1985 Celica GT-S Convertible Prod Numbers?

[kjwlajolla]

I have a 85 Convert that is in in showroom condition. Wondering if anyone knows how many of this body style converts (I believe it was only 85) were made by Toyota that year. Is it potentially a collector car as it approaches 30 years old?

[stepho]

Very hard to tell.
All '85 convertibles were based on the RA65 coupe.
I've been told by insiders that they were delivered to certain companies to be changed into convertibles and then returned to Toyota for sale.
At least that is how it happened in the US and in Australia.
Apparently this was done on a special order basis for each individual car.
I have a nice brochure of the Australian spec RA65 Sunchaser convertible.

It's certainly a collector car but the pool of collectors is still quite small for anything Celica based.

- Stepho

[kjwlajolla]

I believe this is correct. The converstion to a convertible was done in California by ASC or ACS as I recall and then sent back to Toyota.

Just do not know how many were converted and sold as convertibles in 85. It is a great car. Actually, for the first time there was a Japenese collector car show last year in Long Beach CA.

[stepho]

Ah yes, I had forgotten it was ASC (American Sunroof Corporation or American Specialty Cars) for American spec convertibles (Australia had a Sunchaser convertible made in a similar way but I'm reasonably sure it was by another company besides ASC or Griffith).
ASC still exists, so you might be able to ask them for records.
http://home.primus.ca/~triton/asc/
http://www.ascglobal.com/

This guy thinks there were 250 in '84 and 4000+ in '85.
http://www.classyauto.com/v/Toyota/Celica/68758

- Stepho

[PhantomS]

Originally Posted by kjwlajolla

I have a 85 Convert that is in in showroom condition. Wondering if anyone knows how many of this body style converts (I believe it was only 85) were made by Toyota that year. Is it potentially a collector car as it approaches 30 years old?

I was interested in ASC's conversion numbers when I acquired my '92 GT 'vert. E-mailed them and they shot me back the figures for every year Celica they performed said conversions on. According to ASC, they converted 4,428 Celicas to drop-tops for the '85 model year. The first year ASC did them was '84, with 250. As far as the SunChasers, I've seen and heard of them, but know nothing of their conversion figures. Hope that helps ..... Any other model year Celi verts you wanna know about, lemme know

[stepho]

The home of Sunchaser info is:
http://www.pitt.edu/~chirdon/sunchaser/index.html
Hasn't been updated for years but Chris has amassed some wonderful info.

The Australian spec 1982 RA6X Sunchaser scan at the bottom of the index page was courtesy of me.

I also have brochures of other Celica convertibles:
- 1980 Sunchaser as sold in the UK (RHD and using different engines),
- 1980 Sunchaser as sold in Germany
- 1980 SLR roadster by Grandeur
- 1983 Matrix M3

- Stepho

[tommy8768]

4,248 GT-S convertibles were produced. Not too many at all. I'm glad I got one-I think it might be worth something someday!

[ConvertiGT]

Hi

I am new to the forum and fairly new to Celica Convertibles as well.. I have done a lot of research and have gotten production stats back from Toyota on the 1988 Celica GT Convertible,,but they cannot tell me how many convertibles for that year were produced. Any info you would have would greatly appreciated.

Thank you
Russell