A couple of months ago we told you about a 1958 Toyopet Crown with a very unique history, having served as one of the cars of the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco, that sold for a record. $22,322. It’s one of the first Japanese cars imported to the US and its sudden appearance in the marketplace caught many by surprise. The winning bidder has now been revealed. (more…)

Loyal JNCers will know that Toyopet Crown came ashore in 1957, making it the first Toyota and first Japanese car to arrive in the US. If not, then you need to read our premiere issue, which looks back at the early days of Toyota USA, along with its trials and tribulations.

Fresh off the boat in Long Beach, the car received a small and rather unremarkable ceremony before being promptly whisked to the Los Angeles DMV by Toyota execs. After it was registered, this historic photo to the right was taken.

But apparently, if you zoom in for a closer look at the license plate, you can see that it actually reads “‘56″ in the upper right corner. So what gives?

(more…)

We held off talking about this car because we heard that some JNCers were considering bidding on this baby. But now the auction is over and if its description is correct, this is one of the earliest examples of any Toyota - or any Japanese car, period - to exist in the US. It’s a 1958 Toyopet Crown used by the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco to demonstrate their home country’s top-of-the-line auto. After putting just 28,698 miles on the car, the consulate signed over to the title to the current seller in 1964 and it has sat in a garage since. This is truly an amazing piece of Japanese automotive history, and the selling price of $22,322 definitely reflects that. Let’s hope that the owner will restore it to the rightful condition it deserves. Thanks for the tip, Toyotageek.

[eBay]

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!

[Source: eBay]

Today, Toyota unveiled the 13th generation Toyota Crown in Japan. It doesn’t look much different from the 12th generation Crown, but it looks a helluva lot different from the first generation Crown from 1955. There aren’t many models in the world that can boast such a long continuous run. Seriously, it’s even outlasted its original marque, Toyopet. Though it’s no longer the king in Toyota’s lineup, having been displaced by Centuries, Celsiors and Lexuses, it remains what it’s always been, a stylish luxury car that is to Tokyo what a pickup truck is to Texas. And most importantly, it’s still RWD. Available engines are all V6s, with sizes ranging from 2.5 to 3.5. Symbolic of our times, a hybrid version is available with the 3.5L motor.

[Toyota Japan]

During our recent journey to Japan, there were plenty of new cars to drool over too. We snapped a ton of photos, but since this is Japanese Nostalgic Car, we gave the photos to our friends at Jalopnik. This Toyota Century is pretty much the most nostalgic of the bunch, since even though it’s a 2008 (we think) model, it looks, for all intents and purposes, identical to the 2007, 2006, 2005, and 2004… all the way back to 1967 versions. Evolved from the 1965 Toyota Crown Eight, it stayed that way for 30 years until 1997, when Toyota shoehorned an exclusive V12 into it. For more check out Dan’s photos and Ben’s quote in the Jalopnik post.

And now for your viewing pleasure as you snuggle in to watch the Super Bowl, our friends at Mooneyes sent us a photo from Yokohama, where snow has covered three custom Toyota Crowns and a Probox.