The seventh-generation Toyota Celica, introduced in September 1999, was unlike any other Celica that preceded it. It was developed with the key phrase, The Reinstatement of the Sports Specialty, which means that Toyota wanted to reflect sports cars of yesteryear, while still possessing modern day technology.

The exterior design was carried out by CALTY, Toyota's design center in Southern California. The look of the new car bordered on radical, highlighted by headlights that were vertically elongated triangles, and...