For lost Star Wars Toyota Celica, search underway is. | Fox News
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When “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” arrives in theaters in a few weeks, the answers to many of the decades-old mysteries related to the space saga will finally be revealed. But there’s one mystery even director J. J. Abrams doesn’t have the power to solve.
Following the launch of the original film in 1977, Toyota teamed up with 20th Century Fox to give away a “Star Wars Celica” in a sweepstakes. The two-door Liftback GT was customized with bodywork inspired by Toyota’s Formula One pace cars and had the iconic “Star Wars” movie poster airbrushed on its hood, along with images copied from authentic film cells along its sides.
The contest kicked off in September and ran through December, with a winner to be chosen in early 1978. But that winner, if there was one, remains unknown. The company that did the work, Delphi Auto Design of Costa Mesa, Calif., was caught up in a string of drug, kidnapping and murder charges and went out of business shortly after the car was created.
The contest fell off of the radar, too, possibly because the corporations involved wanted to distance themselves from any controversy. The winner’s name wasn’t publicized, and, in those pre-Internet days, didn’t become widely known.
When “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” arrives in theaters in a few weeks, the answers to many of the decades-old mysteries related to the space saga will finally be revealed. But there’s one mystery even director J. J. Abrams doesn’t have the power to solve.
Following the launch of the original film in 1977, Toyota teamed up with 20th Century Fox to give away a “Star Wars Celica” in a sweepstakes. The two-door Liftback GT was customized with bodywork inspired by Toyota’s Formula One pace cars and had the iconic “Star Wars” movie poster airbrushed on its hood, along with images copied from authentic film cells along its sides.
The contest kicked off in September and ran through December, with a winner to be chosen in early 1978. But that winner, if there was one, remains unknown. The company that did the work, Delphi Auto Design of Costa Mesa, Calif., was caught up in a string of drug, kidnapping and murder charges and went out of business shortly after the car was created.
The contest fell off of the radar, too, possibly because the corporations involved wanted to distance themselves from any controversy. The winner’s name wasn’t publicized, and, in those pre-Internet days, didn’t become widely known.
