I currently have a variety of fruit juices in my refrigerator. I’ve never been that big into soft drinks, though I do enjoy one from time to time. I grew up in a household where usually the only carbonated beverage in the refrigerator was 7-Up, which was for only my dad. Studies conducted since my 1980s childhood (and perhaps before) have shown the various negative effects of regular consumption of some kinds of soft drinks over time, but none of that ever matters to a kid.
All I knew was that as soon I was a free man in college, I thought that drinking all the soda / pop / whatever-you-call-it-where-you-live was going to make me the happiest person alive. While I do look fondly upon the occasional, teenage Mountain Dew bender and staying up all night, the truth is that years of not drinking pop probably caused me not to crave it as an adult. Sometimes, we end up being thankful for the habits we never formed.
As kids, my brothers and I were allowed to have water, milk, Kool-Aid, lemonade, and our choice of several fruit juices. We always had orange juice (made from canned concentrate) and often also had apple or cranberry juice in our refrigerator. I loved orange juice and could drink it all day. Long before a young, queer kid named Joe had ever heard of singer, Florida orange juice pitchwoman, and one-time anti-gay rights activist Anita Bryant (or maybe I had, as my maternal grandparents were very conservative), I would sometimes consume so much OJ in a single summer day that I would have to get another frozen canister out of the freezer and make a replacement pitcher before my mom found out. Apple juice was okay, but that was more my younger brother’s favorite and not mine, so that was one less thing for us to fight over. Then, there was cranberry juice.
Try to remember the first time you tasted it, whether it was “cranberry juice cocktail” which is usually made from a mixture of fruit juices, or pure cranberry juice by itself. I like tart things, as I had referenced in last week’s essay referencing lime sherbet. Cranberry juice seemed to be in its own separate category from everything else in our Frigidaire. It’s not only that it seemed like a sharp, sour, and utterly joyless beverage, but it sometimes even made me cough. As a kid, I learned to avoid it. Quickly. In fact, I think I would have preferred a glass of ice water instead of cranberry juice, and some of us know how hard it can be to get a child to drink plain water. It wasn’t Ocean Spray’s fault. It was just the nature of the beast.
Fast-forward to 2021, and my relationship with cranberry juice is much different. What had started out as my little break from alcohol last year has now grown into eleven months of complete abstinence, and a fruit juice I used to find so utterly repelling as a youth has now become the basis of one of my favorite mocktails. Sure, there are still traces of my memories of feeling like I was being punched in the throat by the juice of these little, magenta-colored berries, but that’s kind of the point with something intended to replace whiskey. Pure cranberry juice with just one maraschino cherry and a little of its syrup, chilled and served in a coupe glass, is often just what the doctor ordered as I sit down to relax on weekends. The fruit of the Vaccinium macrocarpon plant had won me over prior to this discovery, but I feel I must now properly give it respect in so many words.
As it is with the fifth-generation Toyota Celica. I was in high school when it made its debut for 1990, and I immediately thought it was hideous. It looked as if Toyota stylists had taken a fourth-generation car, which I liked and which also had the same 99.4″ wheelbase, stuck in in the microwave, and accidentally hit an extra zero at the end of the intended cooking time. At the time, it looked to me like an absolute, melted mess with the only redeeming feature being the slightly lower, smoother front end. Everybody else seemed to like the new Celica, much like the new, concurrent Madonna album, “Like A Prayer”, but I didn’t like that, either, when it first came out.
I genuinely like both now, though, and not just for reasons of nostalgia. Uncharacteristic of me, I’ll reserve my commentary on Ms. Ciccone’s fourth studio album for the purposes of this essay, but I’ll say that I can really appreciate all the little stylistic details that went into this GT-S hatchback’s external appearance. The shape of the front side marker lights, the side view mirrors, the lightly pinched bodysides, and the gracefully curved rear hatchback glass seem to be all of one design aesthetic, like every stylist working on this project had all been given the same design brief from the onset.
The fact that Toyota had ever produced a small, sporty, four-seater coupe intended for mass appeal seems like such a faraway dream given their current lineup, much like the memories of my last walk through the halls of my long-closed, former high school in the 1990s. The base engine for the entry-level ST submodel, which was available only as a notchback, was a 103-horsepower, 1.6L four-cylinder engine. The Celica hatchback was available as a GT or GT-S with a naturally-aspirated 130-hp, 2.2L liter mill that was new that year, or as an All-Trac with full-time all wheel drive and a turbocharged 2.0L four with 200 hp.
