The other day, I fell in love. It was a sunny Saturday morning and I was moseying down the street for whatever reason. The traffic was bad, as it often is in our street. But there was more to it that day than the usual pickup trucks and pink taxis. There was CC royalty amid the riff-raff.
I not only found my phone, but it was charged. Thanks to the snail’s pace of traffic, I managed to get a few decent shots of this brown beauty. Yet another Crown, yes. I have written up this nameplate several times before, but there are so many to pick from. This was my first proper encounter with the fifth generation (S80 / S90 / S100) of the second half of the ‘70s. The Disco Crown.
Sure, the previous generation S60 “Kujira” Crown is more dramatic. It does overshadow the Crowns that preceded and followed to some extent. But this more conservative 1974-79 generation had a lot of class, especially in the metal and among present-day traffic.
I had caught a pristine 2600 Super Saloon, the most conservative of the Crown’s four body styles, in the second highest trim and with the largest engine. The S90 “Pillared Hardtop” and coupé (above) shared a more “Coke bottle” approach, while the more formal S80/S100 saloon and wagon (below) had a roomier greenhouse and straighter fenders.
This generation Crown was still exported to Europe, both cars above being a good example. It had a lot of success in Japan and the Asia-Pacific region in general, but it never made it to the US. Which is a blessing: just imagine how it would have looked with black botox bumpers.
It seems chauffeur-driven, as befits a glitzy, yet dignified and spotless 40-year-old Crown saloon. It’s like a mini Century. I’ve seen a few high-end saloons (Jaguar XJ6, Mercedes S-Class, etc.) of that era around town, manifestly still used by their original owners – always with a driver. The low, sleek saloon glided along silently past me. What a profile this car has! But the sculpting of the beltline reminded me of something…
Yes, yes, apples and oranges. Except one thing.
This Crown looked like it had one of the Citroën CX’s most effective features: a slightly arched double-dipping beltline, the lower end stretching from the very front to the rear doors and the higher end from the windshield to the tail. Given that both cars came out the same year and quite a world apart, this looks like a case of convergent evolution.
It’s a bit wasted on the Crown, though. Robert Opron used this on a streamlined fastback design, where it made a lot of sense. And the CX designer made sure the two beltlines were parallel. On the Crown, it just sits there, not really echoed by the rest of the car in any way. Like the horizontal crease (blue line) that should never have been there. But there’s a way to sort of fix that.
On our featured car, that superfluous blue line is almost cancelled out by the dark paintwork and the way the car is lit. It’s still there, but blends in better. So only very dark colours really work for the S80. It’s a shame and a missed opportunity, but it still makes for a much better profile than the Kujira, which nonetheless passed on quite a bit of its genes to our fifth generation. It would be difficult to guess which came first between the S80 or the S60.
Above: 4th gen. S60 “Kujira” (1971-75); below: 6th gen. S110 (1979-83)
Though I’m thoroughly won over by the S80 Crown, I’m not blind to its main faults. It’s a technological dinosaur in a wannabe-Detroit suit a couple sizes too big. The face and tail lack the S60’s weird madness, or the S40 / S50’s Sixties charm. But it sure beats the successive generations, starting with Crown number six above, which looks like a Lincoln Versailles that shrank in the wash.
OK, I’m being harsh, I take it back. But I do feel this fifth Crown was the last jewel this still-extant nameplate has had. Too bad I only managed to see it so briefly. It has an elegance that few Japanese cars (and even fewer American cars) attained in the cursed mid-‘70s. From the outside, it seemed a perfect size – pretty long but not too wide – and quite roomy inside. And in this country, it’s much easier to find and run these than a CX.
Congratulations, Toyota Crown S80 Super Saloon, you made it to my Bangkok fantasy garage. But there’s still a Kujira of a difference between that and reality.
Related post:
CC Capsule: 1975 Toyota Crown Super Saloon – Not So Far From Home, by JohnH875
Fascinating to have the double beltline of the peerless CX pointed out. Never noticed it before. What a design.
I say, there’s an awful lot of midday sun to go out into in old Bangkok, isn’t there?
I used to have a CX25 GTi and I never noticed the double beltline until now.
Hopefully the natives didn’t foam at the mouth and run…
Trying to draw a car (not an exercise I’ve attempted many times since I left school) is a great way to uncover details like beltlines, etc. I did draw CXs a lot in my younger days…
Locals definitely not foaming or running, but usually resting. Not me – I detest a siesta.
