Recently, Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu has been surprising car enthusiasts by driving around with many unique JDM sports cars that he has bought in the past few months. It is still not clear how many JDM cars Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu actually owns, but it would not be surprising if the number is above 20.
Recently, one of the new JDM cars that Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu bought was seen driving on the streets of Sai Gon. It would be quite surprising if you know that this is the 3rd Toyota Celica in his car collection. This shows that Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu is actively searching for many unique JDM cars.
How was the Toyota Celica created?
Introduced at the Tokyo Motor Show in October 1970 along with the Toyota Carina, and sold from December of the same year, the Celica was a two-door hardtop coupe that emphasized style and driving excitement.
This car aimed at the North American market and was Toyota’s response to the Ford Mustang (Pony car) 1964½, as well as a standard sedan (Ford Falcon) with a 2+2 style body.
In Japan, where different dealership chains handled different models, the Celica was only named Celica at Japanese Toyota Corolla Store dealerships. The Celica filled the market position previously held by the Toyota Sports 800, which had been discontinued in 1969, the year that Toyota’s previous flagship coupé, the 2000GT, was also withdrawn from the market. The car was exclusive to Toyota Japan’s domestic dealership network Toyota Corolla Store.
“Qua” Vu’s Toyota Celica design
If Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu had previously purchased 2 sports cars models of Toyota Celica from the 7th generation, produced from 1999 to 2006, with the year of his car being 2000, or the 5th generation Toyota Celica, produced from 1989 to 1993, with his car being from 1992, then the 3rd car is quite old, in fact, it shares the same birth year as the largest car collector in Vietnam.
Specifically, the 3rd Toyota Celica sports car that Mr. Vu bought belongs to the 1st generation, produced 53 years ago, from 1970 to 1977. To be more precise, this car was produced in 1971, which means it is 52 years old, the same age as Mr. Vu.
Looking at the appearance of Mr. Vu’s 1st generation Toyota Celica sports car, you can see that it has a rounded design, with a rectangular grille on the front, accompanied by two round double headlights, looking very classic, with the inner two bulbs being yellow. There are also two symmetrical turn signals.
The side mirrors of the Toyota Celica sports car’s 1st generation are placed high, on the hood, on the sides, there are rounded lines, a 7-spoke alloy wheel with a shiny silver color is the highlight. At the rear of the car, there are two red taillights, two outer turn signals, and a shiny chrome rear bumper.
Finally, the last highlight of this 1st generation Toyota Celica sports car is the beautiful license plate 61A – 36.333, with 36 symbolizing good fortune, and the last 3 digits being three repeated numbers, representing stability. The car’s interior has 2 rows of seats, with the back seats accommodating children, and all the details remain original.
Transmission System
The first-generation Toyota Celica came with different original trim levels which were the ET (1.4L 4-speed), LT, ST (1.6L 5-speed), and GT (1.6L 5-speed), with the GTV being added in 1972. For the export markets, the Celica was available in three different trim levels; LT, ST, and GT.
The GT models intended for the Japanese domestic market featured several differences from the ET, LT, and ST models that included a piano-black hood, power windows, and air conditioning. Furthermore, except for the US market, the GT models were equipped with the twin-cam 2T-G 1600 cc or the 2000 cc 18R-G engine, neither of which were available on the ET, LT, or ST models, and always had a 5-speed manual gearbox. Usually, GTs intended for the Japanese market came with the 18R-G engine combined with the P51, 5-speed transmission with close-ratio designed by Porsche, while the export models had the W-50. However, for the US market, only the GT had a single cam engine with a choice of a 4-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic on early car models, and later upgraded to the W-50 5-speed transmission in 1974–1977.
The first Celica for North America, 1971 ST, came with the 8R 1.9L engine. The 1972–1974 models had the 18R-C 2.0L engine. For the years 1975–77, the engine for the North American Celica was a 20R 2.2L. The Celica GT and LT models were introduced in the US for the 1974 model year. The GT, the top-of-the-line model, included the W-50 5-speed manual transmission, GT stripes on the dashboard, and styled steel wheels with chrome trim rings. The LT was marketed as an economy model.
The A40 automatic transmission became an option on the ST and LT models in North America starting in model year 1973. For the 1975 model year, the 1974 body style was used, and the black rubber-covered chromed bumpers with more solid support and integrated horizontal-impact struts (similar to the US bumper laws of the time) were used, intended to withstand impact without damage at 5 mph (8.0 km/h).
Unfortunately, the early 8R and 18R engines proved to be less durable and often experienced initial failures. The durability of the 1974 18R-C engine was somewhat improved, but the 20R introduced for 1975 proved to be a better engine in most respects.
