The wagons featured yesterday were a little rough for wear. As packhorses for young travelers, they were likely bought cheap and rode hard, and one of them was even loaded with junk. Compare and contrast with this: a 1979-83 Toyota Corona wagon that is so pristine, it could have just rolled off a showroom floor.
What kind of person keeps the cargo area of a wagon in such concours condition? I’m no slob, but even my car has a couple of water bottles strewn in the cabin, and maybe a receipt or gym towel rolling around in the trunk. This Corona owner either just had their car detailed or they simply never made a mess.
Toyota Australia manufactured sedan and wagon Coronas of this T130 generation from 1979 until 1983. They also imported some highly-specified sedan and liftback models. Buyers would have been wise to pony up the extra dough for the imported models, as they featured a Japanese 2.0 four-cylinder.
What did Australian-built Coronas receive? An Australian-engineered 1.9 four-cylinder engine borrowed from Holden to help keep local content levels up. This engine, dubbed the Starfire, was Holden’s quick-fix at offering a four-cylinder engine and was effectively their 173 cubic-inch six-cylinder engine less two of said cylinders. Offered in early Holden Commodores, the low-tech, pushrod four was a dud as its lousy performance negated any of the fuel economy benefits of buying a four-cylinder Commodore. Consequently, it was dumped after a few years of slow sales.
In the Corona, the Starfire engine mustered 77 hp and 100 ft-lbs. The Toyota’s chief rivals in Australia were the Chrysler (later Mitsubishi) Sigma and Datsun/Nissan Bluebird, similarly conservative, rear-wheel-drive sedans and wagons, available with similarly-sized engines. And they wiped the floor with the Corona, performance-wise: Modern Motor’s 1982 comparison test of the three (and the new Holden Camira) saw the Corona noisily reach 100 km/h (62 mph) in 17.65 seconds, 2-4 seconds slower than its rivals.
One could argue that high performance thrills were the last thing on a Corona owner’s mind, and you would be right. However, Mitsubishi and Nissan offered similar levels of reliability, fuel economy quality and size at equivalent prices. The Toyota may have been quieter (when not at full throttle) and with a softer ride, but it didn’t offer many other benefits. As for that Modern Motor comparison test, the Camira trounced all three by a significant margin, although in all fairness the Corona was one year away from being replaced.
Even by the end of the T130’s run, the Corona was still a solid top 10 seller in Australia. But the Sigma and Bluebird were proving to be tough competition: in 1982, the Sigma sold 42,210 units, the Bluebird 34,048 and the Corona 19,000. That sales order reflected their respective positions in 1979. It didn’t make the T130 Corona a sales dud, but it must have riled Toyota, especially considering they lumped Celica sales figures in with the Corona. Still, there would be another generation of dull, rear-wheel-drive Corona sold in Australia.
Five years ago, I would not have bothered photographing a Corona. Ten years before that, I would have laughed at the mere thought of photographing one. Even today, there are still quite a few of these dotted around the countryside in great condition, driven by elderly folk who have taken great care of them, while the more popular Sigma seems to have disappeared. Frankly, these Coronas are some of the dullest cars ever made, but when you see one in such amazing condition (again, look at that cargo area!) you simply must take notice.
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Vintage Review: 1979 Toyota Corona
Very tidy its had another rubbing strip fitted to guard against car park dings to preserve it and the rear plate is mint like its been indoors more than out, the black trim paint is worn in places and the rear bumper slightly misaligned, Lots of things that point to a recent respray but a very tidy car all the same and an almost extinct model here, there simply dont appear to be any left on the roads.
I’m guess by the location it was owned by someone very old and has been passed on to the grandkids. Expect it to be looking pretty rough pretty soon.
My favorite preserved vehicles are the ones like this Toyota, dull as dishwater when they were new, that have no particular pedigree and with the equipment and colours that were typical of the time when they were sold. Great find.
Great writeup, William. It seems to me that the Holden 1.9L four was a lot like the Ford Tempo’s “HSC” 2.3L, in that they were both 2/3 of a six-cylinder.
