AviRoad Loc: Westchester County, NY

Well, for a number of reasons, I'd taken on the tedious and time-consuming task of scanning a literal ton of slides from my travels all the way back to the early 70's. It's something I should have done already because I use my photo-images to create compositions for the architectural paintings I love to do. But, I digress...Happily I came upon a photo of my 1966 Toyota Celica, which, like just about all the cars I've owned along the way, I sadly never kept photos of. But there it was: A really pathetic, faded, washed out, colorless digital image with a horrid amount of image pollution, black dots and black lines all over it. It still was a pleasure to see that car. But most daunting of all, my ex-wife was sitting right there in the driver's seat as if to even mock the rest of the distractions and take way my joy. Well, I have a good deal of new photo-editing software and put it all to work. Cloning and repair tools, color enhancement, sky replacement, etc. the whole magic wand! And now, there it is! No ex-wife, no dust and lines, clear and bright as a bell in the Gaspé sunshine! I can't help but think that it would have been wonderful if it were just that easy to get rid of the ex-wife back then...for real. Don't think badly of me.

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JFCoupe Loc: Kent, Washington

I I think these were about mid '70s models and were extremely popular as the muscle cars of the '60s used too much higher priced fuel.

clint f. Loc: Priest Lake Idaho, Spokane Wa

Looks newer than 1966, the first year of production. My wife’s favorite car for quite a while. Very peppy.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

I had a 1976 in the same color and style. Great car that my son inherited.

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

I had a '76 Toyota Celica GT in the mid '80s. It was a neat ittle car but had a couple of personal glitches that gave me some grief. I still liked it.

lxu532 Loc: Cherry Hill, NJ

Beautiful!!

Lucasdv123

I had a 1970 celica which I added a hitch so I could pull my 1,500 pound bbq pit.that car was amazing. It could pull that pit without any problems even at 75 mph.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Excellent job and I don't think any less of you for excluding your ex-wife, I have 3 of them.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Great story, and nice work on the image.

Toyota sold the first Celicas in December of 1970, so perhaps you meant a later model? That does look like the first generation.

https://www.carscoops.com/2020/10/toyota-celica-turns-50-a-look-back-at-the-seven-generations-of-the-japanese-sports-car/

I had a 1984 Celica GT I bought new in '83. I have the original sales brochure, but oddly, no photos of my own copy of it! I kept the car 10 years, and drove it until it was time to get something more "family friendly." It was a lot of fun to drive.

AviRoad Loc: Westchester County, NY

Thanks and you’re absolutely right…I’m getting silly in my old age! My first car was a brand new 1966 Oldsmobile Cutlas, and then a 1970 Dodge Charger before the 1976 Toyota Celica that’s in the photo!

Real Nikon Lover Loc: Simi Valley, CA

These were good little cars. My wife had one of these Celicas when I was first dating her. It was the first car she bought, right out of high school. It was an orange/yellow color and had a black back window louver set on it. We went everywhere in that car. It was uncomfortable to me as I am tall. We sold it when she became pregnant in 1988. We are Grandparents now and she drives a Traverse with extra seating.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I bought the new 1977 Corolla shown below when I graduated from college and got a job. It had an 1198CC engine in it. I traded it in on the '84 Celica in '83... 92,500 miles later. I still drive Toyotas. That Corolla convinced me they were reliable.

This is a recent digital conversion from a 1978 Fujicolor negative. Processing in Negative Lab Pro plug-in for Lightroom Classic...

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AviRoad Loc: Westchester County, NY

I have had a good number of cars but I find myself lost now when I had one or the others! I do know that I did enjoy them all and I wish I had kept a photo of each.

Real Nikon Lover Loc: Simi Valley, CA

I am going to go out on a limb here and say you don't tent camp anymore either. I went from tents to a 5th wheel trailer. Now I am looking at a motorhome. Somehow life was easier in tents. But the ground was hard. LOL

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

We haven't tent camped in probably 15 years. I still have that Coleman stove, though, and IT STILL WORKS. I keep it for power outages.

That was early June, 1978, in Louisiana. I was still single, between jobs, taking time out to tour the USA and spend six weeks with my sister in California then. It was an amazing trip. Pitching a tent in West Texas amused some Mexicans camping nearby. I was bending tent stakes because the ground was like brick! Death Valley in a car with no A/C was a quick in-and-out morning visit... Seeing Yosemite with six feet of snow on the ground that same day was a mind blower.