Forty years is an instant and an eternity; so much changes, and yet somethings hardly change at all. One minute I’m bopping carefree down an Iowa country road with a girlfriend in a baby-blue ’71 Mark II, our long hair blowin’ in the warm wind. Today, we exchange e-mails half-way around the globe about our grown kids and frail parents. And although we’re obviously older, hopefully wiser, grayer, and not as nimble anymore, our personalities are fundamentally the same. That’s the constant we instantly recognize and love in family and old friends, even if the packaging changes a bit over time. Applies to some cars too, especially this Toyota.
In car time, forty years really is an eternity, unless you’re Morgan. So many brands have come and gone, along with their positioning in the market place. One year it’s performance, the next it’s fuel economy, or luxury, or… even Mercedes seems like a different company now. But there are a few exceptions, and it’s hard for me to think of a more consistent company than Toyota, especially with its mid-sized cars like this Mark II, the spiritual predecessor to today’s Camry. And you wonder why folks my age so readily keep buying them? We recognize their constant qualities, just like an old friend or family member, even if they are bigger and softer now.
Even the theme in the advertising is familiar: well, not the part about the lighter being concealed behind a panel, although that is a Toyota-ish type of attention to detail. But it’s all about how quiet the engine is, and how comfortable the cabin is: “It’s roomy without being big. Luxurious without being expensive. And economical without being noisy…TOYOTA, we’re quality oriented.” Pretty much sums up the company and its bread-and-butter sedans.
Toyota conquered the US market with those values and its sedans. The first big seller was the Corona, which was quite a small car from today’s vantage point. The Corona started to really sell in the last years of the sixties, and in 1968 was augmented by the then-tiny Corolla. The Corona Mark II, or later just Mark II, was a slightly longer, wider and more upscale version of the pretty plain-Jane Corona, and appeared hereabouts in ’68 or ’69. It signaled that Toyota was not just going to be an economy car company forever.
It featured a brand new engine, the SOHC 1900 cc 8R, which was praised by the press for its smooth running and even power delivery. Rated at 108 (gross) hp, it was supposedly fast enough to push the Mark II up to 105 mph. My limited experience in the Mark II never allowed me to confirm that. Her parents split up about then, and the Mark II went off with Daddy.
But the driving experience was classic Toyota: unexciting and uninspiring, yet exuding the self-assured air of quality and Japanese precision. The engine hummed, the manual transmission shifted perfectly, the interior was a very pleasant place to be, the steering and handling were both hum-drum.
A Datsun 510 it was not, but within a few years, Datsun was trying way too hard to turn its sedans into Toyota clones. The Mark II had established itself as Toyota’s first step-up car, a trajectory that would eventually lead to Lexus. Perhaps the Mark II was really the first ES. I bet there’s more than one ES driver who started out with a Mark II.
The gen2 Mark II (X10/X20 Series) was a significantly bigger car, with six cylinder engines. Since the gen2 Crown didn’t sell well here (when was the last time you saw a Crown?), the Mark II became Toyota’s top model (try finding one of those too). The gen3 Mark II was the first to wear the Cressida name in the US, so this car is a direct descendant of that storied Toyota.
I do have Cressidas, so we’ll pick up that thread sometime, as well as the Corona’s too, of which I’ve had the good fortune to find some nice early versions. I’d pretty much given up on finding a Mark II though, and there it suddenly was, looking all the world like a daily driver still, with its original license plate protector. Like running into an old friend from forty years ago, and she’s still wearing the exact same clothes.
Well, don’t look at her skin too closely; time does take a bit of a toll. But the essence is all there, and the memories come flooding back.
That jutting chin,
and a few busy details trying to add a bit of pizazz to a pretty generic body. Toyota styling was neither going to sear your eyeballs nor seduce them. A bit odd to look at the first few times, but then it rather grows on you a bit, or at least doesn’t age badly. Still largely applies, with some exceptions. I happen to think that the current Camry falls in that category.
Well, its been a treat. Lots of old cars make you feel like it really was a long forty years ago; everything about them seems so…different. But this Mark II; it just exudes familiarity. And that’s what we want in old friends, no?
