Toyota Celica

In the late ’60s and early ’70s, the Japanese sports car market was still in its infancy. A number of sports models had been sold in Japan, including some supremely excellent ones like the 1967-1970 Toyota 2000GT, but Japan was still mostly known to the rest of the world for its small economy cars. But two cars would come along that would usher in an era of Japanese sport compacts that would raise the status of the entire country’s automotive industry. The first of these was the 1969-1978 Datsun 240Z in 1969, followed just a couple of years later by the Toyota Celica, in 1971.

The accompanying video for this article shows Jay Leno talking to a Toyota representative about the car. He calls the Celica Toyota’s first sports car, which isn’t strictly true. Both the Sports 800 and the 2000GT predate the Celica, but the Celica was the first mass-market Toyota sports car to be sold outside of Japan. The nameplate would live on until 2006, and continues on in spirit with the Scion tC. But more importantly, the Supra nameplate would get its start as a sub-model of the Celica, one of a few versions of the Celica that could hold its own against much more expensive sports cars with much bigger engines.

Continue reading to learn more about the 1970–1977 Toyota Celica.

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