This 1976 Toyota Celica Has A Century V12, ZF Automatic, And A Clutch Pedal

It puts the rare single-year, extra-long version of the A20 Celica to good use, cramming the V12 from a Toyota Century under the hood and tweaking it to work with a clutch pedal and a manual transmission. Well, sort of. This transmission is worthy of a story of its own.

With all the amazing machinery at SEMA every year, it's easy to understand how we missed this Toyota at SEMA 2024. It might have been hidden behind a Jeep with a tire on a rock. But Carscoops found it, and we have to tip our hats to them and to the builders of this amazing 12-lung Celica.

Exquisite V12 Lurks Under This Vintage Hood
A Florida performance shop called Attacking The Clock racing built this monster, but it's not what was originally planned. ATC's Shawn Bassett says that the original intention was to slip a 4.8-liter, 9,000 rpm, 1LR-GUE V10 from a Lexus LFA under the hood. That would've been something, but it turns out those engines are impossible to find. We can't imagine why.

Instead, ATC grabbed the next-best thing – a V12 from a Toyota Century. The 1GZ-FE is a 5.0-liter V12 can't spin to 9,000 rpm, but it can make some big horsepower when upgraded. In stock trim it produces 276 horsepower with a wink and a nudge, since it was developed during the "gentlemen's agreement" era in Japan. However, the V12 was designed not for performance, but incredible smoothness and seamless power for Toyota's ultimate flagship luxury sedan.

This tuned version looks exquisite thanks to 12 velocity stacks and some amazing machined parts and chrome. And while the normal 1GZ has a relatively low rpm limit, this one spins right past nine grand and redlines at 10,000. It makes 700 hp thanks to a thorough working over with parts from New Zealand 1GZ experts Hartley.

Now, back to that transmission for a moment. It's a ZF8HP, the same eight-speed automatic you'll find in BMWs, Audis, Porsches, Aston Martins, and even Ram 1500 pickup trucks. The transmission is incredibly versatile. It also lets you do something most transmissions won't: control the clutch packs manually.

ATC has added a pedal to control the clutches in the torque converter automatic. You can rev it or even give it a clutch kick like a traditional stick. You can let it change gears automatically, or you can fully shift the eight-speed yourself. The shifter is sequential, not an H, but it's very, very cool.

The body is fully carbon fiber, but most of that carbon is hidden under paint. Vague hints of bare carbon peering out cleverly make the car look a little classier. And a little more discreet. Or at least as discreet as it can be with 12 velocity stacks popping out of the hood.

New-from-the-1970s BBS wheels help complete the look outside. A new leather cabin with carbon fiber seats and custom gauges transform the car inside.

A cantilever rear suspension with Moton shocks is hidden underneath, but ATC wanted to show off its race-ready hardware. So there's a clever window to the soul of the rear suspension that you can see into through the car's rear window.

The perfect touch might be the license plate. It answers the infamous question from 2 Fast 2 Furious of what would be a better motor, a Gallo 12 or a Gallo 24? For this Celica, it's 12 all day. And it will absolutely get your pizza to you in under 30 minutes. Guaranteed.