Wonderfully true. ’86 Celica, ’01 Prius, ’10 Prius in my case.
My best friend got a new ’70 Corona much like this one, and was a big evangelist for a brand no one heard of. I on the other hand had to get a Pinto. I badly wanted a Datsun 510 or Corolla SR5, but WWII-vet Dad helped out on the payments so we had to buy American.
Quite a few early Toyota dealers had been Studebaker dealers. Oh what a feeling they must have had.
Odd to see a LHD car with Japanese-spec fender mirrors.
Ok, longest comment ever? Here it goes:
My friend had a Carona wagon in bright yellow that we drove from Oklahoma to the Northwest Territories in Canada. We were in college and thought that driving up to Alaska to work the summer in fish production would be a great idea. So we took the Carona and our friends took their Lumina and a new Nissan 2wd pickup with a canopy pulling a tent trailer. Along the way we had to stop in Denver and then we stopped in Oregon.
While in Oregon I was told that I should give the car a tune up because I knew more about cars than anyone. I didn’t know anything about cars. But I gave it a shot. In the end I ended up cross threading and stripping all the spark plugs. So I got some super glue and that held them in!
So we set off on the road to Alaska with our freshly glued spark plugs. At some point we decided taking the back way would be shorter. So we got off the Alcan and took the Cassiar highway, at that time almost completely gravel with lots of one lane bridges and big fast semi trucks. In retrospect, it seems like it was not as good of a plan as it looked like it would be on paper.
It was warmish and very dusty on the Cassiar in summer. We were following the other cars in our convoy and my friend was driving. As we came around a long sweeping bend there was a bridge in front of us, my friend proceded blindly into the dust cloud to find that the other cars had come to a near stop on the bridge. He applied the brakes but the metal mesh bridge deck was not conducive to sudden stops. We slammed into the back of the Lumina, which in turn slammed into the back of the tent trailer. We glanced off it and hit the bridge side. Our 1950′s aluminum car top carrier went flying towards the river and then hit a bridge truss and landed in the road. We found latter that our friends had slowed down because of pot holes.
We assessed the damage and found that the Lumina had its back pushed in to the tire so that it would not turn. the tent trailed had a big chunk of corner trim missing. And our Carona was spewing antifreeze and the light was hanging out, as well as the fender pushed into the wheel, flattening the front tire.
We knew exactly what our problem was, a sign just a short ways ago had said “no service next 300 miles”
I got the Carona off the road and took a look under the hood. The antifreeze was only from a broken coolant reservoir. The fan was against the radiator, but neither was really damaged. The battery was broken and most of the acid had poured out. We had no tools or jack. But there was an RV parked at a turn-off just at the end of the bridge. I asked for and received a jack and a few basic tools from them. With the jack and it’s handle I was able to fix the fender and change the tire, plus push the front out enough to free the fan. Meanwhile a pickup truck happened by ( a very rare occurrence to see anyone at all ) and offered to help pull out the fender of the Lumina with his winch. He had to chain one end of his truck to the bridge and chain the Lumina to the other and use all the winch’s force. Still the tire scrapped, but not as bad. I duct taped the battery and poured in river water, and duct taped the headlight. I used an old can as a new reservoir and we were good to go.
For the entire 300 miles up to the next outpost the tire on the Lumina smoked and the Carona ran perfect.
We left the Lumina at the outpost and called our poor insurance agent from their sat-phone. He was wondering how in the world he would get an adjuster up there to look at the car. I met a beautiful red head working at the little roadhouse who wanted me to take her to see LA. I got her address and phone number and told her I would do so on my way back, I never did.
We set out for Whitehorse (another gazillion miles away) and drove through the night. I was driving through the inky blackness while my friend slept watching the one taillight of the tent trailer/pickup in front of me. The Carona was flawless hour after hour until it wasn’t. It just stopped, all the lights went out and it gave up the ghost just like that. It was so dark I had to feel for the shoulder of the road, which was quite steep.
