Another rare and eye-catching upload from S. Forrest, who must be on his game lately, this second-generation Toyota Corona Mark II should just be thought of using the second part of its name. The new-for-1972 car got a unique platform and six-cylinder engine and would spend the next several generations sold in the US as Cressida, so let’s just think of it as a Mark II.
We remember the first Cressida as a frumpy little thing, but this coke-bottle shaped sedan embodies some of the best early-seventies styling cliches, appearing sporty next to the cars which would follow in North America. Innovative it wasn’t, but it at least borrowed from the best in creating its own style: check out the full-width taillight panel and beautifully integrated bumper. Just the sort of flashy tail needed to cruise through a Japan on the upswing.
With a width of only about 63 inches, though, the car was marketed to North Americans as an economy car with luxury features. So though its mission on these shores was decidedly different, I can imagine the first buyers of the new, six-cylinder Mark II must’ve feeling like they stumbled on a very good secret in buying such a smooth running, well-equipped and unexpectedly dependable car (until rust set in, anyway). As the subsequent Cressida’s permanently minor role in the US showed, a luxury-economy car of that sort was somewhat of a dead end and a new image (soon provided by upscale brands) would be necessary for the Japanese to sell their grander cars.
Some of us will always love the more specialized cars sold under mainstream Japanese nameplates regardless. A car like this belongs alongside the Supra whose wheels it wears, and has a place next to the Previas, Preludes and RX7s (among others) which define the cool Japanese automobile in my mind. Judging by the dark green ’98-ish Tercel parked in front of it, the owner of this car is a bit of an old-school Toyota nerd. Who could blame him (or her)? Cars like this help us to remember that they once had some real mojo.
As is typically the case, when American customers didn’t notice their coolest toys, Toyota packed them up and took them back home. The Mark II continued in Japan until 2004; the very cool ’70s-inspired styling and straight-six engines, on the other hand, didn’t manage to last the entire time. The car is still sold today, only now as the Mark X, to what I imagine is a dwindling pool of buyers. I’d be interested to know how much longer the car, which loosely shares its chassis with the Lexus GS, will manage to last. My guess is the introduction of Lexus in Japan was done to slowly ready the domestic market for the day when development of separate models like this will cease to make sense, but that’s a discussion for another day.
Curbside Classic: 1971 Toyota Corona Mark II – Some Things Never Change
Curbside Classic: 1970 Toyota Corona Mark II – Stodgy, Thy Name is Toyota
Car Show Classic: Supra-powered 1973 Toyota Corona Mark II Coupe
Great find! Although I prefer the first gen Mark II, that is one sharp looking car, the later wheel really look great on it.
Now there’s something I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen in person.
Very nice indeed .
How much Lolly to own it ? .
-Nate
I had a neighbour who had a 1976 Corona Mark II. At the time I wasn’t impressed with its styling. I thought it was ugly next to its boxy 1969-71 predecessor. After he died and the 76 Corona Mark II was sold, I went looking for another one like it. I’m still looking…..
I like this a lot. I always thought it a shame that Toyota dropped the Corona, which had been its primary model in the 60s, at least in the U.S.
And it would be the best-selling car in the US, as it would have morphed into what the Camry became.
I know what you mean. I’ve known plenty of people who owned both the Corona and the Corona Mark II. Depending on the year, I liked the Corona, sometimes I liked the Mark II.
This was from a period when Japanese cars had to earn their “citizenship” by the Confucian Work Ethic, not pretty styling or high horsepower.
Is rust a problem in Japan, or are they shielded from it by their laws which encourage “early retirement” to sustain churn in the auto market? For I’m always surprised when non-Sunbelters voice rust complaints. This, & not local culture, might explain why Californians loved Japanese cars first (to paraphrase MG’s slogan).
In Iraq, where rust is not a problem, these Coronas are as common as sand. With the supply of new passenger cars very limited from the 1980s to the 2000s, owners have kept these cars on the road year after year, decade after decade, and they have held up very well. It is a testament to how well engineered these 1970s Toyotas were.
I would like to bring an orange-fendered, beat to hell Corona from Iraq to the U.S. It would be a great conversation piece, until it rusts apart after a few years of being exposed to rain and snow.
I haven’t seen one of these in years, and that color and the Supra rims are actually quite tasteful on it.
