles. I presume the sera was a big hitter on the points front due to its rarity. I always remember at the end of the capition it noted something along the lines of Toyota (U.K.) wishes to point out that it's use may not be legal in some countries. Which made me want one all the more.

[KruJoe]

Who had the one with the beautifully* painted interior?

 

That would be Skattrd.

All the interior plastics had been done in bloody Tipp-Ex or summert.

[Bear]

When I got my first one, the Sera club as such was interesting and small - about 300 cars floating around the UK, and poor spares support in that everything was "from Japan and expensive".

 

I went to the local Toyota dealer, and asked for new headlights. They got me a pair of them for half the price of the club. Then they got everything else I needed, no hassle, within 3 days usually. It was as if a critical mass of Seras had made importing parts to Europe worthwhile but they were absolutely brilliant. So good, in fact, that when the first Sera's head gasket went, I paid a garage to do the work - a main dealer, no less - and they did it well and for a good price. So they got my MR2 to do work on too.

 

Now, I expect the position has changed again and getting parts will be much harder. But for a while it felt like i was giving something back to the Sera community researching the doors systems, finding parts, saving people money. I enjoyed it.

[djimbob]

Oh my, I bought one for our Lass a few years ago now, she loved it, and it was generally ace until it lunched the autobox, and was never the same after I fitted a used replacement, so flogged it on - kind of wish I'd kept it now, will try to dig up some photos tomorrow.

 

Really looking forward to this thread

[Ghosty]

I also really wouldn't mind a Sera.

[brownnova]

I too have always admired Sera's from a distance... one day I'd like to get closer and own one.

 

If not just for the awesome doors!!

[brownnova]

I too have always admired Sera's from a distance... one day I'd like to get closer and own one.

 

If not just for the awesome doors!!

[brownnova]

Bonus double post!!

 

(Was triple until I edited this one...)

[stuboy]

do u have to be 5"3 to drive one??

[Bear]

Nope, they're quite spacious for a small car - at least up front.

 

They've got a Paseo engine and are pretty much a mixture of Corolla and Starlet bits - the handling is 'competent'; it suits me because I don't mind a bit of suspension travel - Andrew Cliffe put a lot of work into Turbo conversions, handling upgrades, so they can be made to be as entertaining as any FWD small car needs to be. I prefer autos because the motorway gearing is better and the neat little gearbox suits the character of the car, but having had a manual one I can understand why most people prefer them. They're insanely easy to live with, apart from the high load lip of the hatch. Seats forward they can carry quite a lot too.

 

Doors don't protrude much when opening, so they can fit into tight spaces, and generally they're easy to work on and straightforward, well made '80s/'90s Toyota through and through, as tough as a Corolla.

[Jim Bell]

Those Paseo engines do well with a bit extra breathing.

 

[HillmanImp]

I really rated the driving experience of the Sera. The engine was a revvy little bugger and the handling suited it. Mine was a manual. I'm not imagining that badermatic would suit it but then again, I've never driven a small Mills spec car, just big ones so can't really say.

 

The only thing I didn't like was the doors. Well not exactly, what I mean is I liked the doors they were cool, what I didn't like the fact that some people probably thought that I had modified the car to do that like some scrote that hangs out in McDonalds car parks doing donuts and listening to badly produced music too loudly.

 

[Uncle Jimmy]

Good buyage; are they mostly automatics?

[Bear]

The majority made are, but I don't know what the split of imported ones is like.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Fink they have an unusually good sound system of almost Volvo C70 standards too do they not?

[djimbob]

here is our old one with gearbox issues being dealt* with -

 

 

 

After a wash

[Bear]

Hmm. They have an unusual sound system in some models. Of Volvo C70 standards... not really.

 

SLSS includes 10 speakers - woofers in doors, tweeters on dash, centre speaker, subwoofer, and woofer & tweeter in a rotating pod in the rear which can angle the speakers into the cabin or to reflect off the glass. Mine's technically an SLSS model, but I'll be getting clever with it as I did with my previous one. They're surprisingly low output and usually in poor condition; the DSP/Amp module doesn't always survive. I uprated my SLSS in the last one with new speakers and crossovers inside the pod; this one will be getting a double DIN carplay headunit with hands-free (the long term plan is to make a Sera I can use for almost everything), but I won't be wiring surround sound - I might do something creative with the centre speaker but if it worked like old-school handsfree it would be the telephone/nav speaker.