All but the All-Trac could be had with either a four-speed automatic or a five-speed manual, with the latter being the only option available for the All-Trac. According to one period test from Motorweek from 1990, a five-speed equipped GT-S hatchback took only 8.2 seconds to get from 0-60 mph, with their example weighing in at around 2,800 pounds. This seems legitimately quick for cars of its day, though there’s no question that if I was of an age back then to purchase a small, sporty, front-wheel-drive coupe, the overly round styling of the new, 1990 Celica would have eliminated it from my consideration, regardless of its objectively good dynamic qualities. I would probably have gone with a Ford Probe or Plymouth Laser, in keeping with my affinity for U.S.-branded nameplates.
Little did I know at the dawn of that new decade, though, that the looks of these Celicas would predict what would be coming down the pike for much of the ’90s. To my eyes, anyway, the first-generation Hyundai Tiburon could have been this Celica’s little brother (even moreso than the Toyota Tercel-based Paseo), and even the Ford Escort ZX2 shared a few styling cues with these cars. I thought it was fitting that this beautiful Celica (there, I said it), which was in terrific shape for a thirty-plus year old car, had paint the color of my now-favorite berry. It only goes to show that if given enough time, things you may have initially found to be not to your liking may eventually change your mind.
Edgewater Glen, Chicago, Illinois.
Saturday, January 2, 2021.
I too, as a kid did not like cranberry juice. But I do now. With vodka. 🙂
Like Joe, this Celica did nothing for me when introduced. Thirty years later, I will say I do miss the concept of the Celica. It seems like Toyota kinda sorta kept the concept in some fashion with one of the last Scions although I cannot remember the name.
Cranberry juice is great, especially mixed with 7-Up. But it has to be real juice, not the cocktail that is so prevalent. OJ is wonderful but only in small doses; all other juice I’ve found myself cutting with water due to sugar content and it generally doesn’t diminish the taste.
As for soda; it’s good stuff but I aim for what has real sugar. Pepsi with real sugar is my go-to non-water drink these days, after sweet tea.
And if I had a go-to Celica….it would probably be the prior generation. Or perhaps even the one before.
You’re thinking of the tC. Which I always thought was an abbreviation for Toyota Celica…
Jason, you nailed it when you said you miss the concept of the Celica, as do I. My current favorite generation is still the second one – especially the notchback. A nice-condition Griffith Sunchaser convertible would be a dream, though probably a nightmare to get convertible top-specific parts for.
> It seems like Toyota kinda sorta kept the concept in some fashion with one of the last Scions although I cannot remember the name.
TC, which I assume stands for “Toyota Celica” 🙂
+1 on cranberry juice with vodka. -1 on soda/pop of any kind, I just can’t stand that stuff now.
This generation of Celica hasn’t grown on me, it still looks like a ladies shoe to my eyes. I remember looking at new ones at the dealership and being shocked at how expensive they were, however given the state of my finances in 1990 I probably would have been shocked at the price of any new vehicle.
Nice find though, haven’t seen one in ages.
These 5th and 6th gen. Celicas were wildly expensive at the time. I bought a ‘95 GT coupe new that according to an inflation calculator would be a $37,000 car today. I splurged on A/C and alloy wheels. That’s it…
These Celica were popular not long ago and had the 130 hp 2.0 that was installed in the NZ assembly Corona a reasonably bullet proof engine, the Celica was always basically a Corona in a sporty suit and as such were good trustworthy cars.
Much to relate to here. In 1990 I was also living in the Chicago area and driving a 1984 Celica GTS Liftback, the last RWD iteration. Not much to remember about that car except its rather sporting look and luxurious, in my mind, interior. It was awful in the snow with the rear wheel drive and wide tires. I saw one recently on the road and was struck by the amount of glass and thinking the occupants did not appear very protected. I have a clear memory driving that car home one morning on the Eisenhower after a night of “socializing” on the near-north side and hearing Madonna’s “Like a Prayer”, probably on Q101’s Murphy in the Morning program.
In my burgeoning yuppiedom the Celica was then traded for a 1990 VW Jetta GLI at Downers Grove Mazda, VW, Saab, which a quick check on the Interwebs no longer exists. That car was quite memorable and a revelation in Teutonic drivability. BBS wheels, Recaro seats and tight as a drum. Unfortunately stolen twice, the second time for good. Here’s a tip, be careful handing your keys over to strangers at tire stores.
