It is often hard to figure out what types of cars will be collectible.  Of course, cars with high horsepower, sports cars, convertibles, and generally those that were hits in their day are pretty sure bets.  However, predictions are more difficult when it comes to cars from the seventies and eighties.  Many of the cars of this era were down on horsepower, struggled with quality, or were generally boring in comparison to the cars of the eras before and after.  A bigger mystery is how Japanese cars will perform.  While we have seen a lot of movement in the 240/260/280Z market, other good cars from across the Pacific have languished.  This car makes me wonder if that languishing is going to change.  Found on Craigslist in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, this 1987 Toyota Celica convertible is looking for a caring home.  Is paying the $2500 asking price a good long term investment, or just a cheap way to get into a convertible?

There are a lot of people out there that have abandoned American cars and sworn allegiance to Toyota.  Of course, many of them did so for good reasons.  Much of this abandonment en masse happened in the 1980s, and this exposed a lot of people to Toyota’s products.  One of which was the Celica, which was a sporty compact coupe at the time.  Celicas benefitted from a lot of development, as the first generation of the car debuted at the Tokyo Motor show in October, 1970.  When it finally debuted in America, the car immediately started gaining converts.  As time went on, the car evolved into a comfortable, fairly fast, and good handling rear wheel drive coupe that could be called, with some trepidation, Japan’s Mustang.

By the time the fourth generation came out, the Celica had transformed into a front wheel drive car.  However,  it still had sporty intentions.  For those most interested in speed, the fourth generation also offered a four wheel drive version known as the Turbo All-Trac.  While that Celica went on to terrorize rallying, another version was capturing the hearts of customers who liked open air motoring.  Starting in 1987, you could purchase a Celica GT with a convertible top.  While this Celica was more tuned for luxury buyers, it still attracted a lot of attention from nearly everyone who walked in the showroom.  There is just something special about a convertible.

The car we see here is a 1987 example of that showroom stunner, and it is in fairly good shape.  There is some paint fading, broken marker lights, and a few problems here and there.   While the three pictures you see are all that were provided, it would have been nice to get some more detailed pictures of the interior, or any pictures of the engine.  We do know that the car has a manual transmission, runs well, and the seller is getting rid of it because he needs a truck.  The engine is a 2.0 liter version of Toyota’s venerable inline four cylinder engine of the time, but we have no idea the amount of mileage that has been racked up on it.

With an asking price of $2500, this is a good opportunity to get into a running and driving convertible that doesn’t look like it was rejected by a junkyard.  Convertibles that aren’t cared for end up with leaky roofs, stinky interiors, and Fred Flintstone style floorboards.  From the few pictures we have, this one looks to be fairly well cared for.  Why the marker lights haven’t been fixed is anybody’s guess.  Once you get past the cheap convertible aspect, you would be foolish to think a car like this has no future as a collectible.  When you sit down at the car dealership, 99% of the time you are looking for basic transportation.  You want a convertible, or a sports car, or some other showroom centerpiece, but practicality ends up winning out.  If you have a second chance later in life, why not get the car you want?  There have to be thousands of people who would have loved to take a convertible home.

Will they do so if given that second chance?  That’s the million dollar question here.  Is there a market for eighties Japanese collector cars beyond the Z cars?  Is it time to invest in cars like this?