Again in 1971, Toyota started promoting two new fashions primarily based on the identical platform in North America: the Carina and Celica. The Carina bought poorly right here and disappeared with out making a lot of an impression after a few years, however the sporty-looking Celica was a gross sales success. An enlarged model with a six-cylinder engine and Celica Supra badges confirmed up on our shores beginning in 1979, with the Supra’s Celica background getting decreased emphasis within the following years. For the 1986 mannequin yr, the Supra turned greater and extra evil-looking, whereas the Celica identify bought transferred over to a brand-new design primarily based on a front-wheel-drive platform derived from the T150 Corona. At this time’s Junkyard Gem is a type of first-year front-drive Celicas, present in a Denver automobile graveyard.
The rear-wheel-drive Celicas have been inexpensive vehicles that seemed good and made commuting extra enjoyable, similar to the early Ford Mustangs. The cut up between the economical Celica and its performance-oriented Celica Supra sibling bought more and more complicated for automobile customers because the Supra turned extra of a competitor for the Chevrolet Camaro and Nissan Z-Automotive, so it made sense to create a brand new Celica that returned to the mannequin’s roots.
The rear-wheel-drive (non-Supra) Celicas bought in the USA all had members of the Toyota R engine household beneath their hoods. The R was initially developed to be used within the Toyopet Crown sedans and RK vans (in addition to forklifts), and the Rs that went into US-market Celicas have been the identical sturdy, torque-emphasizing mills that went into Hilux pickups of the time. They seemed like truck engines and revved like truck engines, which all the time appeared incongruous in an alleged sporty automobile.
The 1986 Celica bought non-truckish S engines of two.0 liters’ displacement; the Celica GT-S bought a DOHC model rated at 135 horsepower whereas the Celica ST and GT bought a 2S-E SOHC producing simply 97 horses.
With a five-speed guide, which this automobile has, 97 horses would have been sufficient to make this 2,551-pound automobile moderately enjoyable. Beginning within the 1988 mannequin yr, a turbocharged model with the All-Trac all-wheel-drive system went on sale in the USA.
This era of Celica was out there right here as a liftback and as a notchback coupe. A convertible model turned out there in the USA for 1987.
The MSRP for this automobile was $10,398, which quantities to one thing like $27,037 in 2023 {dollars}.
It has air con, which value an additional $705 ($1,833 at the moment), plus different choices that will have pushed the out-the-door worth effectively base the bottom determine.
It simply squeezed previous the 200,000-mile mark throughout its 37 years on the street.
The inside nonetheless appears to be like good after practically 4 a long time. This automobile was handled effectively by its proprietor or house owners.
Apart from some areas with previous physique filler cracking off, the sheetmetal appears to be like nice.
You may discover one in each automobile. You may see.
