Los Angeles, California, USA, 1985 – That’s the place and year I earned my driver’s license. As a 10th-11th grader, life was more than a little angst-filled. Little things were deemed hugely important, and genuine hugely important things got blown off. The future was vast, the future was unclear, the future was scary, the future was filled with promise. Some of that promise was kept, some was not.
And there was the car. The single most important thing in the life of an adolescent boy as it could supposedly help you procure the next most important thing in the life of an adolescent boy. Some cars jog the memories, some bring a flood of them. This car does that for me. I never owned one of these, I always wanted one, I pined for one, I still swoon a little when I (too rarely) see one. And this particular one, to me, is perfection. After two years of catching small glimpses of it around town I finally found it stationary one recent evening, but with far too many people around to get many pictures so a small selection will have to work hard, as it continues to tease me. It could be an ’84, but I think it’s an ’85 (Edit: It’s actually an ’83 but whatever, I’m so moted, roll with it…)
Memories of 1985. In no particular order – Less than Zero (the Bret Easton Ellis book), Cheers, Simple Minds, Swatch, LiveAid, That haunting cover of National Geographic with the Afghan girl, Wine Coolers, Helen Slater, St. Elmo’s Fire, New Coke, more Ronald Reagan…
The Celica was pretty much Japan’s version of the Mustang, this third generation being introduced for 1982 and carrying the Supra as a derivative of it as well; after this generation though diverging the Supra in a different direction. Or rather, diverging the Celica to a FWD platform instead. This car here is the ultimate expression of the 3rd gen Celica in the U.S. with the wider fenders, pop-up (rather than pop-out, both were offered during the run) headlights, wider wheels and tires, independent rear suspension, and here appropriately shod with the same BF Goodrich Radial T/A tires I believe it was offered with when new.
More memories – Aqua Net, Shoulder pads, Ray-Ban Wayfarers, John Hughes, In-N-Out, SATs, Answering machines with rock songs as the outgoing message, First concert (Thompson Twins/O.M.D./The Models), KROQ, Ralph Lauren Polo, Long permed hair, Body-boarding, Teen Wolf…
The rear louvers are perfection here and linked inextricably to this decade with several cars frequently seen sporting the look. While every other car on the road is gray with black trim today, it’s that way for a reason, it looks good (if now perhaps just seen too often). This Celica is ready to cruise down Ventura Boulevard from DeSoto to The Sherman Oaks Galleria and back over and over again just like we did back in the day. Gas was cheap. Music was good. Girls were fun. Windows were open. Summer nights were hot.
Christiane F., The Cars, The Breakfast Club, Guess Jeans, Family Ties, Lots of MTV, Car & Driver, Moonlighting, First real job, Billy Crystal, Sony Walkman, Private telephone line, Passing notes, Lockers, Gummy bracelets, Israeli paratrooper bags, The Brat Pack…
I did drive a few, most memorably one night along Mulholland Drive with my best friend and two girls we met at some kind of dance event at Valley College later that year, they didn’t want to drive but wanted to go somewhere with us so gave me the keys. Stick shift, the square-centered steering wheel, the 2.4liter 22R-EC with the torque delivery of a truck but a fire in the belly of it and those oh-so-supportive seats in the GT-S model. I kept it tame, but thoroughly enjoyed the solid engagement of the clutch, the feel of a (then-newish) car responding through still-firm rubber suspension bits and good tires.
Close friends, Dates, Love/Infatuation, ATM cards, K-Swiss shoes, Giant barettes, Turbochargers, Girls wearing Obsession, AIDS, Finding college parties, Mask (filmed at my high school), Ozone layer, Traffic school, Tower 6 at Zuma Beach, Betamax…
There were a few in my large high school parking lot, generally bought new for the richer Sweet 16’s, some in convertible form, and a few of the jocks had them too, though they usually not for too long until some overzealousness caused the demise of the car. 1986 brought a new Celica, FWD and somewhat more potent with more finesse to the chassis, but not really the rock solid feel that these here imbued. The era was ending, the weather was changing, the skies colorful, then dark with the neon lights adding color back into the night. Soon college would loom, more change, new locations, as well as the near-term and also more distant future with the promises made and sometimes but not always kept. But this car? It hasn’t changed. It still is and always will be perfect 1985 for me.