And I too am coming up on a year alcohol free end of February. I kind of miss the social aspects and the laughs but prefer to wake up clear headed. Stay away from juice generally. Too much sugar, better to eat the fruit.
You bring up a good point about the drive wheels (RWD vs. FWD) in the snow as a practical consideration in a place like Chicago. I do really like the gen-3 cars, but if I had to drive a Celica around town, I’d go for the 4th generation FWD model – preferably a hatchback.
Co-congrats on almost a year of no alcohol. I drink water exclusively pretty much all week until I get to the weekend. I only had adult beverages on weekends (not even on Fridays), but like you said, I just feel so good right now without it. It started out as a break, but this may just end up being who I am now.
Now I need to survey the folks. Is it pronounced CEL-ica or Ce-LEE-ca? I favour the latter.
A previous previous boss of mine had one of these, I enjoyed riding in it. We’d go out for lunch on Fridays. Ironically, he would play “Mustang Sally” most times. I quite liked the car, riding in it was comfortable, and it seemed to perform fairly well.
From what I’ve been told, in the NA market it’s CELL-ica, and in EU/UK it’s cel-LEE-ca.
I hadn’t considered the Ce-LEE-ca pronunciation outside of North America before. I actually like it almost as much with the emphasis on the second syllable.
Mustang Sally isn’t all that ironic… Wasn’t the CEL-ica (yeah, that’s how I pronounce it too) Toyota’s answer to the iconic (and first, may I say) Pony Car?
A buddy of mine had one of these, a teal colored, a ’92 IIRC, 5-speed…. That car was fun to drive, the handful of times he let me drive it anyway.
Based upon early 1970s newspaper ads I found one day, it’s “silica”. 🙂
Checking out some early Celica reviews, from Road & Track’s September 1971 road test, they suggested Sell-ah-ka:
Meanwhile in the same month, the Baltimore Sun’s Celica review suggested sa-LEE-ca as a pronounciation:
Funny how tastes change when filtered through time. I didn’t like this Celica either. In late ’89 I was still driving an ’85 Chrysler Conquest, and was still liking the 80’s angular vernacular. The VW Corrado was the car I lusted after in those days. In hindsight though, this Celica is a really great looking car, and certainly one of the most successful designs of the jellybean era.
While living in Fort Lauderdale back in ’07 I attended a retrospective at the Broward County Library focused on Anita Bryant and her involvement in the anti-gay movement. It was eye opening to day the least. And the least is about all I can say about Ms. Bryant without being offensive.
Having been coerced into drinking copious amounts of organic cranberry juice a few years back for health reasons that might qualify as TMI, I developed a disdain for it. Haven’t touched the stuff in years.
Associations can be powerful, and I can understand your aversion to cranberry juice with the limited information you shared.
I still like the Corrado and its more angular style. I’ve been sitting on pictures of one in my neighborhood taken years ago, and I’m not the person to write it up (from any angle), so I may offer them to the CC authorship for use in somebody else’s essay.
As for Ms. Bryant, LGBTQ month in Chicago is June, and for the past several years, anyway, during any gatherings or celebrations, I’ve been trying to give just a little bit of focus on related history in addition to the Stonewall riots and those brave individuals. It’s important stuff to know. I’ve watched her pie-in-the-face footage from Des Moines on YouTube so many times. I didn’t link it here, as I felt that may have been a step too far, but I’m glad to write for what seems to be a CC readership that is fairly diverse among some demographics.
Briefly, so as not to come off as political: The Anita Bryant saga is one of those that’s fallen into the realm of obscure ancient phenomena for most of the world today. Good on you for bringing back to the fore when appropriate. The youngsters otherwise wouldn’t have a clue who she was or what she represented, and it’s a story that bears retelling on occasion. *(shoves soapbox back into corner)*
Well, that was a grotty little corner of history I’d never heard of till reading this (and then doing a quick google). And so, as ever on CC, I’ve learnt something new today.
Even if it was a learning about nasty and fearful prejudice, which is something extremely and depressingly old.
Reading this reminds me again of your awesome ability to combine those little day to day moments and cars that brings them alive.
You really have to write a novel Joe. I think you have an writer inside you. Let him out to play!
