Toyota Celica 1600GT
Japan's first specialty car let buyers mix sporty looks, engines and equipment in many combinations.
1970 first-generation Toyota Celica GT TA22 at the Toyota Automobile Museum in Japan. · 先従隗始 · CC0 1.0 Universal
Research pending
A matching completed auction sale has not been verified for this exact year, body, trim, engine, transmission and market.
Joyride shows this gap instead of substituting an asking price, unsold bid or mismatched special vehicle.
More than a set of wheels.
Toyota released the first Celica in December 1970 as an affordable, sporty car built from a sedan-based platform. Its full-choice system allowed combinations of engine, transmission, interior and exterior equipment. This page stays with Toyota's representative 1600 DOHC GT specification, not later Liftbacks or export engines.
Look a little closer.
Toyota says Celica comes from a Spanish word meaning celestial or heavenly.
Photos show an example of the model or generation. The pictured vehicle’s year, equipment, or modifications can differ from the specification described here.
A car customers could configure
The full-choice system offered different engines, transmissions and equipment instead of one fixed recipe. The 1600 GT sat at the sporty end with the rare-for-the-time DOHC 2T-G engine.
Source: Toyota 75-year vehicle lineage · first Celica ↗Coupé first, Liftback later
The 1970 car was a two-door hardtop coupé. Toyota added the Celica Liftback in 1973, so later Liftback shapes and specifications should not be folded into this launch-version profile.
Source: Toyota · Celica production passes one million ↗Where these facts come from
- Toyota 75-year vehicle lineage · first Celica
- Toyota · Celica production passes one million
- Toyota Automobile Museum · Celica collection
Selected facts checked for this edition. Some source pages link to broader model families. Last reviewed September 29, 2026.