In 1981, a few years before I was conceived, my mom purchased her first brand-new car, a 1981 Celica ST in copper metallic. It was a great four-seasons car despite its rear-wheel drive; nothing a few bags of sand and a talented driver couldn’t fix. Fast forward 14 years and four kids later, and it was time for mom to see the Celica off. It was sold to the friend of a family friend who was as excited about the car as my mom was the day she bought it. Unfortunately, so was someone else, because two weeks later it was nicked from a parking lot, never to be seen again. But it wasn’t the only copper-metallic 1981 Celica in the world.
I purchased this one in July 2011 due to a wave of nostalgia for the long-lost Celica. I had a tendency of browsing Craigslist for unusual JDM cars that were common when released (including Cressidas, assorted station wagons, MKII Supras, but not limited to Toyota), but not so anymore. It was more daydreaming than reality though, since I already had two cars in my stable and no room for any more. However, this particular day I was stuck in NYC waiting for a ride and had nothing else to do but peruse CL. And there it was.
A 1981 Toyota Celica GT Liftback, finished off in copper metallic, with MKII Supra wheels and in excellent condition. Apparently it was in storage for 19 years before the current owner purchased it six years ago. He had done all the important stuff, including the exhaust and adding the aforementioned wheels, and kept it pretty, with just 91k on the odometer.
I called immediately and set up an appointment to meet. He wasn’t too far away, and before long I was in a pizzeria parking lot staring at this time capsule from the ’80s driving up. I knew it would be mine before the owner even introduced himself properly. Formalities were exchanged, including an exhilarating test drive to make sure all 98 of the 22R’s horses had come that night. Before long it was being driven back to my house with the same blue NJ plates that had been bolted to my mom’s Celica.
It’s been in my possession almost two years and I haven’t done much to it–including, sadly, driving it. It burns a bit of oil, and the idiot light for the e-brake is always on, but otherwise it’s a champ. I hope to bring it out more in 2013, if only to dust it off and stretch its legs on warm spring nights. I will need a set of window cup holders though, as it’s got none; and headphones, since the AM/FM gets poor reception.
It costs $81 a year to insure (ironically, through American Collectors), and it wasn’t much out of pocket initially, so there’s no reason to sell. Ever. Maybe even one day I’ll hand it down to my mom in a moment of weakness for nostalgia. I know she’d love to retire her minivan and get back into a proper ‘sports’ car.
This is AWESOME. I always really liked this body style and am glad to see this one has survived. I do hope you make time to drive it more this year!
Thanks Jim! I will do my best to get out there this coming year. I’ve stopped at storage a few times this winter and it saddens me to see it gathering dust, literally!
I love stories like this one, and I love your car. The only experience I ever had with one of these was test driving a used one for a friend. It was a nice driving car, and he bought it. His was white, with (I believe) the same color interior as this one. He drove it for quite awhile, and bought a new Rav4 when they came out because the Celica had been so good to him.
I will second what Jim said – you simply must make some time to get her out for some exercise when the weather improves. Forget the headphones, just enjoy the sounds of a happy vintage Toyota.
Love this car! The only accessory you need to add are rear window louvers. Seems *every* Celica had them back when…
And smoked headlight covers, amber fog lights and a front end bra. And a Kraco under-dash 8 track. There, that ought to do it..hehehe
All joking aside, thats a very cool ride.
I appreciate the visual tips, but I believe I’m going to pass on all of them, haha!
Nice story, nice car, and you’re right about the cupholders. A proper summer joyride demands iced coffee, though apparently no one thought so until the late ’80s. In ’81 you were still expected to be smoking, I guess.
You know, no matter how warm it gets, I still can’t bring myself to enjoy iced coffee. I think for me the hotness makes me drink it slowly, allowing it to be around for most of the ride. If it was chilled, I would gulp that down before the first song ended.
Ditto for me and hot coffee
Excellent car!
Fantastic car! I’ve always liked that style of Celica and usually I’m not a fan at all of brown on cars but it suits it. Great back story as well.
Thanks David! For me, this is the perfect color of the times.
I had an ’83 Celica Supra back in ’96. It had high miles, but was an awesome car and was loaded for it’s time. Your Celica looks great and I’m sure it turns heads when you are out and about.
