The Toyota Celica began out as a sporty hardtop coupe in keeping with the Carina sedan, in aware imitation of the Falcon-derived first-generation Ford Mustang. Whilst the Carina by no means stuck on in North The usa, its Celica sibling offered rather well right here from the time of its American debut as a 1971 fashion and deep into the Eighties. Adjustments in car tastes stuck up with the sporty-looking commuter coupe, even though, and what became out to be the general technology of Celica first seemed as a 2000 fashion. This is a kind of automobiles, present in a Denver-area self-service boneyard lately.

The U.S.-market Celica went thru 3 generations from the 1971 thru 1985 fashion years, and all the ones automobiles had something in commonplace: a torquey four-cylinder truck engine swiped from the Hilux (and descended from a line of Fifties forklift motors) using the rear wheels. An enlarged model with a six-cylinder engine began out with Celica Supra badging however was once all the time thought to be a definite fashion.

For 1986, the Supra—which had develop into extra of a mean-looking Chevy Camaro rival with each and every passing 12 months — went its personal method and the Celica moved onto a entrance/all-wheel-drive platform derived from the T150 Corona (which, not like the Carina, was once by no means offered in the USA).

Gross sales of the front-wheel-drive Celica began out sturdy sufficient, however sports activities coupes normally changed into much less common because the Nineteen Nineties went on. As a part of Toyota’s push to entice more youthful patrons (which gave us the Scion emblem and the Echo subcompact), the sixth-generation Celica was once made lighter and less expensive. Reviewers favored it, however ever-increasing numbers of younger automobile consumers in the USA had shifted their desire to vans via that point. In the summertime of 2004, Toyota Motor Gross sales USA introduced that 2005 will be the ultimate fashion 12 months for the Celica right here (gross sales in Japan and Europe persisted throughout the 2006 fashion 12 months).

Simplest two fashions of the 2000-2005 Celica had been introduced in the USA: the GT and the GT-S, each liftback coupes. The MSRP at the ’00 GT was once $16,695 (about $30,177 in 2023 greenbacks). That was once reasonably a value drop from that of the ’99 GT, which indexed at $21,440 ($39,815 after inflation).

This automobile has the non-compulsory automated transmission as a substitute of the bottom five-speed guide (the 2000 GT-S were given a six-speed guide as same old apparatus), which added $800 to the associated fee tag ($1,486 now).

It additionally has the facility sunroof bundle, which integrated energy home windows and locks. The associated fee: $1,700 ($3,073 nowadays).

The engine is a 1.8-liter DOHC four-cylinder with variable valve timing, rated at 140 horsepower. The GT-S were given a hairier model that made 180 horses.

A junkyard consumer went to the difficulty of putting off all the entrance subframe, then left it within the grime. Possibly they sought after to get to the transmission, then had a transformation of middle.

Are we nostalgic for the frantic bullet-time automobile commercials of the flip of the century but?

In Japan, the Celica’s doable patrons squared off in video-game dance battles.