I had a 74 MK2 sedan with the 4M engine 2.6L 150hp shared with the larger Crown, great car wish I still had it nice to drive plenty of grunt on hills could tow anything I tried with it and reliable, I also had a 2door parts car but other than a rockershaft and towbar never needed much from it, best 70s car I ever had. Rust? it had none likely the southern Tasmanian climate helped there.
In 1974 I drove a new Range Rover from the dealership in Launceston to Hobart and my return trip was a recent trade in,a MK11 Corona.I liked the look of the Toyota but thought the handling wasn’t very well sorted and this was a near new and very low milage vehicle.I didn’t see many MK11s on the roads in Tasmania but Corollas,standard Coronas and Crowns were very popular.Cars generally don’t rust much in Tasmania unless they are coastal cars,it is an island after all.Have often wondered what the Toyota was traded on,Marina,Leyland P76 or perhaps a Rover 3500 sedan.I haven’t seen a MK11 since so this post jogged a memory or two.
KiwiBryce-when I worked for the Leyland,Rover,Jaguar dealer my two cars were a 1970 Fiat 500 Bambino,white with red interior and canvas sunroof and my $120 purchase of an always garaged,one owner,60,000 mile,black with green leather and carpet interior 1950 Vauxhall Velox.The Velox had been owned by a Tasmanian Railways train driver who had just retired from work,I went to visit him and his wife,such warm and friendly people and they were really pleased that a 17 year old liked the Velox as much as they did.It had a sticker in the rear window showing the Bruny Island lighthouse and they told me when they bought the Vauxhall in 1950 they drove from Launceston south to Bruny Island with their children for a holiday.They were thrilled when I told them my elder sister lived there because her husband was then one of the lighthouse keepers.They invited me into their well maintained house for tea and cake and after a pleasant talk I asked the husband what make of new car he had just purchased.He took me into the garden,opened the garage door and there was a new LC Holden Torana,4 cylinder,but in a very bright metallic pink! I was almost speechless and that is rare for me.The Velox looked quite elegant in comparison to the pink Torana.
That metallic pink is a classic Holden colour from that period. Would love an HQ Premier wagon in that hue.
Don A. About 10 years ago I was back living in Tasmania with my elderly father.One morning I walk across the yard with my coffee and from about 50 metres away I saw a man opening the gate and as he drove in it was a boat tail Buick Riviera,the only one I have seen in Tasmania.He was an old friend of my father.He walked over to the workshops,said hello and told us he was going south to Hobart,the capital city.The strange part was that he was wearing one of those 1950s checked woollen dressing gowns.We walked across to the house for tea and biscuits and he was wearing a loose weave woollen beanie which he had interwoven with his hair he had cut from the sides of his head.He was bald on top.Reminded me of the lead character in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.He was a very interesting and amusing character but the point is….the boat tail Riviera was bright metallic pink.Could that be the same colour as the Holden pink? It was very bright and made the Buick even more bizarre.
Having owned my fair share of white cars, I crave colour these days. My w116 is an almost fluorescent yellow/green (factory colour). That boat tail sounds very appealing. I know exactly the type of dressing gown you describe.
As an aside, in his biography Andre Agassi mentions that when he was starting to lose his hair, he would attach hair strands to his headband for tennis matches.
Mate of mine two toned a MK2 Zephyr white Holden metalic pink, looked good. racking my mind now to think of the correct name for that colour.
Are you sure this was not a dream?
I’d forgotten that colour. Strange you never see it on a restored Holden from that era nowadays!
I honestly think its too effete for most people. It’s my favourite car colour, after Golden Sand on a 420G.
Another car I’ve been hoping to find. Taking the MkII upmarket with six was a big step, and one that worked out reasonably well with the Cressida, but these were never really big-volume sellers. They were a way to step up the ladder for the Toyota faithful, or those that had been burned badly by a Detroit-mobile.
They were big volume in the home market, though, especially once Toyota added the Chaser. The X30 generation, which is when they introduced the six, was selling like 200,000 units a year in Japan by the late ’70s. Obviously, not all of those were the six-cylinder versions, but adding the six allowed Toyota to cement the Mark II/Chaser (and the Cresta version added later) as the go-to big cars for the home market — fours for the fleet customers, sixes for the executive market.
Man. That is one good-looking car. They stylists really nailed it here. For a sedan, this has some really nice curves and the ubiquitous 70’s “coke bottle” works really well. Also, it shares some styling cues with the very successful Celica of the same time frame. With the green, and the Supra wheels, and the light front and rear details before Giant Bumper Disease spread…it’s very near perfect.
