It’s 10:03 PM, and there’s still a hint of daylight outside. It’s not exactly a good time to start a CC after a long day trying to hang a door that refused to die, some wrenching on the latest addition to the fleet (stay tuned), and a sunset dinner hike to the summit of Mt. Pisgah. But if I don’t start showing more of the cars I keep shooting, I’m going to die with 4.7 million cars in my files that will never have seen the light of LCD. Like this matched set of Celicas; time to tell your bed-time story.
Let’s do a walk-by of them both, and see what comes to mind. This third generation of Celica has taken a long time for me to come to terms with. I was quite disappointed when it appeared, a rather jolting all-new look that was a total departure from its handsome predecessor.
I consider the gen2 Celica (1977 – 1981) one of the finest design of its era, and one of the more successful Japanese-car designs ever. It’s amazingly clean, pure, and timeless, and that’s not something that one could say about many cars that originated from the depths of the Great Brougham Epoch. Why? Well, the gen2 Celica was the first Toyota designed at Calty, Toyota’s then brand-new Southern California design studio. A bunch of young surfers designed it, dude! That was a big step for Toyota, and a very good one indeed. They had acknowledged how huge and important the NA market had become for them. I’ve never gotten tired of it, and it makes me feel young to see one; like a pretty girl on the beach in 1977, that’s never aged.
Well, no one will accuse the gen3 Celica of being a svelte California beach girl in a bikini. Or not looking dated. Yes, the design for this was done in Japan, as if that wasn’t blatantly obvious. It’s a generalization, but the Japanese tended to like lots surface details, edges, wedges and ledges. The gen3 bristles with visual interest, except that it is a bit tiring, unlike the gen2.
But nevertheless, I’ve come to appreciate this car’s chunky and tapered profile.
This applies to the inside as well as the outside. Busy, busy. The gen2’s interior was as relatively classy and serene as its exterior, but edginess was the new thing in Tokyo. Fast and Furious; not laid back.
Nowhere does the gen3 Celica betray its origins more obviously than the tail, especially the tail-lights.
The Liftback presented itself substantially differently from the Coupe, a precedent that was first set when the gen1 Liftback appeared, and would continue for a couple more Celica generations. Obviously, this body style was shared with the Supra from the cowl back, so there is that too. It certainly comes off a bit less chunky than the Coupe. And it does invite the boy racers.
In Japan and other countries, Celicas came with a host of engine choices, from 1587 cc to a 1.8 L Turbo, and naturally-aspirated two-liters. But in dull old America, the torquey 2.4 L 22R was the only engine offered, fuel injected beginning with the 1983 MY. A stalwart if unexciting mill; the Japanese equivalent of the Mustang 5.0.
Needless to say, old Celicas have a similar appeal to young guys to mess with, just like the Mustang. A rice-fed pony.
Rather surprisingly, this one doesn’t sport the Supra’s louvered “Lambo” rear window cover. This angle works better than the profile, where that nick in the roof is a bit jarring.
The Liftback doesn’t have the “geisha” taillights. But either way, these are old-school Toyotas: simple, rugged, and still appealing to the younger drivers. Obviously. And why not? They have a style that’s unique, and a far cry from what’s available today at your Toyota dealer. Oops, almost forgot about the FR-S. It is 10:58, and I’m done, more ways than one. Your turn.
I remember being infatuated by the Supra in 1985. But somehow, I never drove one. I have no idea how that happened. I was shopping for my first new car, and drove damned near everything (including a Cavalier, of all things). I do remember my roommate warning me that the Toyota would look like swiss cheese at 5 years old, and given his being raised in northwest Indiana steel mill territory where road salt was applied heavily, his prejudice was understandible at that time.
But why didn’t I drive it? I have no idea. Hindsight says that I should have driven it and should have bought it instead of the VW GTI that I ended up with. The Toyo would have been a LOT more reliable, and I could probably have kept it for years, as these turned out to be not too bad vs. the rust monster.
I like the look of the liftback, although it is definitely an 80s design. It looks best as a Supra, IMHO. The coupe is actually not bad either, as I think about it.
So many for decades have gone on and on about the Mustang II being ‘poor idea’. But it was meant to compete with new cars from Japan, like Celica. Even the Fox Stang was a competitor.
How fortuitous. I just saw one on the street of Jakarta a few days ago. I think that’s the first time I ever saw one on the street. Can’t be more than a (single) handful in the country, they were extremely rare, as they were from the era when imported cars were next to impossible to get. Even when I was living in America some 10 years ago they were quite rare. They must’ve been sold mostly in East and West coast, the Midwest were a bit late in getting into the import thing. And two of them next to each other on the side of the road? Never happened.
I never liked the 2nd gen Celica, it lost all the Mustang styling cues and was just a generic Japanese blob that looked bloated to me. This generation was better looking in my opinion and did get back to ripping off some of that era Mustang’s styling cues.
