[supraz]

attached photos are from Zen Graphics and thought Raptor Racing had them also before though maybe I am overlooking them now

may be a while until I paint my car and working on quite a bit of mechanical issues including but not limited to my hood cable coming loose under the hood yet again

will be looking for placement of lettering along with what color the black P-Type used

also, trying to decide if I want to go with the large lettering or the more subtle - curious also the history behind the two different ones

thank you
View attachment 21841 View attachment 21842 View attachment 21843

The upper photographs are from a European vehicle.

While there is not enough detail to determine the colour, this is from a 1983 US sales brochure that shows the North American decal shape.
The placement of the words is quite different to that of the European model.

The decal for 1982 was identical as were both US and Canadian market cars.

Dale

 

[supraz]

And this is a good as I can find with regards to colour.
This is a 1983 Canadian market car owned by Patrick (speed_racer) in Winnipeg.
This is an original Canadian car that has not been repainted.

speed_racer flickr photo's

I've always loved this car. Patrick, if you still come on the site, please give us a status update!

And the GTS decal on the left side is original and correct for 1982 and 1983 Canadian P-type cars, which were marketed as Celica Supra GTS as compared to L-Type.

Dale

 

[supraz]

What an absolutely gorgeous car! I recall seeing the GTS logo in one of the parts catalogues somewhere, but I don't recall the gold color as an option, although that is definitely gold on the back! Would love to have some close-up photos and measurements of that set on Patrick's car!!!

I love this car too. And Patrick's story on how he wanted it forever is just awesome!
I have a black 1983 that came with these decals, but I decided to remove both of them when the car was brand new. I thought that they would fade and then the paint underneath would be darker than the rest of the car. Probably true, but I sort of wish I had the original decals now.

I went to a local Toyota parts department in Canada recently, and the fellow said that he cannot find the part number or availability of the GTS decal. He suspects that it was a Canadian promotion and were probably sourced in Canada. He says that this was quite common. Once the vehicles were off-loaded from the car carrier vessel at port, local items like this would be stuck in the car and then installed at the dealer.

The Celica had a GTS version, but they were actual plastic badges, so they were not borrowed from the Celicas.

On my black car, the GTS decal was gold as is on Patrick's car. The right-side decal had a black background. As has been mentioned, in 1982 and 1983, all Canadian cars were given a black painted hatch, with the exception of white cars. They were given a white hatch. I cannot recall if white car decals had a black background or not.

Patrick's car looks extremely original. Even the exhaust is generally correct. 1982 and 1983 had single exhaust pipes, rather than the dual pipes on 1984/up.
I feel connected to it. His Great-Aunt who owned the car lived in White Rock, BC, which is extremely close to where I live.

Patricks 83 Celica Supra GTS build

Unfortunately, he replaced the original hatch decals with a replacement billboard hatch, so no measurements or close ups now.

Dale

 

[supraz]

This is the best picture that I have seen of the GTS decal.

This is a car originally from Ontario, Canada in 1983. It was sold to someone in Washington state or Idaho.

www.bringatrailer.com No Reserve: 41k-Kilometer 1983 Toyota Celica Supra GT-S 5-Speed

These pictures are fabulous and from the Bring a Trailer listing in August 2022.
This car is 41,000 km/ 25,500 mile and it is immaculate.

Damn! This is a nice looking car. And the colour combination really exudes Japanese class. Gaudy but subtle.

 

[supraz]

So are these ones with the black hatches (and black painted bumper) the GTS version? Was that special in some way that differs from the other P Types. Just trying to get the info on that black hatch and rear bumper scheme. I always liked it but I can't figure out if it signified something (like this GTS version) or if it was just another color option or....?

In the US, there were actually 2 models of the Celica Supra, the Supra L-Type and 'the other one'. In fact, Toyota never mentioned a P-Type. This came later by owners so they could describe 'the other one' more easily.

In Canada, there was the Supra, and the one with the flares, commonly called the P-Type was called the Celica Supra GTS. The GTS decal was NOT from the Celica GT-S, which came with a plastic GTS badge.

Celica GT-S badge

Canadian Celica Supra GTS Decal

The GTS decal was only used in 1982 and 1983. However, the P-Type was called the Supra GTS in 1984/1985/1986 as well.

I will find a Canadian sales brochure which does mention the GTS model, just to prove that I'm not feeding you a line of hooey!

In both Canada and the US, the 1982 and 1983 cars ALL came with black painted hatches (except for white IIRC) to add a little Japanese style.
At the time, North Americans hated this, so for 1984 and up, the black hatch went away. Now, looking back, I think I like it. The Japanese always liked a little 'surface entertainment', so the 2-colour paint, the body wedges at the the rear to highlight the rear side markers, the add on fiberglass flares were all part of the Mk 2 introduction. Remember, in 1982, this was a jaw-dropping car, from specifications, styling, and performance.

For boring old Toyota, they went a little crazy with this car.

Today, I think these details are a perfect hint of 1980s, a great time to live.

Dale

 

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Here is the 1983 Canadian English Sales Brochure

 

[supraz]

Note: The attachments say 1982, but they should read 1983.

I could be wrong, but I think that this is the brochure Toyota gave me when I bought my car in 1983.
I have a 1984 Brochure that I am pretty sure was given to me by Jocelyn. If I have it backwards and this is the one you sent me, I apologize.
I will try to scan the 1984 in the near future. If it's any good, I will send a copy to Tanya. She has a great collection of brochures from around the world.

The Supra Goddess - Brochures

In the 1983 USDM Brochure, notice that the two models are referred to as 'Supra' and Supra L-Type'

In the 1983 Canadian English Brochure, the two models are referred to as 'Supra' and 'Supra GTS'.
This is sort of backwards compared to the US nomenclature.

And the GTS stands for 'Grand Touring Sports' according to the Canadian Brochure.

Dale.

 

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Well, because of it's placement, it's not the original one. However, being colour on clear backing it's either genuine Toyota or a Torparts replica.
Most others are coloured vinyl cut in the lettering shape, not with clear backing.

 

[supraz]

Now one thing to pick on. The brochure says the GTS can come with the optional digital dash (in Jan.) Wasn’t that just the “L Model?” Just happened to catch that. All the rest sounds like classic “P Type” down to the diff. I wonder if they were planning to make the digital dash an option but then only ended up putting the in the”L’s” for whatever reason

Nope. In Canada, both the Supra and the Supra GTS could be had with the digital dash. This is one of the minor differences between Canadian and US cars.

As a matter of fact, the 1983 Super Red car that I linked to above has a digital dashboard. My wife's 1984 GTS Automatic has the digital dash as well.

My 1983 Supra GTS with analog dash also has a 130 mph speedometer whereas the brochure shows a US model 85 mph speedometer on it. IIRC the USDM cars got the 130 mph speedometer in 1984 and up.

Dale

 

[supraz]

(Dale, an 83 should not be SDR/3F2, it could be SR - Super Red/3D1)

Jocelyn,

Whoops! Right you are.

"The car is finished in Super Red (3D1) with color-coordinated wheel-arch flares and black bodyside moldings."

I should have read the entire article more carefully. That was my mistake, not the original posting.
I corrected the posting.

Dale

 

[supraz]

again way off topic, anyone have video of it in operation other than someone testing for speed on their bench which I have found?

Do you have a link to a video of someone testing the digital speedometer on the bench?
I would love to see how they have set it up.

Dale