Nailed it.
I was a couple of years ahead of this. Jim, you really pegged the nostalgia perfectly. Although I grew up in the Midwest, I lived in Woodland Hills for a decade as an adult, so I can picture exactly what you’re talking about.
Like, totally.
I was a decade later than Jim, but remember all of the nostalgia he painted a vivid picture of. I just remember this scrim from being a child instead of a teen coming of age. Interestingly, ten years later, it felt like most of the trends and signifiers Jim mentioned in his stream of consciousness passages were more omnipresent in the collective conscious than the Supras, which had largely disappeared by the mid 90s. By then, the cultural equivalent of this car was the Mitsubishi Eclipse, which was always tuned or slammed, and very rarely left with factory specs. Alas, those, too, are all bygone.
I saw a first gen Supra for the first time in years about a month ago. It was red, with original blue CA plates, and it really popped. It looked low-slung and lithe, almost like a DeLorean in its lines. These cars were a lot more show than go, but they had a lot of ’80s style. Now seems like the time for them to become collectable.
Thank you. My high school was in Woodland Hills located at a major intersection, you’ve doubtless driven by it and the In’N’Out just east of it hundreds of times…
The CC Effect is an amazing thing – Just yesterday I was wallowing in some 1985 nostalgia in the process of making some tweaks to an upcoming COAL. That was a watershed year for me too, the year I finally made the transition from student to real life. It was a good year, and many of your associations pop for me too. You can add William “The Refrigerator” Perry and the Chicago Bears. And the Superbowl Shuffle. 🙂
It was also a year I had a new car obsession, and it is to my eternal shame and regret that I never drove one of these. And I am not even sure why. I remember my law school roommate (who was going through his own crush on Volvos) being convinced that these would be rusty messes in short order due to our midwestern climate (which many Japanese cars had been up to then). But that didn’t stop me from at least walking into a Honda dealer (and walking back out after nobody approached me after about 20 minutes of looking around in the showroom).
Now I love pretty much everything about these – the inline six, the rear wheel drive, the businesslike yet sporty styling. How I would like to go back and relive that year. You can bet I would have at least test driven one of these.
Brilliant from start to.finish. Such an evocative piece… My brother is about your age, and these Celicas (and Supras) were also his jam. These were hot cars.
Makes me want to bust out my John Hughes DVDs this coming weekend.
I agree with the comments above that this is an outstanding discourse on this car. Just two memories of mine on this generation of Celica.
My sister’s high school boyfriend had an ’83 Celica. She and her boyfriend were 5 years older than me, and I looked up to him in the way that adolescent boys tend to admire kids who are a few years older. He was everything I wanted to be, and of course he drove a Celica, which was an instant ticket to social respectability in 1980s high schools.
Fast forward to the late 1990s, and a friend of mine owned a Celica similar to this featured car. But by that time it was far too old to be cool – plus his was worn-down and on its last legs (the rear differential made some sort of awful grinding sound, and we all expected the car to just collapse at any moment). That car’s previous owner had evidently been a fan of pinstripes – it had fancy, swirly pinstripes all over, and embellished with the owner’s monogram on the doors and trunklid. To me, that car was a living embodiment of a time that had passed. A decade earlier, it would have been virtually a dream car for me, but when older and downtrodden it seemed like a startling representation of how time marches on.
This was a great parking-lot find – I’m glad you found it and wrote this article.