Thanks so much, William. I enjoy putting these compositions out there for others to enjoy and hopefully get something out of, whether related to the subject car or not.
A co-worker of mine had one like this in ’91-’92. I thought it looked nice, but was way more interested in my friend’s MR2 at the time.
I made a lot of trips to Chicago in the ’90s, but didn’t think I could tell you what I listened to until reading the words “Q101 & Murphy in the Morning” now I can hear him in my head.
Great article again Joseph.
Dad’s friend bought one of these, in refrigerator white (the red looks much better!) and I got to take a few rides in it. For someone who hadn’t spent any time in a Japanese car really up to that point, it was definitely interesting. And pretty dang quick, if I remember.
Thanks, Chris. If I recall correctly, a Celica (3rd-gen ST notchback) was my first experience driving a Japanese car. I remember the dashboard and switchgear seeming as angular as the car looked on the outside, but in a very ’80s video game sort of way. I liked it, and even though it had the base engine, it had a five speed and seemed quick for an economy-minded sporty car. The a/c blew ice cold.
I passed on it and bought a used ’88 Mustang which lacked the Celica’s great dynamics because I wanted “a Mustang”. I did love that car, but I would have loved it more if it felt and drove like that ’84 (or so) Celica.
I agree that this fifth generation of Celica left me feeling rather… meh. For as long as I’d remembered (I was born in the early 70s), Celicas had been aspirational sporty cars. They were always high on my list of cars I’d consider buying.
Lots of people I knew had all varieties of Celicas. Kids in high school would buy well-worn older models; the parents of one of the rich kids in high school bought him a new GT-S; my sister’s boyfriend bought a wrecked GT and fixed it up; my grad school roommate had an ’82 Celica that was on its last legs; a friend of my parents owned one… I could go on and on. These were the cars to buy up to a certain point.
And for me that point came with these fifth generation models. They left me bland – very little excitement and not a terribly pleasing design. It looked like it was designed by folks who would rather have been designing other cars. The only people I knew who had one were a rather stand-offish couple who lived in my apartment complex – they were bland people, and to me they matched their car.
I actually did like the 6th generation Celica a bit more… the one with those round headlights that seemed to stare at you, but that was just a respite, as the 7th generation was awful, in my opinion.
Maybe some day I’ll come to appreciate these 5th generation Celicas, but it hasn’t happened yet.
Eric, you summed up my thought that the Celica, in general, was a well-loved car. Absolutely. Even in the GM-centric town I grew up in (Flint, Michigan), to some extent, the Celica seemed like an import car (along with Datsun / Nissan Z cars) that it was borderline acceptable to like or own. And that says a lot.
I really liked the 6th generation liftbacks, but curiously, I wasn’t grooving on the round headlights. I wasn’t a fan of the 7th-gen cars and considered them retrograde at the time. (Didn’t stop me from test-driving one with a friend. LOL) I like the final models in the same way I will sometimes enjoy listening to a “Year 2000’s Greatest Hits” kind of CD.
I find cranberry juice much more interesting than this particular car. 🙂 Although one with a stick shift might change my mind. And I will confess to liking the smooth styling of the 90s after living through the folded-paper 80s. So I guess I like this car after all, upon thinking it over.
Although I had fairly ready access to pop (yes, I’m from the upper midwest and am going to own the term) as a kid we rarely have it in the house. I have tended towards those flavored but unsweetened seltzer waters (such as LaCroix). I like the fizz but not the sweetness. Actually, plain seltzer water mixed with cranberry juice is quite good.
Those apartment buildings are *so* Chicago!
That first image, of a Red Velvet cupcake in a sea of vanilla cookies, just spiffing! I like these so much more now than back in the day. I completely missed how directional Toyota was at the time. Thanks for your thoughtful honest writing.
I was looking at the Celica and Ford Probe in 1991. Ended up buying the Probe. The Celica was 5 grand more. Couldn’t justify the difference. The Probe stayed for 18 years and around 110,000 miles. The Probe was the worst front wheel drive vehicle I ever drove in the snow. You had to pay Would have been better if I would have put on a narrower set of winter rated tires. In slippery conditions you needed to be very careful as the rear end would come around very easily, brake in a straight line. The Probe stayed so long because it was a fun car to drive. V6 auto, very reliable car. Abundant torque steer which always made it interesting.
