With Japanese cars appearing and sometimes dominating the world stage for the past 30 years, it's always good to revisit roots and see the beginnings of it all. It's a good thing, too, that so much interest is being put into older JDM vehicles now because there are so many gems, including this, the first generation Toyota Celica.
The Celica, derived from the Latin world coelica meaning "heavenly" or "celestial", is the successor to Toyota's first sports car, the Sports 800, which, at the time, competed with some of Japan's other first sports cars, including the Honda S500 and Datsun Fairlady . Thus, its place in the family tree is quite clear. This car was meant to take Toyota forward as their next sports car.
This particular Celica, a 1976 GT model, is owned by Austin, a freshman electrical and software engineering student at ASU, who is also a part of our local ASU car club Street Refined. The condition this car is in is amazing, and its no wonder thanks to the attention and detail Austin has put into the car. He first found the car after 6 months of browsing Craigslist, attracted to its rarity, looks, and classic JDM nature.
The car was once lowered with underglow and a front splitter, however, it was raised back up and the underglow was removed. Meanwhile, the front splitter met an unfortunate end when it was ripped off by a water puddle.
The list of fixes and modifications is immense. The whole suspension system has been worked on, with struts replaced and adjustable A arms from Techno Toy Tuning installed on the front. The ignition system has also been reworked, with an MSD Streetfire ignition installed, an upgrade to a Thunder coil, and a conversion from points to electronic ignition thanks to a Pertronix kit. The fuel system was also worked on, with the in-tank fuel filter being replaced. The car now rides on sixteen inch wheels wrapped in Khumo ASXs, and the car has a 1974 "Smiley" bumper. For some extra engine audio, racing long/short headers are installed and hooked up to a 2.5 inch exhaust and a Dynomax muffler with an expansion chamber and no cat. The throaty sound is extremely gratifying to hear, with a deep sound that resembles a beefy 6 cylinder engine, and a pop that resembles backfire due to the extremely low pressure of such a large exhaust. The engine's audio wasn't the only audio enhancement, however. A completely new sound system was installed, featuring a 4x400W Fosgate amplifier hooked up to two 5 inch Infinity speakers by Harmon Kardon and another two 6x9 Infinity speakers. A 1000W Fosgate amplifier powers a 12 inch shallow mount Fosgate woofer. I got to hear the audio system in action with some very dynamic music from Clean Bandit, and the power of the system is clear. The basslines come out tight and strong, and the audio is superbly crisp. Austin plans on dropping in a Weber 32/36 carb in the future, as well as working on a rebuild 20r with a port polish and mid-level cam job.
The weather was perfect for taking pictures due to rainstorms earlier in the afternoon leaving clear and cloudy skies, perfect for the amazing Arizonan sunset. The light really helped highlight the lines, shapes, and proportions of this car.
This car has been on the track before, driven by a club member with two years of track experience. He complimented the handling and behavior of the car. Under acceleration, given the power and weight of the car, it pulls very nicely. The exhaust and headers make the exhaust sound heavenly. The appearance of the car is also excellent; both Austin and I noted that we really like how the design looks Japanese, yet it has US muscle car proportions and stance. In fact, I discovered that there was a liftback model of the Celica that very clearly resembled a period-spec Mustang from the rear. The first generation Celica surely a classic car near the base of Toyota's, and Japan's, sports car roots. It surely is a gem worth looking at and worthy of attention, a true, proper classic Japanese sports car.
