Hasegawa 1/24 1970 Toyota Celica 1600GT Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Toyota Motor Corporation was created by Toyota Industries in the early 1930s and produced their first automobile, the Toyota AA in 1933. Toyota has grown into the largest automobile manufacturer in the world today. In 1970, Toyota launched a new family of sports cars with the Celica. The first iteration was the Celica Coupe 1600 GT which would launch Toyota into a successful series of cars that would render the Celica Supra series and spin off another sports car series designated MR2. Toyota discontinued the Celica and MR2 series when sales rapidly declined in the mid-2000s.

Hasegawa has reissued their classic Toyota Celica 1600 GT kit with box art depicting the example currently on display at the Toyota Museum in Nagoya, Japan. The kit is molded in black styrene and presented on two parts trees plus one body shell molded in white styrene, one tree of clear parts, and one tree of chromed parts. Among the features and options in this kit:

• Choice of left or right hand drive
• Nicely detailed interior
• Decals provided for gauges in instrument cluster
• Nicely detailed suspension and drive train
• This release features the sport wheels featured on museum example
• Rubber tires
• Decals are provided to replicate the Toyota Museum example

This kit is a relatively simple build and you'll probably spend more time in the paint booth than on the bench building this gem. The original kit wheels are also included in the kit should you want to build your own classic or resto-mod 1970 Toyota Celica.

My sincere thanks to Hasegawa USA for this review sample!