Mountain Dew is still my go to beverage. Orange juice is also a favorite again. I always liked OJ but in my late teens I had a little too much vodka and OJ. I couldn’t stand the smell let alone the taste of OJ for about 20 years. Like most juices except for apple, yuck.
I’m always really pleased to hear of positive ownership experiences with the Ford Probe. I really liked my ’94, and yes – the $5K difference in price between your Probe and the Celica you looked at was a lot of coin back then, and would be now.
I’m actually quite shocked at the response many of you have here saying at the time these were ugly. When these came out, I was floored, and was determined to get one. Had to wait until the 6th gen. and bought a ‘95 GT coupe because that’s when I had the coin, as this car in GT trim circa 1990 would be a $28,000 car today before you even added A/C or alloy wheels. I paid $22,000 for my barely optioned ‘95 (!). The secret to these was to get the 300 lb. lighter coupe and enjoy a laugh walking away from much more powerful vehicles, and get the benefit of a useable rear seat compared to the “I hope you are decapitated” hatch.
I also wanted to add this Japanese market commercial I forgot about. There are notable things to be said about this Celica generation in the home market; for one, it was the first car in the world to have the option of a fully hydraulic computer controlled active suspension with electronic sensors in the GT-R Active Sports. Four Wheel Steering available on all but the GT-4 (our alltrac). 165ps 3S-GE. Both narrow and wide body GT-4’s, along with a Carlos Sainz edition with a unique and best looking front bumper (Japanese GT-4’s post facelift also have a unique front separate from N/A we never saw). We did get the 220w. Super Live Sound audio as an option, unheard of power for factory at the time. Laugh and die when you see who they hired for the intro promotion, and their are other versions on the ‘tube:
This commercial is so great! Many commercials I’ve seen from Japan, on YouTube or whatever, are the best.
I can appreciate that you seem to be a Celica connoisseur. I hope someone else writes up another one of these fifth-generation Celicas and gives an in-depth analysis of the car itself for you (and other Celica fans) in a way that I’m not able to.
Dennis Hopper did commercials for the following 6th Gen.:
These were and still are remarkable vehicles. Hopefully my picture attaches…. NOT stuck!
Known internally as the ST185 mine has 91K and besides a seeping valve cover is like new. Even the leather (low quality used) is still supple. Biggest repair? A couple of wheel bearings as they are the same part as the non-Alltrac, so somewhat more stressed. These were a substantial design compared to the primitive Subaru/Mitsubishi etc.
Stored seven years in a cool garage, cranked right up with a new battery. Been a daily driver for two years now. Weighs exactly 1000lbs more than my old 911! Yes, I have corner scales….
Hyper-miled a 90 GTS when gas got up over $4 a gallon. Almost but not quite reached the same MPG as my pops Prius. Gave it away to a friend still running great.
I was selling these cars new back in the day. I rather liked the styling of these far more than their predecessors, but the 1982-1985? versions were my favorite. I test drove a ton of the ST with young folks that had no credit history.
They all started out wanting to drive an All-Trac (we had one in the showroom but the dealer principal wasn’t letting it out without money down), then worked our way back down to a GT and then finally the ST.
My least favorite moment was telling these kids that they couldn’t get bought for a Celica of any stripe, how about a nice Corolla? They went to the Chrysler-Plymouth store across the street and bought a DSM instead.
I rather liked the GT a little more than the GT-S. As I recall, the GT-S had more stuff standard than the GT, but the GT had all the good parts to make the car drive well. But those cars were NOT inexpensive as others have indicated. I think the Celica All-Trac was roughly the same money as the Supra.
Of course, Southeast Toyota (our distributor) had no problem piling on the useless Tru-Coat/pinstriping/etched serial numbers type of stuff to our cars. Great if you got someone who really wanted the car, it sucked when you were selling against other dealers/brands who were less mercenary. I made all of my money shifting Toyota pick-up trucks and used cars. People would beat you to death for $200 on a Camry. And then drive back to a suburban Atlanta dealer and buy their car anyway…
I’m the 2nd owner of this 1993 model. First guy got it when it was still in the showroom in late 1994 and he rewarded himself upon getting a choice software tech job after college in Boulder CO. I believe I was the first guy to call and show up with $10K cash in 2002. There were only about 81 1993 Alltracs sold in the US.
GT-S had the firmer suspension setup from the Alltrac and the same “wide body” front and rear fenders, but the same 5S-FE from the GT. It’s a hybrid N/A (possibly Aus) only thing.
