We’ve been gleaning reviews from the January 1975 R&T, but how about a quick look at a couple of other tidbits, starting with this PS. Too bad it’s not an El Dorado trailer (actually, El Dorado only made motorhomes). And this has become one now.
There’s some bargains to be had, but just make sure you multiply these numbers by about 5 in order to adjust them to today’s dollar value.
And here’s a couple of Toyota ads. Their slick new five speed was a genuine game changer in the industry; there just hadn’t been anything like it before in the popular price classes.
And it was used in their trucks as well as their cars. It’s where the SR5 designation comes from. Dave Skinner did a great post here on the impact of the Toyota five speed.
The PS bits from R&T always made me laugh. I remember a picture of a VW Rabbit with what looked like bias ply snow tires mounted on the rear wheels! America hadn’t figured out front wheel drive yet.
Now I think the opposite is the case. Someone I know over there put snow chains on the front wheels of his BMW and was surprised when I told him that all BMWs are RWD.
The things you can do with a Unitized Power Package.
The first picture is the only prototype ever built of the new for 1967 Cadillac sports car. Unfortunately, when a grease fire got out of control in its kitchenette, it was completely destroyed along with the fish cakes that the test crew were cooking for lunch. After the fire was extinguished the crew ordered out. The loss of the prototype was an insurmountable setback to the Cadillac sports car program.
I smell cover-up. I think Walter White was somehow involved.
I want a Toyota Corolla SR-5. Nicely equipped and with a five speed manual transmission!
If a person were contemplating a Pinto or a 4 cyl. Mustang II, this suddenly looks awfully appealing. And these mostly delivered for first timers in the Toyota pool. Every former Vega owner that got one of these was probably avoiding a US domestic car until they needed a mini-van or SUV several years later.
I wanted a Corolla SR-5 for my first new car. But WW2-vet Dad was providing the down payment and co-signing, and he said No to anything Japanese. So a Pinto it was.
Nice! 427 Cobra w/ 427 SOHC, 427 Cobra w/F.I, I would imagine a Hillborn or similar set up. Side note: Back in mid ’90s I was getting Autoweek. In the ads was somebody from Chicago selling a new, in the factory crate SOHC 427, 22.5K. I thought It was a bargain then, even in 1995 type dollars. Sigh… Those 2 Toyota’s are certainly what helped cement them here, along with the Celica. Mini trucks were hot, Corona was frumpy, Crown sales weak, FJ’s sold steady but was a niche rig. As an early Toyota fan, I personally would rank the decade from ’75-’85 as Toyota’s best ever. I would love to have that Corolla now!
my first Toyota was a 72/73 Corolla that I paid $100 dollars for after my 73 Super Beetle was wrecked. I could not believe how refined it felt compared to the VW. It was a deluxe with the T2 motor and only a 4 speed but was a spirited driver and when in tune could easily chirp the tire on the 2-3 shift. I finally sold for the same $100 dollars after several failed attempts to rebuild the carb. the new owner drove it for years like that but after driving it in good tune it just wasn’t the same for me. later I bought my first new vehicle, a 86 Toyota 4WD pickup a base model with the 5-speed drove it for 10 plus years and found it close to bullet proof. later I owned a well used 90 deluxe pickup with the 22re and automatic it had close to 300K when I slid in the rain and trashed the frontend. these were all so well built that with minimal maintenance all would have rusted out far before they stopped running. My current DD is an 04 Matrix base with the 5 speed, currently it has 130k and runs like brand new. so I think that most Toyotas from the early 70s on will likely last forever if well maintained!
In keeping with the GM DS theme of the month, let’s just ponder the significance of that Corolla being shopped against a ’75 Vega GT. Yeah, No Contest!
Lot’s of front end collision protection built into this rig. Polar opposite of the VW Bug MiniHome.
But only the usual RV fiberglass insulation, 2×2 sticks, aluminum skin and veneer wood paneling on the sides.
Seen at the NSRA Northeast Nats in 2007…..
What makes that even weirder is those wheels are from FORD!
HA! No kidding? They’re not just hubcaps? Maybe the same bolt pattern.
Maybe… there was a discussion the other day in the comments about an old Ford Van that had these as wheel covers and not rims in the later years.
Basically, there was a 4 bolt version for Fox Body cars like the 1978 Fairmont Futura (first to have these IIRC) and later on a few early eighties Mustangs, and a 5 lug nut version used on the LTD(s) around 1977 or 78.
The discussion went on to mention that by the mid eighties, there was a wheel cover modeled after that rim.
If I have my facts wrong fellow curbivores, please feel free to correct me.
I think you’re right about the wheel design coming first and a later wheel cover that mimicked the design.
Said wheel cover was also used on 4×2 F-Series pickups, in either 5- (F-100/150) or 8-lug (F-250 light-duty) varieties. Looking through my ’86 brochure, it doesn’t appear that you could get a 4×4 model with them (because of the front hubs?), or an F-250HD or F-350 (because of the full-floating rear axle).
When I was in college back in 1975, a rich friend’s dad told him to go pick out any car he wanted (with a max budget of course), and buy it. We test drove a lot of cars, and he decided on a Corolla SR-5. It was fun to drive, and just seemed leagues ahead of the American offerings available. Among our crew, we owned most of its competitors: my Civic seemed like a tiny, tinny, underpowered toy, but was amazingly well built. Another friend’s Pinto with the 2 liter engine was a good car that was a blast to drive, but seemed
cheap insideless sophisticated inside compared to the Toyota; a third friend had a Chevette…which we all (including him) thought was a pathetic excuse for a car with its cardboard interior panels. A one point somebody had a Vega but it disappeared quickly with engine problems and never reappeared. There was a Dodge Dart which was unremarkable but reliable, and roomier than our little cars….but the car of choice by far was the 69 Caddy; room for six in comfort and quiet, and powerful enough to rush around on the local mountain roads fully loaded without any drop in performance. That friend’s dad gave him the car when he bought a 74 Cadillac which he felt was much inferior to the 69.A 69 Cadillac compared to a 75 Toyota Corolla? That’s like comparing a gourmet meal on fine China and silverware and linens and a classical string ensemble to a popsicle.
Amazing that there are four Mercedes-Benz 6.3 sedans listed in the classifieds. I guess folks figured out that the R&T readership was a good pool of potential buyers — they were probably tough to sell on the regular used-car market.
Also, I like the Mercedes 600 ad where the seller offers to trade for “light aircraft or listed securities.” I wonder if he had any takers?
Toyota did seem to take a while to figure out what Americans wanted in a small sporty coupe; these TE37 hardtops with the sedan/wagon-style front launched for 1975 at the same time as the E30 sedans and wagons, were joined by the TE51 pillared Sport Coupe and Liftback with a distinct front treatment, and the hardtops were heavily deemphasized for and dropped after 1977, all the while the sedans and wagons only had detail changes.
I was just thinking that I don’t remember ever seeing this particular hardtop body style, despite E30 generation Corollas still being *very* common when I was younger. 2 and 4 door sedans aplenty, 5-door wagons, 2-door liftbacks were all accounted for. The pillared sport coupes were rarer but I remember their existence. The TE37 hardtop? Nope. Didn’t register in the memory banks. The roofline is in between the pillared and sport coupes, so that could have slid by, but I think I’d remember that squared tail and unique rear lamps. Those were the things I noticed even as a kid.
I’ll take either 8-track car.
As time goes by … the SR5 designation faded from being the top-of-the line Toyota pickup to the bottom. Today’s Tacoma entry version is called the SR; the 5 is missing as it’s automatic only in the US.