A funny thing happens to a Toyota...

A funny thing happens to a Toyota Celica GT on its way to a Japanese consumer. Partially built, right-hand drive Celicas are shipped from Japan to ASC Inc.’s $5-million plant in Rancho Dominguez. There, convertible tops are added to the vehicles.

Robert A. Best, president of planning, systems and business development at Toyota Motor Sales USA, claims that the convertible export program is “part of our continuing effort to increase the sale of American-made products to Japan.”

ASC, however, is turning out only 100 such vehicles per month for Toyota to ship back to Japan. The company began adding convertible tops to left-hand drive Toyotas sold in the United States in 1984.