5k: Depreciation Sweet Spot: 1980 Toyota Celica GT Liftback

The first generation Toyota Celica is starting to see some price appreciation for its simple and fun to drive platform, which is good because it means less are being crushed or abandoned, but bad because more money doesn’t mean they are any better.  Is a Porsche 930 turbo 3x better than it was 12 months ago, nope, but certain players in the market certainly think so!  Anyway, the second generation Celica is still firmly mired in 1980s Japanese car price pile, so clean examples offer great value.  Find this 1980 Toyota Celica GT Liftback offered for $3,700 in Mar Vista, CA via craigslist.  Tip from Alex V.

Toyota’s Celica coupe first arrived on US shores in 1971 as the Japanese
translation of the Ponycar.  In 1976 Toyota introduced a Fastback
version which was cool but raised some eyebrows with its heavy borrowing from the US styling of the Mustang.  The second generation Celica’s (1978-1981) were styled without blatant rip-off and began striking
their own pose, before the 1982’s headed off in a much more unique and
angular look. 

Under the hood is the bullet
proof 2.2 litre 20R inline-4 cylinder engine, that was one of the first Japanese built engines to prove
to doubting American’s that they could have A/C and still manage
freeway speeds.  Unfortunatley, this car is equipped with an automatic and may
require some patience in getting to that speed.

The interior is well preserved and while the 80s may seem like yesterday to many of us, this car is now 35 years old, and many of its siblings are starting to look pretty torn up. 

See another big bumper-ed, but clean, 80s classic?  tips@dailyturismo.com