Category Archives: toyota
Question of the Week: What 1987 car is the next classic?
It’s 2012 and that means another new model year has made it into the ranks of “classic.” The rolling 25 year cutoff for vehicles eligible for historic license plates and classic car insurance is now at the year of Iran-Contra, … Continue reading
Posted in Question of the Week, toyota
Tagged all-trac, celica, gt-four, long beach grand prix, pace car, Question of the Week, safety car, st165, toyota
31 Comments
Friday Video: Gene Hackman, Toyota Celica racer
The most famous celebrity driver raced under Nissan’s white-red-blue colors, but their main rival had an Oscar-winner of their own flying the red-orange-yellow. Yes, Nissan may have had Newman, but Toyota had Hackman. After competing in the SCCA Formula Ford series … Continue reading
Posted in motorsports, toyota
Tagged 24 hrs of daytona, a40, a60, celica, dan gurney, daytona, Gene Hackman, supra, toyota
8 Comments
Ring in the first day of spring with nostalgics and sakura
Not only is today the first day of spring, but it’s also the opening of the 100th National Cherry Blossom Festival. A century ago the mayor of Tokyo gifted 3,000 sakura trees to our nation’s capital as a sign of … Continue reading
Posted in mazda, mitsubishi, nissan, toyota
Tagged 240z, 260z, 280z, crown, datsun, fairlady z, galant, gto, mazda, mitsubishi, ms90, nissan, s30, s90, sakura, t2000, toyota, wangan midnight
7 Comments
Friday Video: Aleks Efremov’s Cressida Wagon
MX72 love emanates round these parts like rays of a dying sun. But with supplies of Cressida wagons dwindling on American roads, we have few opportunities to show our affection. That’s why we were fortunate to find this awesomely retro video … Continue reading
Posted in Friday Video, toyota, wagons
Tagged cressida, Friday Video, mx72, toyota, wagon, x70
17 Comments
Toyota’s awesome 2012 Geneva Motor Show display
What’s happening right now is the Geneva Motor Show, traditionally the unveiling venue for six-figure European exotics. To stand out ToMoCo had to do something special, and we’d say a pair of gleaming white RWD GT coupes fits the bill. … Continue reading
Kidney, Anyone? 35,000-mile 1972 Toyota RT90 Corona Coupe
Ben says the RT90 Corona Coupe is ultra rare. However, I’ve found him about three to four examples floating on the lists of craig. This black-on-red ’72 is similar if not identical to the one owned by the Toyota USA … Continue reading
Aussie Rally Champion Hoons Rebuilt RA40 Celica Rally Car
Neal Bates is a four-time Australian Rally Championship winner, long associated with Celica GT-Fours and AWD Corollas that we didn’t get here in the states. Though retired, Bates spent the last 18 months building a replica RA40 Celica rally car inspired … Continue reading
Posted in motorsports, toyota
Tagged celica, neal bates, ove andersson, ra40, rally, toyota, wrc
8 Comments
Automobile realizes old Japanese cars are pretty cool after all
Well lookee here. Automobile, long the bastion of if-it-ain’t-Euro-it’s-crap has suddenly discovered the awesomeness of classic Japanese sports cars. Are we in the bizarro world? Their March 2012 issue even manages to review four cars — Honda S800, Mazda Cosmo Sport, … Continue reading
Grand Touring: Forgotten steel tempts rust in Aichi Prefecture
A few weekends ago, we were again exploring some outlaying areas outside of Nagoya, and in the middle of the rice fields was a small mechanic who had amazed a sizable collection of varied old Japanese cars. As distressing as … Continue reading
Friday Video: The Datsuns of New Zealand’s Shellsport Series
There’s an island nation halfway around the world where Sunnys and Starlets were regularly raced in a premier racing series back in the late 1970s. Fans flocked to see these small-displacement machines battle it out, and the cars achieved such … Continue reading
Posted in motorsports, nissan, toyota
Tagged 910, b110, b310, bluebird, cherry, datsun, new zealand, shellsport, starlet, sunny, toyota
16 Comments
Kidney, Anyone? 1984 Toyota FJ43 Land Cruiser for nearly $70,000
The FJ43 Toyota Land Cruiser was sold, at least in our hemisphere, in South America. The Bandeirante, as it was called by locals, split the difference between the FJ40 (90 inch) and the long-chassis FJ45 (105 inch) with a 96-inch wheelbase … Continue reading
The Vintage Japanese “OK” Hand Logo Explained
Few things in life are cooler than vintage racing liveries. The colors, the typefaces, and the long-extinct corporate logos (of often just-as-extinct corporations) capture a moment in time that can never be replicated again. Add to that the rawness of … Continue reading
Friday Video: Dekotora Chase!
The 1996 film Super-Woman was not in fact about an ultra-strong female hero, but a cashier who uncovers shady dealings at a rival supermarket chain. The Japanese love of abbreviation strikes again! The movie would be altogether unremarkable except for a … Continue reading
Kidney, Anyone? Carroll Shelby’s Toyota 2000GT #00001 for $1.7 million
Let’s face it. The Japanese offerings at the recent Barrett-Jackson auction were pretty middling. Z-cars and FJ40s restored to new reaches for the definition of “stock” aren’t going to wow anyone who’s been hanging out at JCCS. Well, what do you … Continue reading
