Junkyard Find: 1983 Toyota Celica Supra
While the Datsun 280ZX still shows up with reasonably frequency in the big self-service car graveyards I frequent, discarded examples of its Toyota Celica Supra rival are much harder to find. Here's one that showed up at a Colorado Springs facility last summer.
First some bad news: This Supra got crushed months ago. I try to write articles about sought-after cars like this one while they're still available, but that's not always possible. In recent months, I've been posting them immediately in my Junkyard Heads-Up series, so keep an eye on that for the fresh boneyard inventory finds.
From 1979 until the Celica name was moved to a front-wheel-drive platform based on the T150 Corona for the 1986 model year and the Supra became a distinct and more Camaro-ish model, the Supra was a sub-model of the Celica.
Known as the Celica XX in its homeland and called the Celica Supra on our side of the Pacific, this car got six-cylinder power and an enlarged snout to make room for the bigger engine.
The second-generation Celica Supra hit our shores as a 1982 model, and it had a wheelbase nearly four inches longer than its (still fairly similar-looking) Celica sibling.
You could tell the second-generation Celica Supra from the Celica at a glance, by looking for the fully retractable pop-up headlights on the Supra.
Whenever I write about the 1982-1985 Celica family, I think of this photo in my high school yearbook from 1984. Last I checked, Sonjay (sic) still "loves" the Surf Punks.
This car was reasonably quick for its time (1983 was the final year of the Malaise Era), but what really set it apart from its Detroit rivals was the level of standard equipment. The graphic equalizer cost extra but the thermostat-controlled HVAC system was base hardware on the '83 Celica Supra.
This is a base model with manual transmission, so its MSRP was $14,148. That's about $46,878 in 2026 dollars. The 1983 "Datsun by Nissan") 280ZX started at $14,799 ($49,036 after inflation).
That 280ZX got 145 horsepower and 156 pound-feet from its 2.8-liter SOHC straight-six, while the DOHC 2.8-liter straight-six in the Celica Supra made 150 horsepower and 159 pound-feet.
Meanwhile, a new 1983 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 with a 150-horse 5.0-liter V8 cost a mere $10,336 ($32,248 today). A new 1983 Ford Mustang GT was a steal at $9,328 ($30,908 now) with its 175 hp 5.0-liter V8. The turbocharged Dodges didn't hit showrooms until the 1984 model year, though 1983 car shoppers could enter the TURBO ZONE in a 107 hp Renault Fuego Turbo for $11,095 (few did).
I admit it, I only mentioned the Fuego TURBO ZONE so I'd have an excuse to share the TV commercial with the best turbocharger sound effects in history. Sadly, while we were still getting new Coronas in North America in 1982, the screaming turbocharged version wasn't sold here.
Though the Mustang and Camaro were cheaper and boasted V8 power for '83, you had to pay extra for everything on those cars. The Celica Supra had air conditioning as standard equipment, for example, while the Camaro and Mustang buyers had to hand over $724 (Mustang) or $725 (Camaro) for refrigerated air. That's close to $2,500 in today's money.
On the other hand, Toyotas of the 1980s rusted a lot faster than Chevys and Fords. This car isn't too corroded for what it is, but there was enough rust to doom it here.
The emissions sticker says this is a "49-state" car, not originally sold in California.
Duct tape as an armrest indicates that a car is on its final owner.
The faded remnants of a "move this car or we will" red tag from The Man tells the sad story of how this car ended up at U-Pull-&-Pay.
Most Japanese manufacturers had gone to six-digit odometers for their US-market cars by 1983, so we can see that this car made it well past the 200k mark during its career. The highest-mile junkyard car I've ever documented was a Toyota, of course.
Toyota had Dan Gurney doing its US-market ads around this time.
Mrs. Gurney (a former Porsche PR employee) seemed unenthusiastic.
At home, Toyota used a cardboard cutout of Grace Jones for its Celica XX ads in 1983.
1983 Toyota Celica Supra in Colorado wrecking yard.
1983 Toyota Celica Supra in Colorado wrecking yard.
1983 Toyota Celica Supra in Colorado wrecking yard.
1983 Toyota Celica Supra in Colorado wrecking yard.
1983 Toyota Celica Supra in Colorado wrecking yard.
1983 Toyota Celica Supra in Colorado wrecking yard.
1983 Toyota Celica Supra in Colorado wrecking yard.
1983 Toyota Celica Supra in Colorado wrecking yard.
1983 Toyota Celica Supra in Colorado wrecking yard.
1983 Toyota Celica Supra in Colorado wrecking yard.
1983 Toyota Celica Supra in Colorado wrecking yard.
1983 Toyota Celica Supra in Colorado wrecking yard.
[Images: The Author]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Hagerty and The Truth About Cars.
More by Murilee Martin
Comments
Join the conversation
These were aspirational vehicles back then. Remember some true 'car guys' who owned them.
I think the malaise era (thanks for that accurate label) ended in the later 80's, say 1988 or 1989. I had an 83 Buick that was crap, still carbureted, probably not computer assisted design. It was replaced with an 89 injected, front-driver A-body that was much more reliable, and lived twice as long.