Yes and no, the spring rates were changed (softer) for the 92-93 Alltrac compared to 90-91 but I can’t recall if that held true for GTS. Both were wide body for sure.
It held true for the sport package on the ‘94-95 GT Liftback, so I doubt it deviates from that much, if any (minus the widebody).
Geozinger, you (and a few others) reminded me of the price differential between these Celicas and the competition. Now that you (all) mention it, I do remember that these were on the more costly part of that continuum.
Being a more price-oriented / bang-for-the-buck shopper in general, a Celica would have been a tough sell for me, bulletproof-reliable though they might have been.
I’m another that was underwhelmed by the styling of these, whereas the prior generation (86-89) I really liked a lot. And of course the one prior to that (82-85) was/is still the best of the Celica bunch for me. This one just looks too melted although it’s definitely acceptable in All-Trac guise, decent in GT-S, kind of alright if forced in GT and a fairly hard no in ST which is how I more or less judge all Celica generations. But they are all excellent cars.
Cranberry Juice though? Sure, count me in along with the sauce, it’s a year-round condiment for me…Cranberry All-Trac in Toyota-Talk.
Gt-s had a twin cam 16v (3gse) engine, while the gt was as single cam. My 86 produced around 150hp and this generation produced (iirc) 150 with more torque. The 86, and I am guessing this gen had a vacuum actuated system that opened more air inlets in the intake at around 3200 rpm with a surge you could feel.
You had a 135hp / 125lb 2.0 3S-GE in the fourth gen 1986-89 car. The following revision in the 5th generation was JDM/Europe only, and was vastly more powerful. North American cars went 2.2 5S-FE good for 135hp/145lb. The final RedTop versions of the 3S-GE engine were making 220ps in the Altezza (The first Lexus IS to us Americans, but with a 2JZ-GE, in our case). That intake system you refer to on your car was T-VIS (Toyota Vacuum Induction System), and was only A thing common to the performance GE blocks from the 1980’s.
I detested this Celica, coming after the styling and engineering high mark of the ST162. Toyota’s design language was going all jelly mould but to make things worse they fitted the 5SFE instead of the 3SGE on many markets including Australia. After a brief flowering of great engines (3SGE, 4AGE, 7MGE, and the like) and nicely styled cars like the ST162, and the Corolla AE90 series and more, the boys at Toyota were back to their old cynical tricks.
My non car enthusiast friend bought one of these assuming it would be better in every way that the ST162 that he had sampled and a car that I had owned, and even he soon realised the 5SFE engine was a rough dog of a lump.
He wasted money taking it from one place to another trying to get it tuned or balanced as he was expecting a high revving Yamaha engineered jewel to somehow magically emerge from the boat anchor. I had warned him….
Yep.
The immediate predecessor of this was a superior re-working of the beautiful Panhard 24 coupe of the ’60’s, and made this model Sillycar look like an untreated varicose vein, a collection of unsightly and unwanted bulges.
Time has made me like a bit more than I did then, but still can’t really forgive where it took the ST162 design language, which was off into an invisibility of blandness.
As to cranberry juice: though I am sure its finest hour involves the unblocking of intransigent drains, I will admit it improves exponentially if a rather large amount of alcohol is aboard the user in the hours before tackling it.
This all means either that the Celica hasn’t grown palatable and cranberries are still best only for IKEAn’s, or that I haven’t grown, but should.
Justy, you have a true gift with words. 🙂 I also had to look up the Panhard 24, and I see what you’re talking about.
Tedious pop-up ads killed my lengthy but likely also tedious reply….
RE: ST16x vs STx
There were many functional improvements on the 5th Gen that made it a better car albeit with a slight weight increase. Looks are subjective but I think the 5th gen has held up well.
5SFE was not a rev engine but the block was strong and is often used in high HP 3SGTE builds to avoid cracking around the water pump area. I’ve only ever seen the 3SGE engine once in a salvage yard but I imagine it was not on par with Honda engines especially those with VTEC.
Thank you for the nice photos of my car.
My wife and I bought it in 1990.
She died 8 years. I keep this car because of the good times and memories I have of her and I traveling in it .
I understand it is not everyone’s taste but I still like it.
Michael, I am so glad to see that you saw this. Your Celica is beautiful, and I am also happy to read of its connection with your memories with your wife. Long may you enjoy it.