Shovel Nose Twin Cam Love - Where Is It?

Kuroneko · **Posted:** Sat Apr 07, 2012 5:34 am

In contemplating a Japanese classic car purchase, I've looked at a number of RT55s.

My uncle used to run a Toyota dealership, and slipped my mum a rather tasty AMI-built '67 four-door. In white, it ran forever until retired for the first lift-back Corolla in pasty yellow. So I've always had a fondness for their unique style.

Then the JDM non-TKDed two-door coupe, with their blue-tinted glass, were the pick of the pack. Before I deviated into Porsche ownership, I contemplated a late model twin-cammed engine transplant into the early shovel nose two-door body. Not living in Japan at the time, I wasn't aware of the native twin-cammed RT55.

I like the badge symmetry between the 2000GT and 1600GT. But now, I see numerous RT55 1600 twin-cams, with essentially the same Yamaha designed & built twin-cam head from the 2000GT installed. I suppose in a rather less sexy body, but the price difference between the 2000GT and the Corona is just amazing. The 2000GT essentially being in the stratosphere price-wise, but Corona with their lowly pedestrian looks are close to zero - typically no more than 2 million yen, and some as low as a million...

Nice-ish interior with that meter set, I contemplated a pale yellow version, matte-black hood, and Hako-style GT-R rear flares over black Watanabe. Will their day come, or will they always be un-loved and cheaper than cheap?

This one sat for many years off Inokashira-dori in Shibuya, unloved until it was carted away hopefully for a better life...

coronaowner · **Posted:** Tue Apr 10, 2012 4:24 am

Wow,
Well no replies to this topic so far that surprises me, As an RT55 owner i for one know how rare these cars really are, just try finding parts for one.
Even in japan how often do they come up for sale... ?
With apparently only 2225 of these built over an 18 month period it makes one wonder why they are not more sought after.
Prior to bying mine one thing i found was that very few people actually knew of the RT55 with the twin cam engine, even people that were big fans of the RT40 / 50 series had not heard of the RT55
version. I will collect anything relating to the RT55 that i can get,
I have a collection of nostalgic hero magazines i get from japan with RT55 articals, some date back to 1993 where in the classifieds there was an RT55 for sale at 2.9 million yen.
So it supprises me that an excellent example would only fetch 2.0 million yen today.
These cars were the first twin cam engines built by yamaha, as an experimental engine originaly which also the engine that was the inspiration for the 2000gt twin cam.
would love to hear from other 1600gt owners also if there are any here.
keep me updated if you do get the corona, for such are rare car that does attract a lot of attention
in my opion they are well worth the money ..... very very rare cars indeed.
Cheers, Andrew.

Toyot4 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 10, 2012 1:44 pm

Here is mine. Not sure of the engine to put in it yet. Ill get some better pictures of the outside when i get a chance.

Kuroneko · **Posted:** Wed Apr 11, 2012 4:13 am

coronaowner wrote:

Even in japan how often do they come up for sale... ?

Well, there's generally one or two for sale in Japan at any given time. Here's an over-priced one in that glorious yellow, just begging for some rear flares...

That they only ever found an outlet in either Japan or Australia would I guess limit their appeal & exposure. Drop the IRS and you've got a machine comparable - at least in concept - to the GT-R Skyline of the similar period, and again the price differential is enormous! Perhaps these will slowly escalate in price as real GT-Rs exceed ten million yen, and 2000GTs are 25 million yen.

A minty twin-cam shovel nose at less than 2 million looks pretty good! Plus, that's one damn unique body style with the benefit of some low cost parts like lenses and stuff that is hard to get on other semi-exotics. Neko.

Rt105Bong · **Posted:** Sun Apr 15, 2012 7:47 pm

wow! really nice. Wish they made it here in the U.S. What type of twin cam motor is it? 2tg/18rg? Head look different from the tg n rg that I have? Really like the cluster guages.

