Market Watch: Toyota Celica 1971-85
In Australia circa 1971, owning a sports coupe meant you had a Holden Monaro or Fiat 124S, perhaps a Valiant Charger that had recently appeared, or an old school E-Type Jaguar.
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The Celica saw plenty of change in its lifetime.
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Nobody at the time gave much thought to Japanese coupes, which could be quirky like Honda’s S800, or loud like the Mazda R100 Rotary.
Then along came Toyota with its civilised and sensible Celica, and suddenly there was a Japanese coupe demanding attention.
Early LT1600 versions weren’t performance cars and many in the target market treated them with disdain. In 1975 came the LT2000, with improved performance and a Liftback option, modelling its appearance on Ford’s Mustang fastback.
An LT2000 coupe was run successfully in motorsport by a bloke called Peter Williamson, who also ran a Toyota dealership.
In 1979 he let Channel 7 feed vision from a big clunky camera in the back seat of his Celica, as it rushed around Mount Panorama and all of a sudden, Willo was a crowd favourite and his car was as well.
Soon, people who had previously sniggered at Celicas started wanting to own one and people began paying significant money to own one of the ‘Mustang Back’ cars.
Toyota being Toyota then took the good thing they had created and trashed it with an unhappy RA40 restyle, extra weight and compromised performance.
The 1980s brought more change for the worse and Celicas with style-before-substance styling. These cars were outdated before they appeared, persevering with rear-wheel-drive and underdone engines.
No wonder the market went mad for the all-new ST162 model when it arrived with a bright, modern shape, front-wheel-drive and 100kW.
The cost of all pre-1986 Celicas has climbed steadily during the past 15 years, with pre-1978 models doing best, but none mounting what might be termed, a binge of value growth.
Occasionally an RA28 Liftback will appear at $40,000+, however at that price, it will have to be rare and very authentic, with an original-type engine.
Some 1980s cars have been seen for sale at silly prices, but $15-20,000 is fair at present, for excellent examples.
HOW THE PRICES MOVED
| MODEL | YEARS | COND 3 | COND 2 | COND 1 |
| 2010 | ||||
| Celica LT1600 | 1971-75 | $1500 | $3500 | $6000 |
| Celica RA23 Coupe | 1975-78 | $1200 | $2900 | $5500 |
| Celica RA28 Liftback | 1976-77 | $1800 | $4500 | $7000 |
| 2015 | ||||
| Celica LT1600 | 1971-75 | $2200 | $5000 | $8500 |
| Celica RA23 Coupe | 1975-78 | $2700 | $5700 | $9500 |
| Celica RA28 Liftback | 1976-77 | $3500 | $7500 | $13,000 |
| Celica Coupe/Hatch | 1978-85 | $1000 | $3300 | $6700 |
| 2018 | ||||
| Celica LT1600 | 1971-75 | $5500 | $12,500 | $20,000 |
| Celica RA23 Coupe | 1975-78 | $7000 | $14,500 | $24,000 |
| Celica RA28 Lineback | 1976-77 | $9000 | $19,500 | $30,000 |
| Celica Coupe/Hatch | 1978-85 | $2000 | $4800 | $9000 |
| 2021 | ||||
| Celica LT1600 | 1971-75 | $5500 | $16,500 | $25,000 |
| Celica RA23 Coupe | 1975-78 | $8000 | $23,500 | $32,000 |
| Celica RA28 Liftback | 1976-77 | $11,000 | $27,500 | $36,000 |
| Celica Coupe/Hatch | 1978-85 | $4000 | $7700 | $13,000 |
| 2023 | ||||
| Celica LT1600 | 1971-75 | $7500 | $18,500 | $27,000 |
| Celica RA23 Coupe | 1975-78 | $9500 | $25,000 | $36,000 |
| Celica RA28 Liftback | 1976-77 | $13,500 | $30,000 | $41,500 |
| Celica Coupe/Hatch | 1978-85 | $6000 | $12,000 | $20,000 |
From Unique Cars #484, Oct 2023
Unique Cars magazine Value Guides
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