Not all wagons live a hard life. I still kick myself when I think of the 97 Accord wagon I passed up a few years ago. It was a 1 owner car, had less than 98,000 original miles on it, with an “older” female driver who used it transport her 2 dogs. And at the small hint of mechanical trouble she took it to her mechanic.
So even though the price was decent, I passed because of a disagreement with my mechanic who was selling it.
I don’t know if we got wagons of this generation Corona in the USA. We did get sedans and liftbacks, with the quad sealed beam lamps like the pictured liftback. While less modern than the flush composite lamps of the featured car, I think the sealed beam nose has a bit more character. And the liftback had a very nice side profile.
Very, very rare on the roads here nowadays. Not sure when i saw one last, though being a Toyota, I’m sure there are still a few out there. this was also the last Corona sold in the USA, its role being taken over by the Camry.
We did and there is one in even better condition than this one not far from my house. Brown exterior and it is in incredible shape. I’ll try to get a pic or two soon.
Queensland is the “Sunshine State?” I bet Florida thought of that slogan 1st, since Americans can’t resist the impulse to advertise, whether on license plates, bumper stickers, or tee shirts. They’ll even give free advertising for businesses who normally have to pay for the privilege.
As if anyone had doubts that the sun☼ shined in either place.
As someone who 1st moved to Florida in the early 70s, left, moved back in the mid 80s, left, then recently came back (to stay?), I find “The Sunshine State” ranks right up there with New Jersey’s “Garden State” for bordering on irony. We get at least our fair share of “liquid sunshine” and in my experience California or Arizona are more deserving of the sunshine moniker. But if you were to use some more honest description of Florida on a license plate it might be: “Over – developed and Unfairly taxed”.
The U.S. got this generation of Corona, the last we would receive, as 4 door sedans and 5 door liftbacks….NO wagons. I think the 4 door is even a bit different from the one pictured, though it may just be that photo’s angle. But I do seem to remember a longer rear deck that was less squared off….or is that all down to bigger U.S. bumpers?
Better to be “Sunshine State” that the crop we got here in Victoria.
We used to be the Garden State when they first put slogans on our plates. Fair enough, that’s what Victoria was historically known as. But politicians have tinkered around with the slogans on our plates so much that I had to go look and see what’s on my plates. Utterly forgettable and irrelevant.
The new government has changed the slogan to “Stay Alert Stay Alive”. The first change was back in the early 90’s when the new Kennett government was trying to revitalise the state after the recession, to “On The Move”, which the Labor government replaced with “The Place To Be”, reputedly to stop jokes about “on the move… to Queensland”.
The Coronas may have been dull but they were about the simplest car you could get, no CV joints for one, and thus pretty cheap to run. Coincidentally both Coronas I had contact with didn’t have the Holden Misfire engine.
Your story and this car bring to mind what I always thought about the last generation A body mopars — the Dart and Valiant sedans from the mid/late 1970’s. They were dull and outdated but they sold quite well and the skinflint retirees that bought them didn’t wear them out, stored them relatively carefully and maintained them better than average. As a result, growing up in Florida in the 1980’s/90’s there will still LOTS of them around. The idea of even paying attention to one would have been laughable at the time. Now they would be photo-worthy!
A friend had one of these as his first car about 10 years ago. Identical colour etc, and, being a one-elderly-lady-owner car was in similarly excellent condition inside and out. It’s not around any more but there is another one in the same colour. Come to think of it, aside from a red one, all the wagons I’ve seen were in this colour!
These cars (the Corona, but also the equivalent Mitsubishis and Nissans) are pretty much gone here in the US. Rusted, wrecked, worn out or just discarded. But I’d rather have the Corona than the contemporaneous Quattroporte. 1970’s-’80’s Italian design at its worst, worse than the Strada/Ritmo covered last week.
I had a couple of the Mitsubishi Sigma wagons Bluebirds had a horrible rep for failing headgaskets and the Coronas had the Starfire so unless you got lucky and found a Toyota powered one were best avoided.