Double belt-lines have ben around since the first Packard Clipper. They are interesting surface development, make a design more attractive.
Owned one and LOVED it. Was looking for a kujira, but found a one-owner outer-suburban-driven base SE in avocado green with rust in a rear door and driver seat (orange sort of tartan) fabric ripped. For next to nothing money.
The car was then 34 years old, but the engine was SILENT. And I mean SILENT. For the first two weeks of ownership, I would automatically turn the key in the ignition when the traffic lights turned from red to green. Because I couldn’t hear or feel the engine at all, and my subconscious/muscle-memory suggested the car needed starting. Eventually drove it into the ground, not before an Adelaide to Melbourne Xmas trip though. Great days.
Recently came across a wagon for sale, but the asking was too much. And it smelt like dogs inside.
CX styling comparo. Only T87… hehehe
The mighty M6, yes very smooth had one in a 74 MK2 Corona.
Yes, I remembered you mentioned your Crown ownership, but I wasn’t sure it was this one.
First time I’ve really seen one of these. Gotta say, looking for a Kujira and finding one of these instead, I understand your decision to buy it. Probably would do the same. Sorry to hear it’s no longer operational. But then cheap wheels are cheap wheels…
Had a 430 Cedric that served the same purpose – everything worked including aircon but fatally marred by a giant rust circle on the roof. Would have preferred the kujira but even back then they were scarce and I was looking for an instant runabout.
That double belt line is quite intriguing and once noticed, adds a lot to the design in this case (for me at least), I like it.
That Crown #6 I find very attractive, it’s more or less a Toyota Cressida, is that correct? Somehow I’m very drawn to that 80’s aesthetic. (but repulsed by any hint of association to the Versailles, I’m glad you took that back!)
I love the color on the Camry taxicab behind it though. All (ok, not all, more) cars should be that color.
The Cressida is one size smaller. But there’s a considerable amount of stylistic similarity between some of them.
Is that taxi one size smaller too? I’d be surprised to see something as big as a Camry in taxi use in Thailand. Identifying Toyotas is not my strong suit though.
As I recall, the taxis are a variety of Fisher Price colours there.
About 90% of Bangkok taxis are Corolla Altis saloons. Made in Thailand, exported widely across the region. There are a few “big” RWD Innova taxis for airport duty as well.
All cabs here have bright colours here – Tyrian pink, curious orange, electric blue, frog green, etc. Sure makes for livelier traffic / street photography.
So is that a Camry or an Altis? I need closure!
Altis – there are no Camry taxis in BKK.
Folks had a series of Toyotas in the late 60’s into the late 70’s. Including a Chinook Camper. The nicest ever was a ’78 Cressida wagon. I guess the Cressida was USA / Canada version of the Crown? Don’t recall ever seeing a Toyota Crown here.
The Cressida was one size smaller. The Crown was sold here through the S60, but the S60 really bombed out. So the Cressida (called the Mark II in Japan) was renamed and effectively took its place.
I answered a newspaper ad (remember those?) around 1976, partly as I had grown to admire Toyota products and party to find out what a “Crown” was.
It had a quirky, definitely Oriental exterior styling job goin’ on, a beautiful, high quality cloth interior, a smooth & silent six cylinder engine.
Unfortunately, it drove kinda-sorta “Blahhhhhhh”; reminded me of a six cylinder, Powerglide transmission equipped Chevy Malibu. Not good, not bad, just…..there.
My ’71 Opel 1900/Manta was a much more satisfying “Driver’s Car”.
I once drove a Toyota Crown of that vintage in the early 80s, a friend just bought it in London but I had the insurance to drive it home,
It was winter and dark when we set off , the fanbelt became loose so the headlights went dimmer and dimmer, fortunately our trip home was 120 miles along the M4 motorway so I hung behind big lorries to let them light the way.
Got home safely, new fan belt and it was fine. There were not many big Japanese cars in the UK then and I thought it was a bit tacky with its brocade interior and fussy details, but it grew on me and I appreciated the competent engineering. It started my admiration for Japanese straight sixs and 3 litre GS300 Lexus are quite cheap now, very tempting
Crown number six works for me as well. There is one in my area I the odd time and it is a very pleasing vehicle in lots of ways. I´d be pleased to have one.