I too have two rt projects but both are in the back burner for now. I was thinking of making one a DD and the other one a track car with flares. Sort of a molded in flares like ford escort MK1 or alfa romeo guila gt4 cars. (been pondering about it actually as to what it would look like.

Anyway, would like to hear more about this topic.

here's my trio:
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j96/b ... D46C2F.jpg

silverra23 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 16, 2012 3:21 pm

I love the two door Corona's.. a gorgeous shape!

There are only a few here in Australia, so they are a rare sighting on our roads. The last All Japanese show I went to had this beauty though:

Kuroneko · **Posted:** Mon Apr 16, 2012 4:19 pm

Not sure about the wheels (and how did I know the first shot was taken in Australia?), but that's one tasty little car. Gorgeous!

By the way, I think the plural of Corona is either just Corona, or perhaps Coronas. Like Celica, Crown, etc. See ya! Neko.

UtahSleeper · **Posted:** Mon Apr 16, 2012 4:47 pm

I love the styling of the Corona's and hope to get one..................but I dont care too much whether it's 2 door or 4 door, both are sexy and very close lines.

Chino160 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 16, 2012 9:03 pm

This is the closest I've got to owning a 1600 GT my 4 speed 1969 RT 2 door coupe. This pic was just a couple of years ago in Brooklyn, NYC sitting on borrowed 14" Hayashis. I should've kept it

robakun · **Posted:** Mon Apr 16, 2012 9:58 pm

OK I will bite and post pics of my ride again...

closest you can get to a Corona 2000GT in the USA. Notice the 1600 GT grille emblem?

coronaowner · **Posted:** Tue Apr 17, 2012 5:40 am

Hey Robakun,

So how did you manage to score an RT55 GT grille badge....?
I would love to post some pics of my shovel nose rona's including my 1600gt but for some reason i can no longer post pics here.... bugger.
Love the corona style, keep em rollin.... :lol:

robakun · **Posted:** Tue Apr 17, 2012 1:14 pm

I have connections in Japan.... I also have the fender louvers NOS too ready to be installed some day...

Stevester · **Posted:** Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:19 am

robakun wrote:

OK I will bite and post pics of my ride again...

closest you can get to a Corona 2000GT in the USA. Notice the 1600 GT grille emblem?

heh heh. I was hoping/waiting to see your response...

badusmaximus · **Posted:** Fri Apr 20, 2012 5:44 am

neat piece of obscure toyota! is that the 2t-g?

ToyGuy · **Posted:** Tue May 01, 2012 6:13 pm

Love the period picture.

Thank you.

Kuroneko · **Posted:** Mon May 07, 2012 5:28 pm

ToyGuy wrote:

Love the period picture. Thank you.

Thanks! Not period taken though, just a period camera! Neko.

jdm_master · **Posted:** Wed May 09, 2012 12:47 pm

Rt105Bong wrote:

wow! really nice. Wish they made it here in the U.S. What type of twin cam motor is it? 2tg/18rg? Head look different from the tg n rg that I have? Really like the cluster guages.

I too have two rt projects but both are in the back burner for now. I was thinking of making one a DD and the other one a track car with flares. Sort of a molded in flares like ford escort MK1 or alfa romeo guila gt4 cars. (been pondering about it actually as to what it would look like.

Anyway, would like to hear more about this topic.

here's my trio:
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j96/b ... D46C2F.jpg

Its a 9R engine bro!

Coronawitlime · **Posted:** Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:18 pm

I got some twin cam love brewing in my shed at home!!!1

Hahahah check the youtube links below for the beast running.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcbLZMcB ... ata_player

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMLEJVoE ... ata_player

and check my build thread

ZammoTheChoppa · **Posted:** Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:28 pm

HAHAHA i was just gunna post links to toymods for shovelnose twincam luvin no need now

Shovel Nose Twin Cam Love - Where Is It?

Who is online