The first and second generation Celicas rank as my all-time favorite old school Japanese cars. Even here in sunny California, the mecca of vintage tin, they’re getting pricey and hard to find.
Last week I spotted an ’81 Supra in the Cars for Sale section of my local Pick-A-Part. Except for a munched lower left fender, the car was mint. Even the engine was clean, and the upholstery wasn’t all trashed. How it ended up there is anyone’s guess.
A neighbor of mine has a black on black convertible that would complete the set nicely. I’ve just uploaded some pics of it to the cohort. It looks like it’s in pretty good shape. With the weather the way it is today, I wouldn’t mind having a convertible…
here’s a pic…
For some reason, I’m unable to post a picture of the black convertible here, but you can see it on the cohort.
It’ll only take jpg files, 9 times out of 10 that’s the problem.
My best friend’s Mum drove one of these for a while when I was a kid – the lift-back, I dunno if we got the coupe here – she used to call it her “silly car” (har har).
I must’ve ridden in it very often but I have no strong memories of what it was like to be inside, unlike my Mum’s (roughly contemporary) first Volvo 480, of which I have very fond memories of sitting in.
I’ve always kind of liked this era of Toyotas generally and the Celica especially – the hard angles, sharp lines and overall air of 80s-ness really appeal to me
In ’82 when this generation came out, I, for one, actually prefered the notchback coupe over the liftback. I remember being in the showroom of (then in Wahiawa) Service Motor, Co. – they sold Chevies, Toyotas (still do) and Suzukis (including back then the FJ 400 truck and Jeepster). On the showroom floor that one day in January, 1982 was a Celica notchback sharing floor space with an ’82 Monte Carlo. The two angular notchbacks actually complemented each other and were a similar terra-cotta metallic color. If I recall, the Monte Carlo was about $1800.00 more than the Celica and the Monte had the early ’80’s style rally wheels and F41 set up (but a 229 V-6). The Celica notch as an “ST” . . . automatic and fully loaded which would’ve been about $10K in ’82!
Back then, I liked wedge shaped front ends in particular. The 3rd gen Celica (and the ’81-’87 A body Buick and Olds) satisfied my wedge front end preference.
I will agree Paul, the Cal desgined 2nd gen. Celica ’78-’81 was a very attractive car and somewhat timeless in design, but I prefer the ’78-’79 models with the round headlights. The rectangular lights and the “paddle” side mirrors of ’80 and ’81 were NOT attractive.
I hate to disagree with Paul, but I never warmed up to the 2nd gen Celica. To me, it looked too bland and shapeless.
The third generation Celica was one that made it onto my radar. Of course, I liked the edgy shapes the GM B-bodies pioneered, by 1979 the Mustang/Capri were also that same edgy style. Not coincidentally, I’m also a fan of Cadillac’s Art & Science edgy styling.
The only thing that seemed off about this gen of Celica, was with the fender flares that some models came with, the looked overstuffed or blown out. But the regular lower trim levels, they were a very sharp looking car.
Now, if you can swap an LS-1 into one of these, I’m sold… 🙂
With the right combo of skills, time and money you can swap a SBC into pretty much anything. Those have a relatively large engine bay so it shouldn’t be that hard to wedge a SBC in there.
That was kind of an off-the-cuff comment, but the more I think about it… Unfortunately, I’m fresh out of skills, money and time…
I believe this vintage Celica ST were sans the wheel bulges; the GT’s had them. GT hatchbacks were like “little” Supras (well, in reality, Supras were “big” Celicas forward of the firewall – much like an AMC Ambassador).
Wrong. Only the GTS models had the fender flares(ahem, wheel bulges? lmao), kinda like a poor man’s Supra.
The plain Jane ST and GT models were slab sided and wimpy looking compared to the fully loaded GTSs.
I just sold my blue 85 Celica GTS coupe, to a fellow Celica enthusiast(he owns an 85 Celica GTS convertible)… back in 2010, because my license was suspended, at the time.(reinstated in 2011).
Now, that I’ve got my license back, I wish I never sold it. Other than some rust, it ran mint.
Always liked these – we got all three variants in Oz. They’re popping up in my radar again Lately as the Hellafkush kiddies who grew up with them are reliving their youth with them (as evidenced by the hatch in the pics). Which looks great to me, BTW.
Much better looking than the 2nd gen shape, which I’ve always found bland and bloated – especially after the great Mustang pastiches of the TA and RA Celicas.
I REALLY miss my 76 GT now…
The front end looks like a cassette recorder. Its contemporary, the gen1 MR2, looks like a PC power supply. Toyota styling must have been based in Akihabara.
The gen4 Celica looked so great I bought one new and drove it daily for 11 years. Loved that car and still think its styling is perfect. Strangely they’re rare on our streets now, haven’t found one to snap yet.
