Spotted around Norman: Celica GT

The Silent A20

 The Red-Capped Steelies

The daily afternoon trudge back to my apartments began earlier this semester as a peaceful journey of introspection, but quickly turned blasé in the face of ill-suited footwear and a hefty bookbag. However, I regularly undertake the daily pilgrimage for a glimpse of the beige, tarped mass in the front lawn of an unassuming residence en route. The first time I noticed the mystery car, I was hesitant to investigate further than a simple visual assessment. The car is located on a somewhat busy thoroughfare, and I am reasonably sure local residents would react poorly to a hooligan covertly sticking his head under the cover of a parked car. As I could make out, the only visible features are chocolate-brown running boards/skirts with white stripes and robust red-capped steelies. I ventured closer to discover a raked roof, sleek rear end, and a short wheelbase. In other words; the general proportions of a small sports coupe. Further investigation reveals the red center caps on the steelies are emblazoned with a small, silver “T”. Aha! A crest. After much deliberation with colleagues on auto forums and boards, we determined this to be a very attractive first-gen Toyota Celica. What a find!  

A cleanly stanced A20

 As I discussed in an earlier post about the Mk.1 Capri, both European and Japanese automakers began to look to American Muscle for design influences in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. The muscular lines of pony cars proved to be extremely popular with the younger crowd, and sales figures reflected this. The Europeans released cars like the Capri and the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, while the Japanese found their “muscle” in the Datsun 240Z, Mazda RX-3, and the Toyota Celica GT. These sports cars had sleek aggressive styling of their American Muscle counterparts, but retained a relatively cheap buying price. This design/sales formula was a runaway success, as the Celica model was continued on for over 30 years. Due to somewhat simplistic and lightweight mechanical construction, this generation of Celica in particular is quite popular with the tuning and stance crowd. If I had my way, a cliché single-turbo 2JZ would be found under the hood of every modified A20 Celica out there.

 I am unsure if this particular A20 is in running condition. As of this posting, the car has apparently remained unmoving, at least to my observations. I believe, however, that due to the robust nature of Toyotas from this era, not much more than gentle mechanical reconditioning is needed to see this Japanese charmer back onto the road.

UPDATE: I was fortunate enough to run into the owner. More info on the car to come!

Coming soon: The Norman Opel GT