The Corona was growing steadily since its start as a rather small little thing. But it was also becoming much more comfortable, and ever-more suited to American drivers looking for an alternative. The SR hardtop coupe may have been a fair bit smaller, but undoubtedly appealed to many Americans that might otherwise have gone for a rather large and heavy American mid-sized car, which were getting rather huge at this time. R&T takes a closer look.
SR probably stands for safe&reliable in this particular case.not a bad looking car for 45 years ago.
There are so many early Japanese cars I’ve still never seen. I’m guessing they never sold many in rural Wisconsin to begin with, and since they rusted the way they did, they didn’t stick around very long… (EVERYTHING rusted quickly here, but this era Japanese cars seemed twice as bad.)
So thank you for posting this, I always kinda feel like I missed out, or something on many interesting vehicles.
They sold, and rusted, in the northeast. Most survivors seem to be on the west coast.
Fascinating to see how hard Toyota worked to always improve product quality, and achieve their deserved high status. Paul has documented this so well.
Given their reputation for planning and engineering, it would be difficult to imagine Toyota rushing a huge and critical project like the GM X-cars to market. GM ultimately using their customers as product testers.
” it would be difficult to imagine Toyota rushing a huge and critical project like the GM X-cars to market. ”
In regards to FWD, they did not. Nissan, their largest competitor, had the transverse FWD Cherry on sale by 1970 (granted, much work was started by the acquired Prince brand, who initiated that idea). They weren’t bad by any means, but Nissan was cautious to spread that tech for many years into their larger Sunny/Stanza lines (1981).
Toyota was insanely cautious in regards to FWD; it wasn’t until late 1978 did the Corolla Tercel (JDM Corsa as well) hit the market, but with a longitudinally placed four. No surprise here, they had few vices. Transverse FWD fours started with the JDM Camry in 1982, then spread like wildfire within most of the lineup thereafter. Toyota no doubt watched where the market was headed, and took their time developing FWD platforms accordingly, most lasting several generations well into the 1990’s.
For that matter, the original Tercel and Camry were Japan-only for their first year.
Funny, I haven’t seen this generation Corona since…I can’t recall. A quite popular car here in north Florida back in the 70s. A much nicer profile, to my liking, than it’s sibling Corolla of that vintage. Always amazed by some of the small features the Japanese added to their cars, which could easily have been rejected by corporate bean counters. Remote release fuel filler doors, remote release trunk lids, fold-down rear seats, reclining buckets, integrated tow hooks, the list could go on. Inexpensive features that added more value than cost. Looking back, these cars’ mechanicals were bulletproof, at least in comparison to their American counterparts, and they seemed to last forever. However, as I said starting off, I haven’t seen a mid-70s Corona in years, and they’re hardly collectible; yet I do see, on a regular occasionality, numerous American models, and a fair amount of Europeans, still plying the roads. As much as the Rising Sun ate Detroit’s lunch back then, tell me: who’s old metal is still kicking?
The reason you still see a number of American cars from this vintage is because almost certainly they were bought by an older buyer and then eventually stored away. Buyers like that didn’t generally buy Toyotas back then; they were bought by younger folks who racked up lots of miles on them commuting on the freeways.
Your observation does not reflect on these RWD Corona’s durability: there’s still a few on the streets here, and they used to be quite common until recently. Except for their susceptibility to rust in the Rust Belt, they were very durable. But they never had the appeal for typical old car collectors, but I can assure you there are also old Toyota collectors on the West Coast, and if they came across a nice one of these, it would be hot stuff. And there are plenty of old Toyotas that are already in collector’s hands.
Do you live in the Midwest by chance?
Yes, there are Toyota collectors (and those of other Japanese makes) centered on the West Coast. There’s a website called Japanese Nostalgic Car
http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/
for fans of vintage Nipponese metal. I also believe that there are annual classic Japanese car shows in SoCal, there’s one held in Long Beach.
You’ll still see some of these on the Left Coast (four for sale in Portland currently), but rust was a huge issue with these 70’s Toyotas. I think they rusted out before they wore out, frankly. Great car, great value at the time.
Although I was voraciously reading Road & Track back then, and probably even had that issue, I’ve since forgotten just how early Toyota starting fitting 5 speeds … even though this was not yet an SR5. In many ways, with its 70 series tires, 5 speed etc, this car does seem sporty, but in 1974 my peers and I didn’t pay much attention to Toyota’s, and certainly not Coronas. It was Datsun 510 (Bluebird) all the way. However, despite the 510’s sportier image, and IRS, the 510 needed mods to reveal its true potential, and Datsun didn’t offer any sporty configurations of their sedans in the US (even 2 door) until the Sentra SE-R over a decade later. The 1600 Corolla, and it’s SR5 and later GTS variants, and then of course the Civic Si, were the only small Japanese performance cars for a long time, except for the Mazda rotaries and some 2.6 liter Colt variants like the Fire Arrow.
Nice looking car. Solid, safe and sporty is fine with me. Doesn’t have to be a road burner as long as it’s reliable. .
