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CJSREDPRA
05-09-2007, 10:26 PM
This thread spawned off of the most recent posting (05/09/07) of a Griffith Sunchaser that showed up on eBay & the auction link was posted in the F/S section. Since we have a few noobs who have never seen a Sunchaser before & had no clue that Griffith was also doing conversions on the MKI Supra (ie: the Griffith Legato), along with the RA4X Celica Hatchback (ie: the TX22 Sport, of which I did not post any pictures) I decided to educate a few of the MKI newb's here (after taking a 5 hour nap.... Days off & doing as little as possible can be good). So.... For your viewing pleasure, this is from the Griffith brochure that I have.

Cover.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/looperboy81/2007_0509Image0559.jpg

Back of cover. The MKI Legato is on the right.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/looperboy81/2007_0509Image0561.jpg

Product description for the Legato. Remember, this is VERY early 80's marketing shiznit.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/looperboy81/2007_0509Image0562.jpg

Pictures of their product. This is a Code 135 Taupe Gray example.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/looperboy81/2007_0509Image0564.jpg

Other pictures off to the right.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/looperboy81/2007_0509Image0565.jpg

Roughly about 5 years ago when we were still on the Yahoo list, Dave Anders (DaveA) found this link. This was written by a employee who used to work for Griffith @ their conversion facilities back in the day, down in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The article goes into detail on how the Celica Coupe's went through the conversion process to turn them into Sunchaser convertibles. There's also small excerpts on what was done to the Celica hatchbacks (the TX22 Sports), and the MKI Supra's (the Legato's), along with a one off Turbo car that was made. The article is in .pdf file format, so you will need to have Adobe Acrobat running in order to view the file.

http://www.pitt.edu/~chirdon/sunchaser/sunchaser-days.pdf

Now.... Some of you are probably wondering.... "Are their any Legato's still left in existence"??? At the moment.... Yes, we know of at least "one". About 2 - 3 years ago, Dave Koos (Supradavis) spotted one in the Phoenix, AZ area parked in front of someone's house & mentioned it on the Yahoo list. The paint is looking a bit rough (the Arizona sun is playing havoc w/ the paint), but the car is pretty complete. He has spoken with the owner of the car. The car has been in the family since around 82 - 83 & is definitely NOT for sale at this time, thus Dave left it at that (Dave got the impression that it's a family heirloom, thus they won't be letting go of it anytime soon). Otherwise, I don't know the whereabouts of any other cars at the moment.

Happy reading!!

CELICA GTS
05-09-2007, 10:55 PM
Chris,
Excellent post........good bit of tidbit info for the newbies...

Josh=MK1
05-09-2007, 11:02 PM
Thanks Chris! That Legato is freaking awesome! :faint: I have seen a picture like that but I thought it was a prototype car. So you know how many were made?
Now I am going to read it!:iocrunks2:

CJSREDPRA
05-09-2007, 11:09 PM
Nope, no idea on the total Legato production. The majority of them were made down in Florida & only a very small handful were made in Los Angeles & Detroit. I'm "speculating/guessing" that the one in AZ came from LA, unless it was somehow brought over from FL.

Jose has no idea either.. Other than "not a whole lot of them".

Heh.... Now I'm wondering why I didn't put this information up earlier... I think working 7 days a week did that... :O

AJ
05-09-2007, 11:52 PM
Found this on eBay...
http://cgi.ebay.com/1981-Toyota-Griffith-TX22-Targa-Convertible-Brochure_W0QQitemZ320015647029QQihZ011QQcategoryZ1 3564QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

and USGP Brochure
http://cgi.ebay.com/1980-Toyota-Celica-US-Grand-Prix-Ltd-Edition-Brochure_W0QQitemZ7223073146QQihZ015QQcategoryZ135 64QQcmdZViewItem

and American Custom Convertible Brochure
http://cgi.ebay.com/1980-Toyota-American-Custom-Convertible-Brochure_W0QQitemZ7238651179QQihZ015QQcategoryZ135 64QQcmdZViewItem

SMDgarage
05-11-2007, 11:16 PM
Hey CJ, would you happen to know where in ft. lauderdale? I just moved down here and I'm thinking that there has to be a couple hiding somewhere out here.

CJSREDPRA
05-12-2007, 12:01 AM
My bad....

Coorporate offices were in Ft. Lauderdale. Conversion facilities were in Jacksonville. Jose says the conversion location is now empty (at least as of 2003).

Give it a try, just remember they are no longer there.

3213 N. Ocean Blvd. 33308

Exact location of the conversion facilities are in the article w/ the .pdf link in the 1st posting.

Edit: Just remembered that the article stated that Griffith closed shop sometime after 85 or so.

4SFED
05-12-2007, 12:54 AM
I just saw this '80 Celica GT Sunchaser on ebay:
click here (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1980-Toyota-Celica-GT-Sunchaser-Convertible-Low-Res_W0QQitemZ200108322335QQihZ010QQcategoryZ15288Q QrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

SMDgarage
05-12-2007, 08:19 PM
Cool, I'm gonna try to go by tomorrow just for the heck of it, I'll let you know.

turbogoo1
05-12-2007, 09:37 PM
Awesome! I would love to find one of those legatos.....One more thing that makes the mk1 and the mk4 even more in common. First targa on a supra.

slimwhitman
06-27-2008, 05:01 PM
Just found this Griffith TX-22 for sale. Thought someone should save it! Email them at thier yahoo account because the listing is older.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3243/2616086823_4ca0bbf39a_o.jpg

Pooods
06-27-2008, 07:38 PM
Great post Chris! Can't believe that Supra in the first picture is identical color/stripes and even wheels to the one I bought this past March. I have never seen one like it and especially one with those kind of wheels.

poormansupra
06-28-2008, 03:09 AM
Thanks for posting that up Chris. I don't care to much for the rear spoiler look, but I do like the targa idea.

fullmetal32085
07-02-2008, 06:10 PM
I should have never shown the griffith pics to my wife now she want to cut a hole in the top of my supra :-/ can anyone direct me to a company that does targa top conversions?

4SFED
04-01-2013, 02:39 PM
Some interesting reading from a few years back for you noobs. Check out the link in the first post.