Thanks! The first time I brought it to a cruise night, I was rolling through the lot, looking for parking, and a big bruiser hollered out “Hey, my girlfriend in college used to have one like that ” That was pretty funny, I admit.
Yeah…I used to get comments like that over my Pintos.
And even now, my Yaris gives me no status. Which is okay…paid for and 40 mpg. Unlike some owners of some Dodge-Cummins four-wheel-drive trucks with twin stacks punching through the loadbed, I have nothing to prove and no worries about my sexual potency.
That is a beautiful Celica and congrats on the find. Those wheels really work on it too! It looks like you will appreciate it and care for it as it needs. But damn son, drive it!!
Back in college my roommate had an 81 Celica GT coupe and we used to regularly trade cars… I had a newish 4 door Hyundai Excel and he preferred to use it to drive girls/buddies around because his Celica was too small, so I would drive his car. I think I got the better end of the deal!
Thanks! It came with the original wheels, too, but these suit it so much better. If only they were a tad wider…
And you certainly got the better end!
Thanks for the article. Totally brings back memories of my ’76 GT Liftback I bought from my grandparents. BTW- I like your QWERTY plate!
Thanks! I feel if you’re going to personalize a plate, better make it make people chuckle. Or think. Haha.
Those rear-wheel drive Celicas always pull on my heartstrings. Understated, underpowered, and perfect for me!
Now I’m getting nostalgic for my highschool days, back when I had time to pine for 80′s Toyota sheet metal. They’re getting rarer by the day.
Nice car and nice story! I always liked these; my wife’s BIL had one back in the day.
I recognize the location of the first shot. It’s a scenic overlook off I-80 for the Delaware Water Gap (PA-NJ border). The off-ramp for the overlook is quite short and curvy, and a lot of people overshoot the curve. When I was last there about 2 years ago around sunset, a group of professional-type guys were there shooting the breeze (sans nagging wives/gf’s); I assume they were locals.
This is gorgeous! I get the nostalgia about old Toyotas also.
My dad sold Toyotas during the 80′s and he was always bringing home the sweetest rides. My favorite for some reason was either the Corolla FX16 or the totally badass 4Runner.
Congratulations on a seriously nice find.
Thanks DCM!
I remember a kid in high school driving an FX16 in gray. Back then it was a piece of junk, but looking back, it really was cooler than anybody knew, haha.
There are about a half-dozen of these still in front-line duty here, and obviously not in the shape of this one. But these are tough cars, built more like a pickup then a sporty coupe. They drove nice enough, but weren’t overtly sporty in terms of their dynamics. But the payoff to that is their longevity.
Nice write-up!
I think I would agree on Paul’s comment about the 1978-81 Celica being built like a pickup – it was the Volvo 240 of small Japanese sport coupes, wouldn’t you agree?
Thanks Paul. IIRC, the 22R was actually used in the Toyota pick-up of the same year or somewhere in that neighborhood. It has plenty of grunt and I’m thinking the gas mileage suffers a bit because of it. Or some other reasons unknown to me…
I bought a new Celica GT when I started my first “real” job out of college. Mine was a coupe, but otherwise exactly like yours in color, interior, etc. The car as I remember was pretty nimble and I loved it. Thanks for the memories.
I sure as hell would not, nor let anybody else, eat or drink anything in that car, not worth risking staining the seats or carpet. Sweet car, possibly the best looking Toyota ever sold here, and made back when Toyota made cars worth owning, much like pre-’72 GM products…
It’s a keeper.
I like those cars…I remember the very first one I saw: “Wotthehell was that??!” followed by a quick U-turn. Not only did I then see the Celica badge on the back, but it returned to the Toyota dealer, where there were several others. At the time I was driving my 1975 Monza and still liking the V8 performance or I might have looked at a notchback coupe, which I liked better than the fastback. Yours looks like a great car.
I like the plate too – I prefer vanity plates that show some wit and originality.
Thats quite a find I see very few Celicas about now the boyracer crowd has killed them off mostly by crashing them, the Hilux powertrain lasts forever. A good keeper
Bryan, that’s a beautiful Toyota! In New Jersey, these are few and far between these days, probably the tin worm got the majority of them. And the car looks especially nice with the bigger Supra rims. It gives the car a tough look to it.