I don’t recall if Toyota started the design trend of chrome bumpers with plastic end caps, but the look lasted well into the 80s. I didn’t mind it.
My father’s younger sister and her husband had one of these. I remember riding in it many times; it gave a feel much different than anything I was accustomed to. I never saw another one during the entire time they owned it and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen another in the metal.
It was reliable as the sunrise but it rusted like crazy. I’ve been intrigued with them since experiencing one at such a young age.
From the comments, it seems like these were rare if not unknown in the Midwest, but were certainly common out here in California. But even here they disappeared quickly … whether from coastal rust, difficulty repairing the complex emission-controlled ignitions and carburetor, or just because they were quickly obsoleted by FWD, fuel injection, etc, I don’t know.
RWD Coronas were quite common here until just the last few years. I’ve shot and posted numerous ones here over the years. There’s still a couple around; I posted a wagon just a week or two ago.
But that’s Eugene … a whole ‘nother universe. I don’t think I’ve seen one in the Bay Area for a while. I did see this MkII Corona last week at a Cars & Coffee event in Scott’s Valley, California.
Very rare cars here the hardtop wasnt sold here in any numbers if at all and even the fourdoor versions and wagons have all but disappeared our six monthly inspections and anal rust regulations saw them off.
I had a ’73 Datsun 610 and the smog controls made this the slowest car I have ever owned. So bad that horsepower wasn’t advertised, probably about 75. No surprise this test wasn’t impressed.
When I first saw these cars, my dad was in the process of buying his base 1974 Corolla 1600. So base it was rubber mats and no arm rests.
What really surprised me about the up market Toyotas of 1974 was how well built they were, how good the materials were and how many features were included in the cars. Things like proper rear window defrosters were standard in every Toyota in 1974. I had never seen one up to this time.
Ditto on the testers comments about how well appointed the interiors were. I learn to drive with a Datsun 120Y back in the 70s and it had, as standard, items that were charged as extras on British cars. Like radios, demisters, heaters; even carpets! No wonder the Japanese floored the UK brands.
Kind of like an early version of the Solara (though neither model is available anymore)?
I got a kick out of the “Battery Fluid Level Detector” in the last photo on the 2nd page…little did they know that individual battery caps would go away on later times (though you still see expensive restored cars with period reproduction batteries that still have the caps)…wonder what to do with the detector after that, since the form factor no longer would screw into the top of the battery. I wonder how often people even check their battery fluid levels nowdays (I still do, but I’m a bit anal about checking fluid levels, not to mention pretty old fashioned in my car maintenance habits.
Interesting that the passenger compartment is still seperated from the trunk when the rear seat is folded down.
Perhaps they did it that way for structural reasons? I remember the pass-through rear seats being pretty novel when they first appeared. Not to mention the ski-sack rear armrests. Luxury!
These Coronas are rarish, but when they were new I would guess the 2 door models (there was a 2 sedan and hardtop) were the super rare models. Toyota sold the Corolla, Corona, Celica and Carina 2 doors in a very crowded price range, so I would think these Coronas had a bit of a struggle against the cheaper Toyota 2 doors. I do very rarely see the 4 door sedans and wagons on Craigslist, the 2 doors? Never.
When these were new, I was quite impressed by the many favorable reviews these Coronas received (Car&Driver also gave this car a very favorable review), but, I was still in my “anti-Asian car phase. I believed all the bad press Japanese cars were getting at the time, as well as the good press.
Having driven a late 70s Celica, these should be a pretty good car to drive, too.
Besides a family friend of my dad buying TWO Datsun B210s for his daughters, I had little exposure to Japanese brands in the early ’70s despite being on the Connecticut coast. Then in 1974 I worked as a driver for our little hamlet’s florist – he had a brand new Corona wagon – including faux wood on the sides. I was highly impressed with how tightly it was constructed and how well it drove. It served them well for the 2 years they remained open.
I really like this car. The hardtop and 2 door sedan were never sold in Oz, but tons of 4 door sedans and wagons were. The SR badge for these cars in Japan was reserved for the most powerful model in the range just below the GT Twin cam version.
I actually owned one of these from ’86 to ’94. It was the first car I bought with my own money, as a starving student!
As of ’87 the previous owner already had replaced the fenders with fibreglass ones. By ’90 I had replaced the steel that they hung on! Every spring there was a ritual of putting new Bondo into the rear wheel wells.
The problem with the ESP was that it forced you to use Toyota replacement parts, otherwise it would indicate a fault. Most of the bulbs got removed!
I will agree that it was mechanically rock solid, went 200,000 km+ on its first clutch, only had to pull over to the roadside once when some water got into the ignition somewhere, a little WD-40 made a temporary fix.
It was still quite drive-able, but functioning as my backup ride, when somebody broke into it for the stereo and the insurance wrote it off.
Don’t recall this model of Corona – I was only au fait with the 4-door sedans and estates. Interesting that “SR” was the top designation then and now it’s entry level for Toyota’s US-spec pickups and SUVs.