Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Celica is a rare USGP edition, and a car that apparently has had its entire service history documented in detail. It’s in great shape too, but will its price prove to be one record not worth chronicling?
You can always tell when a brand is it trouble when they start dissing the very core of their customer base. Olds did that in the ‘80s with a poorly conceived and even less successfully executed campaign based around the tagline “Not Your Father’s Oldsmobile.”
Yeah, eff those guys, my dad was COOL!
Also cool was the price on last Friday’s 1993 Olds Cutlass Supreme factory convertible. Once America’s best-selling car, fully 68-percent of you felt that this last of its line droptop should sell for its full asking price. Maybe someone will buy it for their dad.
The United States Grand Prix has been held off and on for more than 100 years, and as you might expect, through a number of changes in sanctioning bodies. This year’s race will be held in late October at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas. Both Justin Timberlake and Stevie Wonder will be performing at the event, and Wonder will be driving the pace car.*
In 1980 there were two F1 races denoted as U.S. Grand Prixs—the USGP East held at Watkins Glen, and the USGP West, run on the street course laid out in Long Beach, California.
That same year, Toyota celebrated their sponsorship of the Toyota Pro/Celebrity race—which was part of the USGP West weekend—with a limited production edition of their sporty liftback, the Celica. The winners of the race that year were Parnelli Jones and Gene Hackman, in case you were curious.
The USGP edition of the Celica featured special striping and standard alloy wheels, along with mud flaps, matte black B-pillar, and an egg crate grille on the outside. The interiors were likewise spiffed up with unique white vinyl upholstery with black piping, and a stacked, three-component (radio, cassette, and graphic equalizer) stereo system.
The cars were made available in three colors—Red, White, and Blue—and only 200 of each hue were built. A dash plaque denoted the car as a member of this exclusive club.
This 1980 Celica GT USGP comes in white, and appears to be in phenomenal condition for its age. The paint may be the least expressive color choice of the three offered, but it looks to be in excellent shape. Likewise, the factory stripes seem to have held up amazingly well.
One of the horrible choices Toyota made in the ‘80s was to address U.S. bumper regulations with big black rubber units on almost all their cars. Pollution and time conspired to turn these ebony obtrusions into desiccating pants ruiners for anyone unfortunate enough to brush up against one. The ones on this car oddly enough, look fine.
The interior holds up its end of the bargain too, and features upholstery you just don’t see any more, and a stereo that takes up fully three levels of the dash. The center console features a long-stick shifter for the five-speed stick, which is attached to a 90-bhp 2.2-litre SOHC 20R four.
Mileage goes undisclosed in the ad, but is likely documented in the copious notes that are included with the car. The seller claims that this Celica was owned by an engineer who kept track of the car like a scientist might document the every action of a new life form—up until it kills her.
This Celica won’t kill you. In fact, the ad notes that even the A/C works well so it will pamper you while in the process of not killing you. You might find that the price of this rare and exceedingly nice Celica kills the deal however, but that’s yet to be determined.
The asking is $9,995, and the seller says he’s a collector so he/she’s willing to cut a deal on a trade as well. We don’t deal in trades, so we’ll stick with the cash. What’s your take on this special edition Celica and that $9,995 price? Does that make this GT a first-place finisher? Or, is that price for this USGP edition have you saying GTFO?
You decide!
Syracuse, NY Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to onlytwowheels for the hookup!
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* Unconfirmed.