Once I got stopped I got on our battery powered hand held CB and called to the pickup far ahead. They had obviously turned their CB off. We sat there for at least a half hour before they came looking for us. We all decided to spend the night there along the road. It was very cold and the wolves howled and chewed up something next to us in the blackness all night. Not one single car passed us as far as I know that night.
In the morning I took a look a the car. But I really didn’t know anything about cars. So we decided we would all seven have to fit into the pickup and strap what gear we could to the tent trailer ( thats how my friend lost all his underwear and socks ). I had to leave behind my good old cowboy boots and some of my nice cast iron cookery. We left the stuff we were not taking in the Carona and wrote “Free Car” in the dirt on the back window. And that is how we left her. Dirty and yellow, used and abused, about 80 kilometers south of Watson Lake.
Longest comment? You mean best comment ever! What a story. To be young and foolish, and yet somehow survive. How did we do it?
Thanks for taking the time; you made my evening
That was great! A buddy and I were going to go to Canada on a weekend whim from Beale air force base in his brand new 1971 yellow Corolla 2 dr. wagon. Sadly, we never did the trip, just dreamt about it. He being from Sacramento, his family were all Toyota owners. I had to admit there was something there, as they ran well, used little gas and got the job done in a fine way. Quite a contrast to my 1964 Chevy, as far as gas was concerned!
It’s too bad Toyota lost its way in the 21st Century: my son bought a new Corolla– six months in, the automatic transmission self-destructed. It was covered under warranty, but he was so shaken, he sold the car. I recent drove a 2010 Matrix: the interior seemed cheap and flimsy, almost Yugo-like… and the gas mileage? A surprisingly poor 20 mpg… not very good, considering my son’s Ford F-150 truck can get 19 mpg! These new Toyota vehicles are in direct contrast to my other son’s 1983 Corolla: over 200,000 miles and solid as a rock… now, if only I could by ANOTHER 1983 Toyota! (or a brand-new 1972 Toyota Hilux pickup truck!)
We ran 3 cars in Tasmania a 63 EH Holden Special , 82 rwd 323 van and a Toyota MK2 Corona a 74 with 2.6 crown motor, great old car got it as payment for a respray on a VW Bug. I could tow a 1000kg recovery trailer on with a dead Kombi van on and cruise at 60mph, Nice torquey motor and a reasonably light car. In the wet at 50mph floor the gas it would drop into 1st and wheelspin but be gentle on the throttle and it would drive in top gear in town starts and all, It was ok on gas except when you booted it , The build quality must have good coz despite lots of gravel road use that car was rust and rattle free and original paint wish I still had that 1.
Great story JunkH!
Always loved the Japanese spec mirrors on this Corona– i’m surprised that they found their way over here. I’d love to see a sedan version of this car, the Japanese BMW 1600
Those mirrors remind me of my dad’s old 1955 Dodge Royal Lancer!
Paul,
I not only like old cars, but I also like to look at some of the old dealer buildings.
If you want to see what the first Toyota dealership in Eugene looked like, look diagonally across from St. Mary’s Church on 11th and Charnelton. The (incredibly small) building is now a laundromat, dry cleaner, or something like that.
That is amazing. I saw an almost identical one except it had stock hubcaps
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveseven/4017071820/
rear – http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveseven/4016299961/in/photostream/
interior – http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveseven/4017062128/in/photostream/ with automatic
Nice writing, as always. But would you please clean your camera lens? And if that doesn’t work (and it’s an SLR, where this is possible), clean your image sensor. This Toyota wasn’t much to look at, but neither were your dust bunnies.
I missed you comment when you first posted it, but you’re right. I took my old Lumix apart and blew out the sensor a couple of times; improved things a bit, but the spots would never go away. Plus, there seems to be some sort of haze that appears very badly in certain light conditions. Years of carrying it around in my pocket must have lodged crap somewhere. Anyway, I finally broke down and bought a new Lumix. Better 8x optical lens, but just a bit fatter and heavier to make its presence in my pocket distinctly more annoying.