Thanks for posting this item. I grew up in the 1980s in Ireland and the prevailing attitude around me was of complete condescension to Japaese engineering and design. Today I find it richly interesting in its own way and intrinsically too. These I enjoy diversity in design solutions and have quite a catholic taste in design.
I very much wish there was a more systematic way to preserve and communicate this design heritage. It is great some owners hold on to these cars. A few museums would be handy. I enjoy architecture and fine art, both well-served by public and private museums. Industrial design is also quite well documented. Cars fall between the cracks and so it´s not often we get to see gems like today´s Crown in the metal.
Well done for spotting the CX similarity. I think both cars derived the idea from somewhere else but I can´t recall when.
“Black botox bumpers?” I do believe that you win the Internet today!
Agree 100%!
This generation Crown was still body-on-frame. Very Detroit-like.
Love the Sedan DeVille / Colonnade-style B-pillar of the 4-door “Pillared Hardtop”
Still see the odd S80 Crown (not Volvo!) here in New Zealand; they always seem to be blue. My partner’s father had a couple new; my partner was a toddler at the time and threw up all over one. He also bit a chunk out of the back seat of another…when it was one day old… He says it was probably because the brown vinyl looked like chocolate, but I think he bit it in frustration because it lacked the styling pizzazz of the S60! Compared with the S60, in my opinion the S80 is dull, with slightly suspect proportions and detailing – especially where the rear door and D-pillar meet. The hardtop sedan and coupe redeem it somewhat though.
The multiple beltline caught my attention too. Reminded me of a ’47 Studie.
Were these cars the basis for the Cressida? They sure do look similar.
I remember seeing few of this generation of Crown used by the diplomatic circles when I lived in Peking in 1975 as a teenage. As a Chinese, it was almost impossible to ride on one of these. More common small vehicles then in Peking are Beijing Jeep, Shanghai 760 and Volga for Chinese elite. Few imported Crown S60s were used by foreigner business man and tourists. My preference is simple design, so I like Crown S60, later Crown Comfort taxis, its configuration with diesel with columns manual shifter is what I like to own. Maybe I will get one from Duncan Import one day. Back to the S80, its shape was dated, by mid 70s, coke bottle shape already ended in Detroit, everyone wanted to be Mercedes W123. One thing I really want to know how is driving of each generation Crown. The closest thing I have ever been was a 2004 Lexus GS, which was very good as Mercedes E class alternative.
A manual column shift Crown, eh? We have similar tastes.
Are there any SH 760 still rolling around China anywhere? That would make an exceptional CC.
I have not been in China for long time, but i was told they started a emission control and make car no beyond 7 years old in the major cities. SH760 was never very good, after opening doors with flood of Crown and Cedric, later Mercedes Audi and Buick. SH760 is gone and forgotten.
That car really looks nice to my jaundiced eyeballs. I even like the brown-ish color; seems to fit that Crown quite well. And dig where Toyota bolted the sideview mirrors on each front fender. Like, wild man, real wild (I cribbed that line from the 1963 Foghorn Leghorn cartoon ”Banty Raids’. 😀 ).
Off topic here.. but I LOVE ‘ol Foghorn! “Nice boy..kinda dumb, I say..Kinda dumb though!”
I had one exactly like this in 1985 in Japan (it was a 76 model) and had owned a 74 S60 Kujira prior to that. Both great cars – quiet, strong inline 6 cylinder, tough as nails.
There’s a 1974 model currently for sale here, the first year for this model, and a couple of years ago I saw one on a Facebook site that had been made into a convertible (I guess the roof had rusted right through on that one).
I really, REALLY want that Crown wagon. Badly!
As a minor point, “Super Saloon” was not a body style on the S80 Crown, but rather a trim level. There were a bunch of these: Standard, Deluxe, Super Deluxe, Custom, Super Saloon, and Royal Saloon. Not all were available in all body styles, but you could for instance have a Super Saloon two-door hardtop.
(For everyone who gets annoyed about the casual misuse of terms like “hardtop” or “roadster,” “Super Saloon sedan” certainly deserves a place of dishonor.)
I don’t believe I ever wrote that Super Saloon was anything but the 2nd best trim level.
Ahh, I suppose it’s a matter of wording. Since British English would have it that a “saloon” is a sedan, one would usually take “a pristine 2600 Super Saloon, the most conservative of the Crown’s four body styles, in the second highest trim and with the largest engine” to mean that “Super Saloon” was the body style rather than the trim.