Saturday, June 24, 2006

10 years of evolution...

...right there in front of my home.


While Technotronic was pumping your audio system, and Roxette rocking away, the 5th gen Celica's were born. Build upon 20 years of Celica history, constructed from 1990 to 1993. This generation would turn out to be the best rally car at its time. Carlos Sainz was the World Rally Champion driving a Toyota Celica 2.0 Turbo 4WD ST185. Only 5000 special edition Carlos Sainz Celica's were made, next to the regular 2.0 turbo.

One day in 1991 a blue ST-i 16v 1.6 went for it's first drive. A hot summer, 12 years later, it moved to a new owner, namely me ;) Looking for a car that would fit my budget, I remembered that back in the nineties I already liked the Celica. When a kid's dream becomes reality, great things happen. I had a ton of fun driving that car, and started to really enjoy the freedom and thrills of driving.

The year is 2000, the fear for the millennium bug reigns supreme. While the dot-com bubble started to burst, a new Celica saw the light of day. The 7th generation was born. It would be the last iteration of the Celica legend, because as of 2006, the Celica is discontinued. This was a sad commercial decision, but Toyota is not completely giving up on that niche market. In the USA a new Toyota brand was launched: Scion. It's latest model called the tC is said to be the replacement for the Celica. Being sold exclusively overseas, it remains questionable if the European market will ever see the Scion brand.

I'm very happy I now own a last generation Celica. However, 35 years of car history is now only left in our memories. RIP Celica.

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