The C70's system was better on acoustic design. The Sera is more of a technical wizardry thing with disappointing paper speakers.

[Bear]

So, on the way home this happened when getting petrol...

 

 

So after refilling, carefully, tried again, temp climbed on M1 so stopped instantly, opened bonnet and the expansion tank cap flew off as I did so, so now I have a red right hand. Very Nick Cave. No pictures, M1 hard shoulder is no place for fannying about.

 

So stopped at Loughborough to let car cool somewhere safe after refilling (again).

 

 

It didn't need much of a top up here but we bought water anyway.

 

Stopped at Leicester and listened for gurgling/bubbling expansion tank.

 

 

And now home. Sera and RX8. Just like 2006.

 

[Bear]

So, today is, as always, Buyers' Remorse Day. Yes, the 24 hours after you've bought your exciting new* car and have had time to look at it somewhere other than the back of an AA truck/side of the motorway/pissing rain driveway in the dark with someone's dog trying to hump your leg.

 

Except, of course, this is a Sera. And it wasn't too expensive. Admittedly, I might have haggled harder if I'd anticipated the explosion of coolant in my face on the drive home, or the rattly CV joint, but this are things that happen randomly anyway.

 

On inspection above, I'm pretty happy with it. The speedometer is in KM so it's under 100,000 miles and to be fair it drove like that - if the water pump bearing hadn't been howling it would even have been quiet. There are a lot of worn out bits, but it's cleaning up slowly - one headlight bracket is broken, which points to why there's a gap on the bumper - it's the bumper bar. I have aligned these in the past with success, so I'll get onto that when I can be bothered. One headlight has a broken bracket. Standard.

 

Right now, though, the wonders of Amazon mean that a water pump is on the way - hope a blueprint one is okay in this regard as it's a little weird for me not buying German OEM/genuine bits. I wanted an iPod lead and Amazon helpfully shows me what I've been thinking about buying - the pump was only £33 so it seemed worth grabbing and then I can just throw it onto the car and the only big mechanical issue I've found is done.

 

Liking the foglight - it's been done in a reversing light - so that won't be changed for the usual Celica one. The SLSS radio will be removed for a Pioneer 2-DIN Apple CarPlay compatible unit once the car has done a month of driving about without upsetting me. The passenger side gas strut is getting binned off ASAFP - it's overgassed and is putting strain on the rest of the system, even if it does hold the door up. The critical door strut pivots have been drenched in WD40, and I'll strip the driver door first and reattach the window mechanism properly (it rattles if you shut the door with the window down - I'm used to that.

 

Most annoying thing is the usual *I am going to go back in time and strangle you with your own seatbelt" lack of awareness of "how things break" - the windscreen has had bad wipers left on it and has the inevitable scratch. I cannot describe how much I hate people wrecking a windscreen for the sake of a fucking wiper blade. Like everything I've got, the wiper blades will be replaced with those aero ones that don't have metal parts, but I need to find out how to reduce these scratches. At least it's the passenger side.

 

Some trim needs to be plasti-dipped in black, and there are a few small rust spots, but it's not looking too shabby. Instrument bulbs need to be replaced, A/C and heater fan need investigating, as does a lot of lateral movement on the front end - could be shit tyres but I think worn bushes, it understeers more than I remember but I have just been driving an RX8 about.

 

In the meantime, Six-Cylinder's Volvo is proving to be wonderful transport and has earned some small repairs - straightening the headlight bracket/grille mount so it's no longer crosseyed, and tidying and refitting the horrible mess of wiring under the dashboard (I'm guessing Alarm, but maybe management for the aftermarket AC, whatever it is they hadn't heard of cable clips, steering columns or "rubbing through wires"). I can see the appeal of the 7/9 series over W124s, they're a nicer thing to drive in 4-pot form - though I think the Mercedes would have the edge in actual scary handling moments, at least with 7-series rear suspension. The towbar electrics will be checked (no indicators) and the sunroof is getting adjusted as it works, but catches on the deflector part when closing. And yes, the dashboard is getting resoldered.

[Bear]

Oh, and i just bought a roof spoiler for it - a little accessory that was pretty rare, it goes over the rear glass. My Phase 3 has one in the pictures earlier in the thread, and I liked them; I had to import that one from Japan so spotting one on UK eBay new in box was an exciting find