1980s Japanese sports coupes represent a demographic of vehicles many of us have a connection to, even if we never actually drove one. The number of friends in high school who drove a beater, or work colleagues who purchased one new, or the neighbors who held onto some humble economy hatachback is likely no higher than among the Japanese car contingent, which gave them a somewhat throwaway quality. That’s why this very clean 1984 Toyota Celica GT with just two recorded owners and listed here on eBay is worth a look, as it remains in shockingly nice condition – especially for a Canadian car.
Now, it does benefit from some light restoration work, but it has also been kept in good order despite being used as an everyday driver for many years. The Celica of this generation was closely tied to the Supra, with the big difference being that the Supra had a lovely six-cylinder powerplant under the hood. The Celica was still rear-wheel drive at this point, which certainly made it a more sporting option among the early days of the sport compact class. The driver-focused cockpit featured nicely bolstered bucket seats, a slick-shifting manual gearbox, and simple controls.
A lot has been written about the cockroach-like qualities of the 22R-E engine, which was fairly mundane in the power department but unstoppable from a reliability standpoint. The engine saw duty not only in models like the Celica but in the pickups as well, where its reputation for being cheap as chips to maintain was truly established. The seller notes that the powerplant in this Celica has under 65,000 original miles, so it has many thousands more miles to go before it will need much love.
The Celica has been previously repainted, with the respray performed in 2001. The seller notes it presents well but is still a driver, which to me makes it a car you can actually use while still being proud to show off. The Celica holds the title of being one of the few Japanese cars that can actually pull off white-letter radial tires, but I’m curious about the front wheels: they appear to poke out a bit more than standard, which makes me wonder if the front wheels are actually from the rear of the car. Regardless, this is a very minty Celica, and one that is still well short of its Buy-It-Now price with the current bid sitting at just over $3,500.
I realize I may ruffle some feathers on my Asian car views, that stops here. Toyotas remain at the top of my list, as if, and early Celicas are my favorite. The author makes it seem like Canada isn’t capable of having rust free cars, with it being winter all the time( cough), but isn’t so, apparently. My biggest problem here is, pray it doesn’t have a vacuum leak, so common with these. Before Celicas got so bloated, these were great cars. The fact a car like this only has 3 watchers and no bids tells me people wouldn’t know a nice Toyota if they saw one.
Spot on, Howard. Asian cars remain the Gold Standard for quality and longevity. I know this as a rock-solid fact backed by reams of data after spending 40+ years as a certified Quality Engineer and Quality Auditor. My retirement gig has me auditing ISO 9001 Quality systems at automotive parts suppliers. The Quality requirements imposed on these plants are not for the faint-of-heart. Our current fleet includes Toyota, Nissan, Subaru and GM (1995 Corvette). We may be adding another in 2024 and it will be Asian (Probably built in Kentucky or Indiana) No domestic manufacturer will be on the short list.
Happy Holidays!
Yep, for someone that bleeds R,W&B, you got me there. America had good cars, but went hog wild on this pickup truck/SUV thing, and car cars took a back seat. Unless some radical new way of transport is unveiled( currently in storage in a Phoenix warehouse until the oil runs out), the Asians will continue to dominate the scene. I read even VW may call it quits, as the brand is no longer considered competitive.
@Howard- We,in the form of W.Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran, taught the Asians (Japan) about Quality Control post-WW2. They listened while the Big Three and 1/2 (AM) ignored their lessons. The good part is US manufacturers were forced to improve Quality. As Deming told them- “Survival is not guaranteed”
Owned an 82 gt-s was a great vehicle. Sold it to soon.
Great looking car and looks even better with the Supra rims. The one downside of these were that they where slow. Slower than they looked like they should be. Hardly a sports car in that respect but a nice driver. Also seems like this one has low oil pressure or maybe a broken gauge.
So true. I dated a girl who had one — with an automatic. It was astoundingly slow, about as gutless as my Dad’s used Mercedes 240D. But I’d take this one. A perfect first car for my soon-to-be-driving son.
Speedometer cable severed? Does net that affect the mileage/odometer?
wheels are supra or Celica GTS, if this car had this type of wheel it would have been the baby supra wheel, not really a Toyota wheel but some an inch narrower that the ports had made up, look just like the Toyota wheel and commonly showed up on Celica GT, ST,and vans. this body style did not have any vacuum leak problems, that would have been more likely 78-81 and even then wasn’t a real problem and 0-60 was not far from its class competitors in 1984.
I agree, I believe the front wheels are on the back and rear wheels are on the front. Pretty good looking car. Never owned one but have a couple Toyota pick ups. The 22R’s are very dependable and not huge power houses but should have decent power being in a car not a truck and the 4 or 5 speed trans should help over an auto. I had an 88 2 wheel drive pickup 22RE auto trans and it was WEAK… LOL
The Supra P-type wheels weren’t offset so they were the same front and back. There were similar-looking wheels that came on the Supra in L form. Those were thinner and would perhaps look a bit better on the front of this Celica.
I believe those are GT-S (or Supra) wheels/tires, which typically had fender flares. The standard GT wheels and tires were narrower.
I had a very similar ’82 GT-S, which had the Supra wheels, flares and the Supra’s much nicer interior. Loved that car, but ended up selling it after five years and only 11k miles… two child seats got to be too much for the back seat. Moved on to an ’87 Maxima SE 5-speed after that.
No, those are Supra wheels, they were not staggered in that era. They are all the same size. The reason they look too wide on the front is because the Supra had wheel flares, which this car does not have.
My buddy bought one of these new. Compared to my ’76 corolla with the 1.6 4 banger and an automatic it seemed like a veritable hot rod. It handled pretty nicely on the Angeles Crest highway. A lot of fun to drive.
In Aus, they were known as an RA65.
I restored an RA60 lift back for my daughter, and an RA65 coupe for my son.
The R65 was a junker from a wreaking yard, the head was badly corroded. The engine was the 22RE, 2.4L infected.
Rebuilt the engine, engineer mate, repaired/modified the head.
Sat down with a Celica specialist mate to discuss specialist. Decided we would build the engine for torque.
It would wheel stand at Traffic light drags, when you dropped the clutch, then completely break traction. The factory 5speed was ultra strong, not so the LSD. Had a standing order at my celica mates shop for different.
Son sold the car, but it’s still going strong 16 years later.
I had a white 1984 Supra, manual transmission, burgundy leather interior and without question my most favorite car. Sold it with less than 40,000 on the odometer in order to purchase a used 1989 BMW M6…both were nice cars but I wish I still had the Supra
Auction ended with a no sale. Top bid was $5,000 (Canadian) which is approximately $3,680.94 in US Dollars. Buy it now price was $12,000 (Canadian.) which is appr $8,827.75 in United States Dollars. Oh well………..
I have had 2 celicas. Modified ended up faster than known. No knowing how made them. But the lower end allowed it to move quick. 1983 and 1985 it’s a great little car. My ex made ours even faster. The only reason we sold both is having 2 kids who didn’t fit in the back seats worth a darn. Fun to drive though Front Royal VA. And have fun in it I would love to have one now for my second kid.