We often harp on Toyota for not doing much to celebrate it’s 50th birthday here in the US of A, but we kid out of love. Also out of the realization that it’s possible to do even less (we’re lookin’ at you, Nissan). That’s why it’s so refreshing to see the Big T succumb to the nostalgia and reflect upon its adolescence.
On the official Toyota Open Road Blog recently, the automaker took a look back on some of its past brochures to check the features that were trumpeted on those marketing materials. Amusement ensues.
Some of them fall into the “seemed like a good idea at the time category” like the 1963 Toyopet Tiara’s old school linear speedo and turn sig switch on the steering wheel. Others remind you just how sparse these cars were and what kind of features we expect to come standard today. For instance, the 1965 Corona touted its sun visors, inside rear-view mirror, the fact that every door had an armrest, and front seat-belt anchors. The belts themselves were optional, however.
The thing we found most surprising though is that Toyota USA actually kept old brochures to refer to. Ha! We kid, we kid.
Once in a blue moon, something comes along that makes you want to sell your organs to black marketeers. In 2007, we saw a 1966 Toyota Corona sedan with 8700 original miles sell at auction for $16,740.
Now, a similarly mint mint green 1969 two-door model is on eBay with only 28,699 original miles. According to the seller, it’s always avoided inclement weather, which is quite the task considering it’s from New York. The two-door models are rarer and sleeker than the sedans, and this light green color suits the period perfectly. It was listed before, but it looks like the winner backed out. Amazingly, the reserve was met at only $5500. A bargain! Anyone want to buy a kidney?
One of our readers needs to get this, right now, and share the wealth. It’s a huge collection of NOS (new old stock) 1960s to early 80s Toyota parts from a closed dealership. The seller says it consists of a little bit of everything for old Corollas, Crowns, Land Cruisers, Starlets, Coronas, Carinas, Hiluxes and Cressidas. The actual mountain of parts includes taillights, headlights, exhausts, service manuals, relays, switches, trim, and sheetmetal. In other words, all the hard to get stuff. For anyone who has ever tried to restore an old car, you know this is a once in a lifetime chance. We already know we’ll be kicking ourselves in the future for passing on this opportunity. Someone buy this, please!
The interior of this 1982 Toyota Lite Ace makes us wish we were kids again. Why? Because it has bunk beds! The lower level is formed by folding the rear seats flat, while the upper bed is suspended from the high roof and rests on the front seat backs. This reminds us of the treehouse we would have built if building a treehouse hadn’t been, you know, hard.
Stay tuned afterwards for a bonus commercial featuring Roger Moore in a Corona, possibly with the missile launcher behind headlight option.
Seriously, it’s not funny anymore. The west coast has so many old cars cruising around that at this point we think they’re just mocking us. Here’s a gallery of random roadcraft that just happened to cross our paths during a period of three or four days during our recent coverage of Motoring J Style and the Monterey Historics. This Corona wagon belongs to Alvin from the Back in Da Dayz crew, who we’ll be introducing in greater depth in a future piece.
Other gems include a two-tone Celica, a green Z, and during breezy nighttime prowls, a Subaru Brat and an dead mint Honda Accord hatchback, which we really wish we got a better shot of.
West coast, quit rubbing salt in the wound. East coast, quit rubbing salt in the roads.
We happened upon this cool classic car dealership in Northern Maryland one day. Although it was the metallic yellow Corvette Stingray and bright orange ‘67 Camaro that first caught our eye as we sped by, once we pulled a U and took a closer look at the lot, we noticed a Corona 1900 sedan with about 40,000 original miles on the clock hidden in the back. Whereas the 1969 Camaro Z/28 in the showroom (LeMans Blue with White stripes, all stock and matching numbers) commanded $45,000, the same-era little red Toyota (also all stock with matching numbers) had an asking price of only $5000.
We often harp on Toyota for not doing much to celebrate it’s 50th birthday here in the US of A, but we kid out of love. Also out of the realization that it’s possible to do even less (we’re lookin’ at you, Nissan). That’s why it’s so refreshing to see the Big T succumb to the nostalgia and reflect upon its adolescence.
We happened upon this cool classic car dealership in Northern Maryland one day. Although it was the metallic yellow Corvette Stingray and bright orange ‘67 Camaro that first caught our eye as we sped by, once we pulled a U and took a closer look at the lot, we noticed a Corona 1900 sedan with about 40,000 original miles on the clock hidden in the back. Whereas the 1969 Camaro Z/28 in the showroom (LeMans Blue with White stripes, all stock and matching numbers) commanded $45,000, the same-era little red Toyota (also all stock with matching numbers) had an asking price of only $5000.