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1981 Toyota Celica Supra on BaT: The Supra Story Starts Here

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1981 Toyota Celica Supra on BaT: The Supra Story Starts Here

Vin Diesel wasn’t even driving yet when this first-gen Supra rolled into the showroom.

A car that’s a Celica and a Supra? You bet: Long before Paul Walker hauled a wrecked Toyota over to Vin Diesel’s garage to be rebuilt as a drag-racing superweapon, the Supra was just a trim level for the Celica coupe. It wasn’t so much about speed, but about the refinement of six-cylinder power—a Celica, but a super version.

This 1981 Toyota Celica Supra is gliding into view over at Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos). The Celica Supra marks the start of the Supra legend and was a big grand tourer with polished manners. It also just happens to be a match for current Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s first car, called the Celica XX in its home market. A Toyota good enough for Japan’s Margaret Thatcher? That’s an iron-block lady.

The headline is, of course, the inline-six engine, here displacing 2.8 liters and producing 116 horsepower and 145 pound-feet of torque. Not quite good enough for a 10-second-or-less quarter-mile lifestyle, but super-smooth power that can trace its heritage back to the Toyota 2000GT. It's paired with a five-speed manual gearbox sending power to the rear wheels.

The rest of the car is a long-nosed version of the second-generation Celica, which is to say Toyota’s take on the personal luxury coupe craze of the late 1970s. The interior features vinyl and cloth seating, air conditioning, and even a graphic equalizer for the cassette stereo.


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