1 Nov 1976
Dubbed “Mustang-look” after its shameless stylistic rip-off of the American Ford pony car, the short-lived first generation Celica three-door “Liftback” was sold concurrently with the ageing two-door coupe, and used the same 63kW 2.0-litre drivetrain.
However most of the Liftback’s body panels were bespoke.
Despite this, the Celica suffered against the critical and commercial acceptance of the revolutionary Honda Accord that was also released in early 1977.
A total of 10,041 RA23 and RA28 Celicas were sold here until late ’77.