Thank you Paul! That was the very car I had in high school, (81-84) yes a 2 door hardtop just like the one you found. That one has the exact same taillights as mine did, leading me to believe thats a 70 like mine was, not a 71. Still miss her to this day, would love to find one as I have a twin-cam 18RG in the corner of my garage….
I still have the owners manual!
HI I HAVE A 1970-71 TOYOTA CORONA IN MY GARAGE THAT IM LOOKING TO SELL BECAUSE I JUST DONT HAVE TIME FOR HER , IF YOU ARE INTRESTED SEND ME AN EMAIL ITS A TWO DR STICK. SONIARIVERA_81@YAHOO.COM
My brother had one of these. It was used in Wisconsin and then Illinois. It disappeared in a cloud of (red) dust. Rust was a very bad problem with these vintage Japanese cars.
My parents had a ’74 Corona MkII. It was such a miserable little car. It was pea green with a brownish gold vinyl interior. The car was so sad, pretending to be sporty, but being really blah.
After owning it less than a year, my father smacked the passenger’s side front fender against a pole in a parking lot. It wasn’t a hard hit and the external damage was almost unnoticeable, but after that the door on that side wouldn’t open, so we all had to climb in through the driver’s side. As a kid, the shame of being picked up from school in that rolling booger was somewhat mitigated by being allowed to climb in through the passenger-side window like we were in Hazard County.
Shortly after that, the engine block cracked and my father gave up on Toyotas and went back to Nissans, where he’s been ever since. I remember my old man’s fury as the Nissan dealer refused to budge on $50 for the Toyota trade in.
Had a ’71 Mark II Corona after college graduation. The underside fell victim to rust that caused significant structural issues over time. The car had 262 thousand miles on the engine and was just starting to burn a small amount of oil when it was taken off the road. Oil and filter changed ever 2 thousand miles. It was a pleasure to drive, handled well, easy to work on and gas mileage was very good.
The Corona MKII definitely holds a unique place in my heart as one of the most mysterious and tempting of the oldschool Toyotas. I’ve only seen 2 in person, a stunning gold 1974 wagon , and a 1971 sedan that has spent decades being preserved under a massive conifer.
Even though I prefer wagons, there’s such a powerful “diamond in the rough” appeal happening under the tree. I picture just hosing the moss off to find the original paint gleaming white.
My very first car! Light blue 71 mark2
Loved that car…. the fish tank was its name. Killed it coming home from college for a weekend party, made the 1 1/2 drive in 50 mins. Burned up all the oil on the way….
Doing a little research and ran across your site. I’ve retired to Cuenca, Ecuador and am living in an apartment for the month of May, 2012 until the house we’ll be in for the next two years (at least) is available. Sitting outside the door in a driveway unseen from any street sits a 1971 Toyota Corona Mark II pickup truck. It is all original, pretty straight. I can see a little “crooked” in the front grill/valance/bumper and some of that is explained looking at a front end picture you have posted of the blue car. What little I can find indicates this vehicle/year should have had disc brakes in the front, however this one is drum on all four corners. I can see it is a stick shift, but not sure if it is 3 or 4. All the glass is good, I think the paint will actually scrub up pretty good. I’m thinking this is a market unique vehicle for which parts searches might be for a year or two earlier. I hope to hear it run and perhaps drive it in the coming week. The initial price offering is $3,500, Ecuador is on the US dollar. For comparison, we were kicking tires last week and vehicles here are outrageously expensive. We sold a 2008 Ford Fusion SEL with less than 50K on the clock in excellent condition for just under $14K in January. We saw a 2010 model here, 4cyl hybrid for $38K! We also see that KIA offers the old Sportage as well as the new one here. The old model is assembled in Ecuador and this is why I think maybe this particular Mark II may actually be an earlier production but still sold in 1971. Anybody know anything about the truck versions? Thanks, Lenny.
the car you took pics of is my car parked outside my place of employment
“the lady” is a 1970 Toyota corona mark II
this is a newer pic
I’ve always liked this generation Corona Mark II. My aunt and uncle had a 1970 Corona Mark II when I was a boy. I like this, and the 1977 through 1980 Cressida.