I thought gen 4’s looked bland compared to gen 1, 2 and 3. Gen 5, IMHO looked goofy, at least the ‘notchback’ did. This last gen Celica was back to it’s gen 1 roots and is highly prized as a used car, at least in the Aloha and Golden States.
I’ve always loved the 2nd-gen Celica design, and as much of a departure as the 3rd-gen was, I liked it almost as much, and right away. 4th-gen? So disappointing. To me it looked like they’d taken a clay model of the 3rd-gen, left it out in the sun to deform, and said, “okay, we’re done.”
The changing to FWD was the BIGGEST offense. Toyota truly wimpified the Celica. Some 2nd and 3rd gen RWD Celicas had posi rear ends.
A friend of mine had a 79 Celica GT notchback, and would leave two strips every time.
Other than the All-Trac versions, to me, every Celica made after 1985, was pure rubbish. Nothing but a girly secretary’s car.
My friend in Chicago had a Supra in 1991. I ran some errands in it and found that the doors sounded like tin cans and the ride was punishing. Another friend bought a ’91 or ’92 Celica. He referred to the styling as looking like a soap bubble. I called it blobtastic.
The Japanese at the time of the Gen 1 Celica liked a lot of “surface excitement”. Look at their graphic design today. They can’t tolerate the “white space” that we Bauhausians so covet.
This is one of the cars a classmate had when I was In College that I Was envious of..
I Knew These cars Would last. This Was The Car I Knew Toyota Was Going To Take over.
It Was That Much Better.
So many People Traded Their GM Monte Carlos, Etc…even Ford Mustangs, For These In Record numbers
I Loved Gen2 and 3 took some getting use to. perhaps it has All been downhill from there.The 91 -93 Bulbous one Sure sucked, the one before well…
I Have a friend who is trying to sell me an 87 for 1600, working AC, …He’s driving a 96 Mustang Conv. Instead now, so perhaps it came full circle for many of the customers? 30 mpg auto he tells me on highway
I like that 3rd gen coupe a lot. I’d forgotten about those. I never cared for the liftbacks as much – too heavy looking in the back half but the proportions on the coupe are spot on. I love the 1st gens, especially the coupes but don’t care for the 2nd gens – lost all the toned aggressiveness of the 1st. The 3rd gen is a worthy 80’s rectilinear successor to the 1st gen’s 3/5 scale Japanese Mustang.
The Gen3 was when the Japanese were deep into their Transformers styling theme, all blocky shapes and surface gadgetry. Also evident in the Mitsubishi Starion and Cordia (it’s been a LONG time since I’ve seen one of those on the road) and the 300ZX of the same era.
Always been a big Celica fan and the third generation is one of my favorites. The fourth gen was a letdown with its bland styling by comparison. The fifth and six gen were much more interesting, still wouldn’t mind having one as a beater.
I despised the last Celica when it came out, too boy-racer. In retrospect, I like it better than its spiritual replacement, the Scion tC (a car that I’ve seriously considered buying on multiple occasions).
It’s been years since I last saw a gen3 coupe, but there are still a few liftbacks around. I’ve always loved the styling of the liftback (in either Celica or Supra format), especially with those nicely chunky and masculine wheel-arch flares. Think I’d have to go for a Supra version so I could hear the straight-6 snarl.
I wonder why Gen2 was designed in Calty, but Gen3 back over in Japan? This was right in the middle of the Toyota onslaught, with each new Toyota coming out better designed for US needs.
But yeah, this and Gen5 are my favorite Celica designs….
As can be told by my handle, I have an infatuation with rally cars. And this generation of Celica gave us one of the most bulletproof rally cars ever built — the 1984-1986 Group B Celica Twincam Turbo, 300hp of Safari Rally-crushing RWD durability. It’s also one of the meanest-looking rally cars ever.
I owned a 1982 Celica GT Liftback. It was the worst handling car I ever owned (period).
I traded a 79 Z28 for it back in 1984 because I was commuting a fairly long distance. I knew a guy with a Corolla that seemed pretty nice so I took the dive. It was a nice looking car for the time and was wildly popular. It was very reliable, got good fuel mileage….but it also instilled this mantra in me which I have never forgotten
“STOP BUYING CARS THAT AREN’T FUN TO DRIVE!!”
This was a pitiful excuse of a car for anything other than reliable, economical transportation. The sheer terror of understeer would be accompanied by rear end lift which translated into a 180 degree course correction once/if brakes were applied.
NEXT!
I like the third generation convertibles. Here are mine.
I drove a burgundy ’82 ST coupe (no fender flares) with stick-shift as a month-long rental while on assignment. If the GT liftback was like a Mustang, the ST coupe was the Cougar equivalent, and in my memory, a great little car.