Of all those ’80s things the one I most relate to is “girls wearing Obsession”. My girlfriend during my third year of university wore Obsession, a detail I’d have long forgotten except that she accidently spilled her bottle of it onto my bedroom carpet, which made my dorm room smell like Obsession for the rest of the year. Just what I needed, especially since she dumped me about two months later for her high school sweetheart, whom she married at 18. I’d still recognize that smell today. In second place are the wine coolers, I am waiting to see if my mom ever throws out the half-full bottle of ’80s-vintage Bartles and Jaymes sitting on her storage room shelf along with several bottles of liquors and wines that have been there since I was a kid, in case she needs them for a party she never throws.
But I can’t really relate to the third-gen Celica, much preferring the first two and slightly preferring the early FWD models that followed it. I had a friend with a red Celica Supra from this generation and it was a neat car for sure (and featured another emblematic ’80s thing – a graphic equalizer, which theoretically should be completely unnecessary for a factory car stereo), but the boxy ’80s look never appealed to me.
That one pictured is an ’83. That was the only year of the exposed “tilt-up” headlights.
Thank you, I should have caught it by the taillight design. Text amended…my memories of ’85 and the car itself still hold.
I was wondering if anyone else would notice this. My friend had an 83 GTS coupe and he was always fond of pointing out his tilting headlamps were different than the concealed lamps of the 84/85.
Well, I’m 10-15 years older, Jim, so some of your cultural references are at best obscure, with a few that ring no bells at all. Israeli paratrooper bags? But I loved these Celica’s, though preferably without the window shades. With Datsun/Nissan’s best US market years behind it, for a while, with the death of the original 510 and the transition from Z to ZX, Toyota was ascending. And I’m not talking about just market success with FWD Corollas and Camries. These Celica’s, along with the first 4wd pickups and of course the AE86 Corolla that came along a bit later, really established Toyota as a performance brand with a youthful image. A great find!
My high school on the West side of the San Fernando Valley had a large Jewish population, all of a sudden the green paratrooper bags with the red logo seemed to be all the rage among the cool kids, it’s pretty much what we’d now call a messenger bag made out of rugged cloth like a G.I.’s duffel bag and actually a useful item of kit. I don’t know if the cultural association is what made them popular in that particular geographic spot or if it was a much wider spread thing…they still exist and seem to be readily available, either in genuine or repro form.
Very cool Jim. Some of these I get and some not.
Although 1985 in LA was undoubtedly a LOT different than 1985 in Stoney Creek, the Toyota Celica was one of the few new cars on my radar at the time.
For me, it was–and should have been–the Supra version. When I could finally buy a new (company) car, why I went for that ’83 TBird Turbo Coupe instead of a Supra is a mystery I still can’t fathom. The Supra’s big, creamy six was the antithesis of the blown Pinto 2.3, with its turbo lag and abrupt kick-in and its horrible sounds above 4,000 rpm. Oh well…
You captured the times and the car perfectly.
Perhaps you wanted to “buy American”?
Also, the T-bird could be had for considerably less. Supras were pricey.
I agree, in hindsight, the Supra was the car to have. Definitely worth every penny of the price difference
A friend had a Supra of this generation. Very smooth I6 engine, but the leather smelt strongly and a bit like pee.
I may be 7-10 years older than you, Jim, but most of the cultural references ring true. I graduated college in 1984 and worked for a year before starting graduate school. Newly employed and earning decent money, in my ever-hopeful mind, I figured I would soon be getting either a VW Jetta or a Celica just like this one, but no, my corporate employer really would rather I had a Buick Regal, so A-body it was. What a shame, because the Celica was so of that moment, while the Regal seemed more like my dad’s idea of a great car.
About six months later, on my first trip to Southern California, I visited my best friend from college, who had moved to LA. His first car was the notchback version of this Celica, with slick-shifting 5-speed. Good memories of cruising down Sunset Blvd on our way to the beach.
Cool car, cool article! It’s hard to imagine a car looking more of its time than this, it just screams “mid-80’s” and looks like it’s still 1986.