Great work by 210delray in detecting the Kittatiny Mountains in the background! Bryan needs to take this car just a little further north, on New York Route 97 at Hawks Nest to work on the cornering capabilitiy of those wider tires! For sure, that’s a great car for a Saturday afternoon day trip.
Thanks Michael. I have been to the Hawks Nest on many occasions in a few different cars. They recently paved it I believe. Anywho, that’s a great road and I wouldn’t mind taking the Celica up there. Although the recirculating ball steering makes me a bit nervous in pushing it to the limits, you know? haha.
Great find, congrats. I still pine for my long-gone 76 GT in Krylon Blue.
Does the 81 still have that useless LED engine diagnostic display under the radio? My 76 had it and it showed absolutely everything that could be wrong as being wrong all the time. I didn’t know much about cars then and I would drive it til the oil light came on and then add a few quarts. It NEVER broke down, save once, and that was due to my exhaustive ignorance about alternator connections.
Not that I can tell. Although like I mentioned, the BRAKE idiot like has been lit for a while now. Not sure what that’s all about.
I had a wave of nostalgia 2 year ago and bought a 1981 VW Scirocco S….a direct competitor to the Celica. My first new car ever was a 1980 Scirocco and I strongly considered the Celica
That’s a beautiful Scirocco!! I believe that’s Cosmos Silver. My friend had a brief stint with one that he was going to bring back to health, but it turned out to be more of a headache than it was worth. Shame, really. I like those snowflakes, too.
I adore these. It checks all the right boxes: Liftback, it’s the more attractive (IMHO) facelifted ’80-’81 model, and it’s even brown! The Supra wheels are a great mod for Toyotas of this vintage and they fit this one very well.
About a decade ago I used to regularly search Fleabay for Celicas and Supras of this vintage, but also Coronas, Cressidas and rear drive Corollas. The pickings were pretty slim then, and I can only imagine how bad they are now.
I haven’t seen one that nice for 25 years. These were great cars back then but here in the great white north, a couple of winters and they were pretty rusty. Then they ran for another 15 years. Nice ride.
Your story is just a bit familiar (says the owner of an all-original 1979 Accord sedan, not to mention 1979 Toronado and 1976 Monte Carlo). I know the feeling of being struck by a car and knowing it must follow you home. Congrats, and thanks for keeping it nice so everyone else can admire it. And do drive it — old cars don’t want to just sit!
Nice score Bryan. I believe the facelift on these hit around 1979. It was one of the few times in my life that a facelift made the car look better. The low profile headlights, side view mirrors and taillights nicely updated the car. Less chrome and more black trim made it look more sporty.
I found this car on Craigslist, thought it looked pretty cool and took it out for a test drive. Fell in love with it right away just like you did. I don’t know a whole lot about cars but have been researching this one and my only concern is finding parts for it. This one has also been mostly stored up until last year. All the major work it needed has been done too.
It has 48 000 original kms. I’m picking it up this week and can hardly wait to be driving it!
Lisa…what a great color! Do you know if that is an factory color? I don’t know much in terms of finding parts, either, but I ran into a guy with a MK2 Supra who directed me to celicasupras.com I understand it’s for the Celica Supra, but I’m sure there’s some knowledge to be found on there. Good luck with it and I look forward to hearing more about it.
What a beautiful jewel… Your missing the back window louvers.. Almost the same story here.. My Mom bought hers brand new in 81, same color and everything… It was handed down to me as my first car, but I wanted a truck so after saving up to get the truck it went back to Mom… Then in 2001 my older brother took it to restore it, and the kids up the street decided to demolish it with cinder blocks… With parts being very scarce, and expensive it was let go… Now I check Ebay, & CL just about everyday to hopefully stumble across another..
On a side note… My e-brake light stayed on, even though the brakes seemed fine, ended up replacing the master cylinder, and eventually the brake booster.
Thanks so much for posting this. My mom had the same exact car and color except hers was an automatic and had the steelies with center caps. Her seats had a different pattern too, It was a great car for all seasons when we lived in upstate NY.