From the Vaults: 1979 Toyota Supra Commercial

While there’s no question that the Toyota Celica Supra has a huge following, and gearheads everywhere are waiting with bated breath for Toyota to reboot the nameplate with a 21st century version. The Supra has become one of the great tuner cars of all time, with some people pushing modded Supras to times under 9 seconds on the drag strip. So it’s kind of fun to look back at the early days of the Celica Supra, when it was first announced to the public.

In this commercial from 1979, Toyota positions the car as being somewhere between a luxurious Rolls-Royce and a powerful F1 racer. While we’re not too sure the Supra had either of these in its DNA, it was still a worthwhile car on its own merits. Unsurprisingly, the balance between luxury and sport continues to be a popular marketing message for car makers to this date.

While the last generation Supra was killed off by Toyota in 2002, there’s rampant speculation that the recently shown Toyota FT-1 will serve as the basis for the Supra’s reboot, with Toyota renewing the Supra trademark this past February adding further fuel to the fire.