Nice Price: 1975 Toyota Celica GT
The first generation Celica hit the pavement running at the 1970 Tokyo
Motor Show with a sense of optimism befitting a young middle weight. It
wasn’t a pricey supercar like Toyota’s 2000GT, but it was so much more
than the typical Corona or Crown coming out of Toyota at the time. It
was sporty, cheap, and its simplicity-over-muscle approach to the fuel
crisis era pony car made it a first round knockout. Find this 1975 Toyota Celica GT hardtop offered for $2,500 in Lewiston, ID via craigslist. Tip from FuelTruck.
This Celica GT is offered with a few caveats, including the fact that it has been sitting for a “while” but the seller claims the engine and transmission are fine. Somehow this Celica managed to avoid the ravages of rust that so often reclaim these vintage Japanese cars.
The 2.2 liter 20R inline-4 that came in all American Celicas is good for 96 horsepower and 120 ft-lbs of torque — not insane numbers, but enough to make the rear-drive manual-transmission coupe a fun driver.
See a better 70s classic for $2k? tips@dailyturismo.com
My high school buddy had a Celica. It felt to me as though the shift lever was about 4" too tall.
My first car used 1977 Celica GT with 70K on the ODO (It was 1982). Took it to 135K miles. I was sad to see it go, but had to drive the more practical (and also kind of fun) 1981 Accord Hatchback in green on green. The Celica was a great car, and gave me some great memories.