With just 30,000 miles on the clock, this may be one of the most well-preserved Toyota Celicas on the market today. With so many of these cars falling victim to rust and poor modifications by younger owners, this early flip-up headlight model looks to have been owned by an older driver or at least someone who didn’t rely on the Celica for daily transport. Find it here on eBay with bidding over $2K and the reserve unmet.
The notchback body style is another plus, as many of this generation of Celica feature the liftback design. It’s clearly a base model, with steel wheels and no hubcaps. The body remains in exceptional condition, and with just 30,393 miles on the clock, it’s as close to a time capsule as you’re likely to find. While a turbocharged example with all-wheel drive is the holy grail, many of those have been used and abused.
Hope you like red! As was typical for the era, red is everywhere – on the upholstery, the seat belts, steering wheel, carpeting and anywhere else you can think of. The automatic is a bummer but also speaks to the high likelihood this was owned by an older driver or simply used as someone’s in-town errand machine. There are no obvious faults to cite in the cabin, but given the low equipment levels, I hope the seller is being reasonable with their reserve price.
The engine bay is nicely details, and check out the vibrant colors on the valve cover. There’s really very little to fault, and while this Celica wouldn’t be thrilling as a Sunday driver, it will certainly draw a crowd at any number of Japanese vintage car meet-ups where most of the crowd likely hasn’t seen a Celica this nice in years. If the reserve is $5K or lower, this looks like a potentially sound buy.
Clean Celica ? Yes, Fun ? Not so much. Too bad the GTS box wasn’t checked when this was ordered . Or the alltrac model.
The Alltrac was priced like two of these and was stick only, so not the same customers!
My first “real” car (with a loan ;) ) was a then 3 y.o. 1986 Celica GT lift back, white with blue interior and stick. Kept it 6 years, the odo past 200,000 km. These were great sport coupes, not that quick but with terrific handling thanks to the very low center of gravity. It’s rare to see these with the front air dam intact as they rub easily on driveways and speed bumps. This ‘88 would have the 115 hp version of the 2 litre, the GTS had 135. My ‘86, with its 97hp 8 valve (one year only engine) topped at 190 km/h thanks to great aerodynamics. Somehow I never got a ticket with it.
Its up to $4800, reserve not met, just a few hours left in the auction… curious to see where it ends.
Right fender has been redone as it is missing the decal. I’d like it buy have too many already
I had this same car when I was 17, and set up with Fittipaldi wheels and Jamex suspension it handled like it was on rails! What a great car.