How much green are we talking?
It looks Australian. By which I mean to say that it has all manner of late ’60s U.S. styling cues with that sort of funhouse mirror effect that happens when you scale those cues down to a much smaller size, which also includes some Opels, Vauxhalls, and overseas Ford products. I could see this as, say, a Holden LC Torana.
At first, I thought you meant because of the bumpers. I’m not sure what year the car is exactly, but sans bumper guards, I figured it was a 1972. I figured, “AUWM will probably tell me for sure.”
And I agree about the late ’60 US styling cues, but since so many tell me that these cars and similar Datsun reflected a uniquely Japanese sensibility, I was afraid to peg it down as one or the other. What I personally see is a lot of muscle car era Detroit, only with finer detailing.
I imagine it’s probably a ’72. It’s an X10 Mark II (chassis code RX12, assuming it has the 2-liter 18R engine), which was released in Japan in early 1972. U.S.-spec ’73s had big bumper overriders with black rubber inserts to meet the 5 mph standards. I suppose someone could put the earlier bumpers on a later car, although why you’d bother is another question. So, I think you probably have it pegged right.
The 4 banger was optional according to the owners manual I have Ive never seen one they were all 2.2s or 2.6L in OZ, Crown/Cressida engines neither had the 4.
I imagine many of the Japanese cars at this point (and in 1972 all the U.S. versions) had one of the fours. The JDM X10/X20 had only one six-cylinder grade (one each for the sedan and hardtop) and that was the 1,988cc M engine — the 2.6 4M was later. The 2-liter six was actually slower than the 2-liter four, so other than being a bit smoother and having more snob appeal, there wasn’t much practical point.
No US cars came in four cylinder guise; initial 1972’s came with the 2.3 2M inline six. The 1973-76 cars ran with the 2.6 4M. Keep in mind the US did not not receive the concurrent Crown series at this point; it is why the JDM cars only got so far as the 2.0 M.
I stand corrected. Ironically, it’s easier to find information on JDM Toyotas of the ’70s than U.S. ones…
It nailed the proportions better than the LC Torana which looked narrow and tall for its size. These were definitely a familiar sight over here as were subsequent Cressidas. Clean find.
The X10 isn’t far off a six-cylinder LC/LJ Torana in overall size, so the comparison is an interesting one. The Toyota is shorter overall on a longer wheelbase and 25mm wider, but the Mark II sedan is actually 36mm taller, although it doesn’t look it. It wouldn’t be a huge stretch to imagine the Mark II as an alternate Torana design concept.
I recently got an interesting shot of a Ford Cortina Mk1 and late 60s Crown together. Both roughly the same size, but the Crown is lower and, again, nails the proportions better.
Surprising that the Corona is taller than the Torry.
I was surprised also, although I think this car’s vinyl roof does lower it visually.
The LC?LJ is still the Vauxhall Viva married to a HK Kingswood engine bay totally out of proportion and not particularly good cars, The MK2 is far superior in comfort and performance handling is average for Aussie cars but its much better than the early Vauxhall based Toranas.
Funny thing is, the LC/LJ are the HB with extra wheelbase in front of the firewall, which would suggest it has better proportioning. LH did a much better job of it.
Maybe Don but we had a HB twodoor Viva in our household I kinda like the original, and a 186 fits into the Viva engine bay as does a SBC so Holdens extra length is superfluous.
Bryce-I liked the original Viva.Dad bought his mother in law a new Viva,a light yellow exterior with green interior and she liked the selection of hood ornaments and chose a chrome bluebird for the bonnet/hood.Years later in northern Tasmania I saw a Vauxhall Viva wagon,same era,but it was a camper,a Dormobile with the twin glass panelled and twin airvents concertina roof.It was for sale but I was driving my one owner mint condition 1954 Vauhall Velox,light green ext with blue/grey leather then so…My aunty bought one of the first Datsun 1000 cars,milky brown with white interior and whitewall tyres,it looked so much like an Alfa Romeo,tall glasshouse,clean and simple lines,a beautiful car.
My college roommate had one of these in the mid-1980s that was passed down to him by his parents. It was comfortable despite how small it was, but I remember it as being one of the most unreliable cars I’ve experienced (which is saying something since I’ve been a serial VW and Triumph owner). He and his dad were under the hood constantly – it finally caught on fire and was retired as a result.
