We're starting off the week with a Celica sporting a Lexus V8, freakin' louvers, and smilies on both ends. The question is, will this custom Japanese pony's price be enough to make you smile too?

You've no doubt heard about how Apple Inc. has been locked in a bitter and protracted legal battle royale with Samsung over Apple's claims that the Korean company has watched Single White Female one too many times.

That kind of corporate pissing match may be par for the course today, but it wasn't always so. Back in the day when Toyota first introduced their mini-Mustang, the Celica Ford didn't even bat an eye. And when, in 1973 the Japanese company spliced even more of the DNA from Ford's pony into the car in the form of the Liftback, the American car maker didn't even seem to notice.

Maybe Ford's disinterest was driven by their own problems at the time - exploding Pintos and diminishing market share likely keeping them up at night. Whatever it was, the only thing that the Celica Liftback didn't have that the Mustang did was a V8 engine option to fill its engine bay.

This custom addresses that omission by having had its original SOHC four-banger replaced by a 255-bhp all-alloy V8 from a 1992 Lexus SC400, keeping it in the family. This we've seen the quad-cam V8 used in a fashion for which it wasn't originally intended, and just like in that Miata, this mill brings its 4-speed automatic along for the ride.

The installation looks professional, although the redrum paint is a little much. There's plenty of room between the towers for the big mill, and the bespoke wiring looks well handled in there too.

The power goes back through that Lexus box, and that is said to have been refreshed. Handling rear end duties is a '72 Chevy 12-bolt that has also been imbued with some superman parts. Chevy is the source as well of the U-handle shifter, which is claimed to be late of a Camaro.

The suspension has not been ignored either, with AE86 struts, and a power rack & pinion steering upgrade. The hubs have been modded for 5-lug use, but that's a place where the seller says some work is still needed.

On the aesthetic front, the exterior has been cleaned up a bit with the elimination of the sail panel gills and the switch to smilies over the gawd-awful original battering rams. It doesn't have a banana bar in the back, but the louvers more than make up for that.

On the inside things look a little less tidy, and that Camaro shifter really needs find a new home. There's also a sport seat that looks to be little fun to get into and out of if you're not McKayla Maroney.

In fact, the seller says that there are a few things still needed to make this custom Celica complete. He has apparently ADHD'd it preferring to have instead. His price is $13,000 which I guess will buy you a pretty nice boat. The question for you is whether that much will also buy a pretty nice V8 Celica.

What do you think, is this sweet '77 worth $13,000? Or, does this Japanese mini-pony's price make little horse sense?

You decide!

Charleston , or go if the ad disappears.

H/T to Ben for the hookup!

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