The pictures you got may have had to work hard, but they are really good since you caught the car at the sweet dusk hour with some open spaces around it. Since you had been on the look out for this car parked for a while, I personally would have cast caution to the wind and lingered as long as needed to get all the photos I wanted. Besides, this is such a nice old car I don’t think anyone who cared enough to notice would think it’s too strange for someone to be photographing it. Too bad you didn’t luck out and have the owner come out while you were there. No matter, the photos suited the article just fine.
Really good cultural references. I was about 2 years younger and living in Texas, but I got most of them. Ones I didn’t get: Helen Slater, Christiane F., Isreali paratrooper bags (saw your explanation above, I think I wouldn’t mind having one of those now).
Thanks, many of the main cultural references probably change every five years or so I figure (and some are repeating themselves in different form probably every 25 or so – private phone line to own iPhone, MTV to personal TikTok videos, etc).
Some are probably more personal to me than to everyone of my generation though, more people seemed to get most of them than I figured…of course some are equally as likely to be replaced by something similar but more personally relevant…
Helen Slater is the actress from Legend of Billie Jean, a sort of obscurish movie that nevertheless had some sort of bigger than normal impact on me at the time, also the sister of Christian Slater, the actor.
Christiane F. was/is a book (and hugely depressing subtitled movie) that somehow got some popularity at my high school and I got a little obsessed with, it’s a more hardcore Go Ask Alice, a true story/biography about a young normal German teen in Berlin that got addicted to drugs incl Heroin, ending up prostituting herself starting at 13/14 to pay for it and saw many other very young teens die in the late 70s and early 80s, it was a huge deal in Germany when released a few years before I read it. Its real title in Germany is “We kids from Bahnhof Zoo” It turns out it was actually required reading in 7th grade across much of Germany for many years (might still be), very recently got remade into an Amazon Prime mini-series in Europe, and is still important to me, I think it helped me avoid some impulses I may have had at times over the years back then. She actually made it through everything and survives in Germany today. There is some extremely difficult subject matter in there for me to imagine 7th graders to be able to digest but apparently made a difference to a lot of people in Germany, it is still frequently referenced today.
I kind of want one of the bags now too, maybe a group buy? 🙂
As you know, it’s easy to take pictures, harder when there are people walking by and looking at you while you’re trying to compose a shot and you don’t want them in frame. This was a busy Walmart lot with some sketchiness in the parking lot at times, I was getting the “why is that dude just standing there” look from more than a few people so interior shots were a definite no-go…
I’ve been there. Walmart after dark: only slightly more wholesome than German 7th grade reading lists.
Put me down for an Israeli Paratrooper bag!
The Legend of Billie Jean made a bigger impact than its critical virtues or modest box office would normally have entailed I think almost because of the theme song: “Invincible,” performed by Pat Benatar, which was a very successful single and was nominated for a Grammy Award. It was a popular radio cut and one of Benatar’s biggest hits, although she always said she thought the movie was awful.
Poor Helen Slater ended up suffering career-wise because The Legend of Billie Jean was a commercial flop on the heels of her much-publicized debut in Supergirl, which was a disaster (although she was actually fine in it, defeated by an awful shambling mess of a script and hammy support from her bigger-name costars). She was also in Ruthless People and The Secret of My Success, but was never really a star after that.
She is NOT in fact related to Christian Slater. It’s a common mistake, since they have the same last name and he played her brother in The Legend of Billie Jean, but they’re not related.
Er, “I think almost entirely because of the theme song.”
Oh, well blow me down, I guess I haven’t looked up the Slater relationship in some time and assumed my ’80s knowledge was still current. Thanks for setting the record straight!
