Toyota may revive the Celica. Interesting news for car buffs who were admirers of this distinctive two-door Japanese sports car built between 1970 and 2006. And that is saying something about the current universe of functional point A to point B machines which have as much character as port containers.
Ben Zacharia reported in Drive Newsletter, an Australian publication: “Speaking recently to the company’s internal magazine Toyota Times at the Rally Hokkaido event, former CEO and current Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda suggested there was a vehicle in development. The event happened to feature former multiple World Rally Champion Juha Kunkkunen, who won his last title in 1993 in a turbocharged Celica GT-Four.
“I’m not just saying this because we’re at a rally event, but Kankkunen is Mr Celica. He was champion four times in the Celica,” Toyoda was quoted as saying.
“Now you can all have a think about why I’m using Kankkunen so much. See if you can guess!”
There are other niche cars. Take for example, the Beetle (Volkswagen) and the Mini Cooper. Both have their fans. The two classic cars were revived to meet a nostalgic demand which was fueled by films entrenching them in modern culture. At least 10 films featured the Beetle, including The Love Bug, Little Miss Sunshine and Bumblebee. The Italian Job, the first and second versions, would be meaningless without the Mini Cooper navigating and crashing through the cobbled lanes of Turin and Venice.
I suspect there is a similar yearning to bring back the Celica to show the world that Japan can do more than build super-efficient cars or luxury ones. There is nothing more that the Japanese have to prove in car production in general. And Toyota’s decision to produce the Lexus proved the Japanese could give the Germans and others more than a run for their money.
The company used California’s Orange County as a living human lab for a couple of years to help develop a Lexus prototype to meet the expectations of one of the most demanding and wealthy car-owning communities on the planet. Only after the company was satisfied that it had enough data and feedback, with prototype after prototype, did it begin production. Today, the Lexus is an accepted model in the luxury sedan car market, alongside Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar and Audi.
All these comments are at a fairly macro level. Toyota’s challenge in trying to bring back the Celica for me would be: Can it produce a car which can evoke the same sense of young sporting style which I felt the Celica had in the 1970s? I did not have a driving licence, so driving any car for me at the time was out of the question. But I had two interesting experiences with the car, which offered me a glimpse of what it was like for a young person to own and drive a Celica.
During my army cadet officer training days, I became friendly with one of my platoon instructors. I noticed he spent every minute of his free time cleaning and polishing his blue Celica. He told me this was his second car, which was new and not second-hand. He invited me to come along for a ride one Sunday afternoon when we were off camp. He picked me up at my home. And we went straight to Tanah Merah, where the Celica could show us what it was made of. All speed and smooth, fairly exciting ride. On the way back home, the car attracted some attention.
I never asked my instructor how much it cost him. I was not interested in finding out because owning any car was not on my horizon. But, in those days, an army officer could easily afford a car, including a Celica.
My next encounter with a Celica, however, immediately gave me an idea that it was not an average car.
One of the men in my platoon, when I became an officer, happened to be the son of a property tycoon. I had to get some blankets from another camp and there was no army vehicle available. He volunteered his car, which turned out to be a speedy Celica! The next time I saw him at a camp function, he was in his Celica with his girlfriend, who happened to be the daughter of a prominent politician. Looks like Celica owners were an active breed.
Tan Bah Bah, consulting editor of TheIndependent.SG is a former senior leader writer with The Straits Times. He was also managing editor of a magazine publishing company