Here’s something we wish we saw more of in the States — a vintage Japanese race car with well-documented motorsports provenance. According to the auction, this TE27 Toyota Corolla Levin is one of three imported to New Zealand in 1973 to compete in the Heatway Rally. It had old school work done to its valvetrain and bottom end and seems to have retained many of its period mods, like twin 45 Dellorto carbs. And since it came directly from Japan, that motor is a 2T-G.
The auction lists a bunch of impressive sounding events — “1st New Zealand Historic Saloon Class Final national race meeting at Baypark Raceway, April 1975 Race 21, Intermarque Classics, 1st place of 20 cars” — but we have no clue as to their significance. Any kiwis care to enlighten? The car underwent a four-year restoration in 1989 and seems to have been thoroughly documented by various New Zealand historic and motorsports clubs.
Coupled with the the Aussie 1968 Toyota 1600GT that we fell in love with earlier this year, we are reminded that the US sorely lacks respect for cars like this. Few appear to have been restored, kept or documented. Even one of the original 1979 IMSA RX-7s — which kicked off one of the longest streaks of victory in US road race history — is reportedly decaying in a shed somewhere.
The auction house expects to fetch AUD $38,000 to $48,000 for this car (USD $39,000 to $50,000). The auction will be held October 19 and the Lot Number is 89.
Hat tip to Terry Y.
*Raises hand* Take mine!
what a beauty!! looks really mint for a old rally car 🙂
Too bad any battle scars the car got has been erased by the restore.
I take it you guys at JNC have stumbled on mr. Kari Mäkelä and his company MAT that does amazing work restoring classic rally cars and other exotic cars here in Finland before?
Take a look at http://www.mat.fi under ‘Projects’. They have done amazing work on two original TTE Group B rally cars, TA64 Celica.
Yes, he is a hero of ours! That kind of respect for an old rally car is heartwarming.
yip your bang on with it being one of there te27s imported in the 70s to compete in the heatway rally, in the kiwi toyota circles the three cars are knowin as the GG4* cars due to there registration GG42 ( the one in your link ) and GG43 are the only survivors, the other one GG41 is long gone, sadly, and is nothing more than a rotting shell, due to a rather big crash, and its wear abouts are unkpowin, all though there was a pic of the shell floating around a wee while ago, the great thing about both GG42 and GG43 is that they still retain the factory Team toyota rally colours from whne they raced, fantastic cars and have to be seen to be appractated, GG42 is basied in my home town of hamilton NZ and one of my good mates services it, I have a picture of both cars together if you would like it… also GG42 has a habit of poping up at local car club events the owner isnt afarid of showing it the red
Thanks for giving us Yanks a lesson on kiwi history, mate! You bet we would like to see pics of the 2 cars together. Email or post a link!
what is you email and i will send it through, its not the best quality and i can not take credit for the pic!
feedback at japanesenostalgiccar.com. Thanks!
done, again the pic isnt the greatest, i can send more if you want, rgds
That owner was my grandfather Clive
You guys know your JDM rally cars. Have any of you seen any video of Hannu Mikkola driving his TE27 to win the 1000 Lakes Rally (Finland) in 1975?
Here’s another vintage Toyota race car for sale in Australia at the moment. Just spotted it in the classifieds today. I wish I had the money for it…
Here’s another vintage Toyota race car for sale in Australia at the moment. Just spotted it in the classifieds today. I wish I had the money for it… my appologies in advance for the longest URL ever………
http://www.justauto.com.au/justcars/buy_and_sell/for_sale/87b3a094-b673-4e8a-9abd-93600184478e?search=advanced&parent_page=%2Fjustcars%2F&looking_for=For+Sale&search_category=&search_region=&keywords=Keywords&search_type_make=CTOY&search_type_model=&search_type_year=&search_type_series=&search_details_lowest_price=&search_details_highest_price=&search_details_lowest_mileage=&search_details_highest_mileage=&search_details_transmission=&search_show_ads_from=all&search_location_state=&item_position=11
Did the car sell??? If not, anyone know who I can contact?
My grandad Clive Stuart Robertson actually owned and raced that car in the livery seen in the picture and was sponsored by Waikato Toyota. Heck I even have his racing uniform used. I absolutely loved that car to death when I was little and still love it today at 14. Both my grandad and I really miss that car and enjoyed all the countless trophies and placings won. It was one of only 3 te27 Levins imported to New Zealand for the heat way rally where this car ended up after i don’t know but my grandfather purchased it in 1989 and it was in a terrible state. After 4 years of cursing, blood, sweat and tears however the car was restored, painted, and decked out to look as close to the original rally car as possible was the original interior upholstery and roll bar. It raced under many numbers over the years such as 363 etc. but the number that resonates extremely close to my heart is 12 as seen above I watched and rode in many of those races and I would boo every other car ( much to my family disappointing me by telling me to stop) but when 12 came roaring past I scream3d at the top of my lungs “go grandad”. I was quite surprised to learn last week that the levin was only a 4 cylinder but it beat and won against several v8 mustangs. In 2012 however my family moved to Australia and we wanted to take the levin with us but understanding that it was a part of NZ motorsports history we decided it was best it was left where it truly belongs. I was and still am so proud of this car and to the owner of her today I issue this warning. Take good care of it because I I’m coming for that car to have it where it truly belongs with me and my grandpa at the wheel
Hello. And Bye.