{"id":52199,"date":"2020-10-16T10:22:39","date_gmt":"2020-10-16T10:22:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.secret-classics.com\/?p=52199"},"modified":"2020-11-10T08:11:58","modified_gmt":"2020-11-10T08:11:58","slug":"drive-toyota-celica-ta22-st","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.secret-classics.com\/en\/drive-toyota-celica-ta22-st\/","title":{"rendered":"Drive: Toyota Celica TA22 ST"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Exactly 50 years ago, in October 1970, the model history of a sporty coup\u00e9 named Celica began at Toyota. At that time, the Japanese car brand had only just begun exporting its model range to other countries like Germany. Therefore it took about a year until the first Celicas arrived in Europe. Meanwhile, motorsports enthusiasts were already achieving their first successes on the circuits and on rally tracks. One of them was Ove Andersson from Sweden, who finally set up his own rally team across the road from Toyota Deutschland and renamed it ‘Toyota Team Europe’ (TTE). The first Celica generation established the reputation of this team, which later became the factory racing team and was renamed to ‘Toyota Motorsport GmbH’ and finally to ‘Gazoo Racing Team’. At the same time, it was also this sporty coup\u00e9 that gave Toyota a new image worldwide, which now included sportiness in addition to reliability and affordable products. Over seven model generations, more than 4.1 million units of the Celica were produced, and the car also won a total of six rally world championship titles.

Just in time for the 50th anniversary of this sports coup\u00e9, the Secret Classics team now had the opportunity to get to know the original model TA22 in detail. The model name Celica is derived from the Spanish word ‘celestial’, which means ‘heavenly’. When looking at the technical data of the classic car, which was provided to us by the Toyota Collection in Cologne, Germany, the question arises, if the Japanese brand once exaggerated a little bit. The 1973 Celica ST with its turquoise paint finish produces only 63 kW\/86 hp from four cylinders and 1.6 liters of displacement. However, this power was already transmitted to the rear wheels as standard via a manual five-speed gearbox, which was by no means normal in the automotive world at that time. Parallel to this, there was the Celica LT with 55 kW\/75 hp (optionally also available with a three-speed automatic) and from 1972 the Celica GT with 74 kW\/101 hp. Thanks to its high-revving engine and a sophisticated chassis with independent front suspension with MacPherson struts and a four-link rear axle in conjunction with an unladen weight of between 890 and 1,200 kilograms, the Celica was absolutely thrilling on the road – and still is today.<\/p>\n\n\n

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