In a semi-unrelated thing except for almost the timeframe and certainly the place, “Licorice Pizza” takes place in the same locale as my rambling thoughts referenced if a few years earlier but is/was a wonderful microcosm of youth in the San Fernando Valley. Interestingly, the female lead is played by Alana Haim (of the Haim Sisters musical act), and the movie stars her two sisters as her sisters in the movie AND also their real parents as their parents in the film. I was struck by the amazing resemblance of the “movie family” and thought what great casting and then realized who they all were during the closing credits and a minute of googling.
GM didnt have a chance with N, E and W coupes.
Mentioned in another post that “Moonlighting” represented a change of consumer tastes. Even on its network, ABC, known for bland shows like “Love Boat”, ‘Moon’ was a breath of fresh air. Changed TV for a time from cheese to more quality writing.
Same with GM, can’t just hawk cheaply made products like it’s 1974, expecting trade ins when people get tired of getting car repairs, as if there were no other car companies.
You had me at Helen Slater 🙂
I can connect with every one of those pop culture connections…except for me I was just out of college, versus just about ready to enter college. Great list(s), and excellent post.
As for the Celica, the CC effect continues on… I ran across an ad for a supposedly “left in a shop” 1980 GT just yesterday. The thing that impressed me about that car, and the next generation one in your post, was the classic 80s rear window treatment. I don’t quite know the proper name for that louvered thing. But man, I would HATE to have to drive a car that had something like that covering the rear view. I recall seeing those back in the day, and thinking WTF?? Who the heck would want to see something like that in their rear view every time they got in the car? I’m guessing I might not have been alone in my thinking, given the fact that these things seem to have vanished as a styling feature.
Jim – In most of the ’80s I was renting cars all the time. Convertibles were just coming back around ’82 or so – including to rental car fleets. I’d always have a reservation for cheap, and not a convertible. But I got substitutions three times that I can remember: VW Cabrio at LAX; Mustang convertible at LAX and one time at Stapleton a red Celica convertible (this generation) with, I think, a gray cloth interior. What a nice car that was for a spring weekend in Denver. As I remember it was an ASC conversion.
For about three years I had an obsession with the revived convertibles and ended up buying a VW Cabrio. Should have gotten the Toyota; wonder if the convertible came with a stick?
I had an ’82 GT-S. I know, it wasn’t called that, the badging didn’t appear until ’83. In ’82 it looked like this car with the Supra int., flares and Supra wheels. It did not have the IRS, however. I also had an immaculate ’85 silver/black-gray, about 10 years ago. Bought it from a girl in the nursing program at O (Oregon) SU. Needed the cash. Wish I still had it, if I did it would be a 1UZ-packing sleeper.
For some reason, this reminded me of that Woody Allen stand-up sketch where he sees his whole life flash before his eyes.
“I saw myself as a kid again. Going to school, going fishin’ at the swimming hole… Frying up a mess-o-catfish… Going down to the general store, getting a piece of gingham for Emmy-Lou… And suddenly I realize it’s not my life. I’m going to die in two minutes and the wrong life is passing before my eyes… ”
Great pics, cool car – incredible post, Klein-san.
Zuma Beach is something I haven’t heard since 1967 when I was last there before moving down to San Diego. Rarely got down to the beach before 16 since one had to rely on Mom. However, once 16 I was at MB, PB, or La Jolla Shores all summer long to body surf. Remember the Churchill’s in my Cougar’s trunk?
I really liked the 3rd Gen Celica but I was already past 30 and technically dead. So that would make the 1st Gen the version most appropriate for me. The one belongs to a friend who is about 77. Cool cars even with the 20R and 22R engines.
A nice car and even better story .
Major Surplus down on Figueroa South of downtown a bit prolly has those bags, I used to buy my messenger bags there affordably .
-Nate
Yes I’ll bet Major does have those. A little digging reminded me that back in the day Banana Republic actually sold the bags, this was back when they were still into the safari and rugged stuff instead of the far more chi-chi stuff starting in the ’90s…Very likely that’s where many of the ones in my high school came from.