Rather a contrast to my Dad’s 1972 Hi-Lux pickup, which was unkillable – it’s still doing service with the lawn service my dad sold it to 15 years ago.
My roommate’s brother then passed down to him a mid-1970s Camero, which was a paragon of reliability by comparison (not that it was actually that reliable, mind you).
This all reminds me of just how terrible the used cars from the 1960s and 70s that my young friends drove were. As the only one of my peers who had any mechanical skill with cars, I got called out rather often in the 1980s to fix stuff. Today, ten to twenty year old cars are pretty darn reliable by comparison – you turn the key in any weather and they tend to start right up. Thanks, Toyota, for showing the way forward, along with the other Japanese brands.
Reliable but that’s all.
A dog to drive !
Why would you drive one?
I’ve owned two, and I agree completely.
I am a big fan of old Toyotas, but this Mark II is not one of them. It’s one of the rare examples where the 4 door looks better that the 2 door hardtop, and even then, it’s overall vibe is Mazda front/Nissan rear… The previous Mark II, especially the hardtop, was gorgeous by comparison:
Indeed. I had a ’70 Mark II hardtop in high school, ’82-’83. Very cool looking car in my humble opine…
Toyota sold small Corona utes,the slant front models from late sixties to approx 1970.The utes were an interesting shape and like the early Corona sedans immensely reliable.Rare to find a ute in Australia today.
Ironically I just posted one to the CC Cohort, that I saw several months ago!
I knew a guy with one of these Mark 2’s around 20 years ago, this one is much nicer and shows off the lines nicely. I like it. The Supra wheels are a nice style (curiously similar to the Mitsubishi Starion 5-spoke version!), and I can’t think of a period-correct wheel I’d rather see on the car instead.
A gas filler door that cuts into the vinyl top must be pretty rare.
And the trim on the gas door appears to be applied neatly and everything still lines up 42 years later. Toyota quality at its birth.
Well spotted, the vinyl roof clearly wasn’t part of the original design.
I’ve seen a trunk lid that cut into the vinyl top! It was on a Hillman Avenger GLS (aka Plymouth Cricket)
Until I enlarged the pic, I couldn’t see it. I thought it looked as though the rear screen went all the way down. Would have had better rear vision if it did!
I’ve never been a fan of vinyl roof. I think it makes the rest of the car look tacky. Just not very attractive.
I’ve never seen a 1972-76 Corona Mark II that had a 4 cylinder engine. If they were sold in North America with 4 cylinder engine, they probably didn’t sell as well as the 6 cylinder model.
No fours for the US; 1972 came with the 2.3 2M inline six. 1973-76 upgraded to the 2.6 4M.
Thank you. I knew that the North American version Corona Mark II between 1972 and 76 had a six cylinder engine. I just wasn’t sure whether a 4 cylinder engine was ever available as an option.
The dashboard and interior looks so much better then the early 70’s interior I remember seeing on Japanese cars of that period. Most of them had such thin, cheap looking dashboards and trim. This really looks good. The manual transmission probably was a four speed only, I would guess the automatic was more common. The 2 door hardtop is much better looking, the wheelbase just looks to short on the 4 door. Even so, it’s nice to see such a well preserved example, especially still on the road and apparently rust free.
I disagree in regard to the hardtop; it looks like the C pillar is swollen from an infection:
I stand corrected. Now I realize the picture cjiguy posted earlier is the previous Mark II.
I have owned two of these. One 1975 hardtop and one 1976 sedan. Both had 4-on-the floor manual and the 2600 inline six.
The good:
Handsome looks
Great ergonomics
Good fuel mileage
the smoothest, quietest engine on earth
Decent acceleration
The bad:
Absolutely pitiful handling.
Seats that seem designed to hurt your back.There is literally no padding at the base of your spine.
Crappy emergency brake mechanism that fails prematurely, whilst causing the brake pedal to sink to the floor.
It’s a car that feels more pleasant, the more gently you drive. Definitely not sporty in any way whatsoever.
There was a black 73 Mk II hardtop for sale, a year ago on CL, for about $3000.
It needed a lot of work, but it ran, nonetheless.
For sale here: http://bringatrailer.com/2016/06/21/six-cylinder4-speed-1972-toyota-corona-mark-ii-sedan/