Is this car for sale . ?how much?
em1@twc.com
I was in medical school at the time of 1985 but I was on the East Coast. My brother (2 years younger) had an ’84 Celica, bought used, with the back window treatment. It was white and the flairs were black. It was a cool car and he had it quite a while until he got married in 1993. I used it twice, both for a trip to Birmingham, AL from Atlanta. The first was in 1989 to attend a wedding and the other was for a fellowship interview at UAB School of Medicine (the tailend of my 14 day/11 stop 7,000 mile coast-coast interview tour of 1990 before I returned to Madison, WI). I hardly remember the car other than it was better than the Pontiac Sunbird my brother had before it. I got most of your references, but Philadelphia inexplicably still did not have have cable TV available (but fully aware of MTV). What, no Miami Vice? And that was the time of Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA tour. 1985 was the time of the best Girlfriend I ever had.
is this car for sale?
Ernest Miller
Another excellent article from Jim, and all the memories are spot on. We must be the same age. I loved these cars too in high school; the revised front with the hidden headlights was a lot better. The Supra version of this body has to be one of the best looking cars of that decade. A college girlfriend had a Celica coupe (the notchback with the trunk). I drove it a lot, sometimes on long interstate trips to her parents’ house. I though the coupe was somewhat ungainly looking, but it sure drove nice.
Thanks – We are close, high school class of ’87… Go Toreadors! Yeah, 84/85 front was better than 82/83 and Supra ruled that roost. The Celica had lots of competition from the 200SX, Prelude, Mustang GT, Audi Coupe, 318i, Scirocco and GTI at my school. I’d have taken any of them to be frank but made do with my ’79 Mazda 626 coupe…
You might enjoy this Jim. Southern California’s last ”80s Mall’, the Koreatown Plaza. Posted this afternoon (Dec. 31). The ’80s decor is remarkable. The mall is sadly scheduled for demolition.
From a great ’80s pop culture channel, one of my favourites.
Great find, and reflections. I loved 80s music and culture, before it became too commercial. So, 1980 to early 1984 is generally peak ’80s for me. lol The second British invasion in music between ’82 and early ’84, was perhaps my most charged time, during the decade. New Wave and alternative groups, mostly from the UK, now regularly topping the US Top 40. It was incredible to see.
I remember playing the 12 inch version of ‘One Thing Leads to Another’, with its great intro, probably 12 times in a row. When I first heard it.
The first CD I owned was The Fixx’s Reach The Beach around ’86 or so. Red Skies is still my favorite track on there… KROQ was my local radio station and influenced all of my early music selections so lots of New Wave and breaking groups in there…
I’ve seen some of that video guy’s stuff, he lived within a few miles of me judging by some of his videos and references. It’s easy to get lost in the nostalgia rabbit holes there especially when familiar with almost ALL of the streets and areas he goes to.
He’s so genuinely passionate about the era, and in his research.
The alternative choice in Toronto was CFNY-FM. In Ottawa, it was CHEZ106.
Those stations made many Canadian acts.
OMG!!! Just came across this and it took me back. I bought my first car after I graduated high school in 1982…Toyota Celica Coupe Dark Blue, no power steering, had to order AC. (Live in South Florida) Didn’t think I could love a car anymore than my 82 until I l saw the 1985 Celica GTS. I went straight to the dealership, picked a color and combo and they located one in North Florida and had it shipped down. Couldn’t hand my 82’s keys over fast enough. It was a 1985 Celica GTS Coupe.I was there when they pulled it off the truck..it had 3 miles on it. It was everything I imagined… fully loaded- power sunroof, cassette, equalizer, automatic transmission, louvers, power locks, power windows, power mirrors, cruise control, AC. It was two-tone Dark Blue Metallic & Light Blue Metallic. It was BEAUTIFUL!!! Kept it for 16 years…boyfriend at the time made me get rid of it. Got a Mitsubishi Eclipse..turned out to be a lemon…..and so did he!!! 🍋😂