Graduating high school in the spring of 1970, it was expected that I would go to college. Dad told me that commuting to school was the way to go but I would need an automobile. We started looking, but We did not seriously consider an American car.
The 1964 Olympics was Japan’s chance to show they had recovered from World War II. The 1960s saw the rise of Japanese consumer electronics: Sony, Panasonic, Hitachi, Sharp, etc. and the Japanese had nearly conquered the world-wide camera market. Toyota had started importing on the West Coast in the 1950s, and even offered Harry S Truman a sponsorship opportunity. He didn’t take it, as he considered it beneath the office of the Presidency to capitalize monetarily on his status as a former President.
Since I was a car nut as a young child and a voracious reader, it was second nature to read Motor Trend, Car & Driver, Consumer Reports and even Road & Track although the models they usually tested were out of my price range. My favorite car reviewer was Tom McCahill of Mechanix Illustrated. So I had a general idea what cars were available and could probably tell you, from about 1963, every car model made, the trim levels, and maybe the engines available.
In August 1970 you could buy a VW Beetle, Notchback, Squareback, Fastback, Karmann Ghia, or bus. Or an Opel Cadet at the Buick dealer, and at the nearest bigger town to the West, Lima, Ohio, Renaults. Somebody in our small town had a Renault Dauphine. Dad and I looked at a Renault which was a hatchback but I forget which model it was. French and British cars were “different” at the time, and only Volkswagen had a dealer network that was comparable to the American makes.
At that point the only Japanese car I remember seeing in the wild was a Datsun 411, I think. Somebody in town had a 3 cylinder Saab.
The English sports car dealer in Lima, where I went to Ohio State Lima, had taken a Toyota franchise. They had a very small service area about the size of a bicycle shop. My dad drove a 1970 Toyota Corona Mark II for sale, and I rode in it. I fit, it had 4 doors, no radio, 4 speed transmission and a 1858cc 4 cylinder engine. The price was about $2500, tax, title out the door — there was a small discount from the window sticker. My dad financed it through his work credit union. When we took delivery, we went across the street to the mall parking lot and I learned to drive a stick. (My only experience with driving was the 1968 Mercury Montego driver’s ed car, dad’s 1960 Cadillac, and driving the car my brother taught driver’s ed with — a 1969 Buick intermediate.)
I took three of my friends out for a drive. We all weighed about 200 lb each so 800 lb was close to the load limit on that car. Went east of town on a two lane state highway, got it up to about 95 mph for all of about one minute. I can’t say the driving dynamics at that speed were stellar.
One morning on my way to class, 25 miles away, the temperature gauge went way up. And then came back down and became an intermittent problem. The head gasket was gone, $250 1970 dollars, about $2500 in 2025. Dad accused my aggressive shifting style for causing the problem. But the same thing happened to my brother’s almost identical model, with automatic.
Never had a radio but used a Sears Silvertone AM radio that fit very well under the driver’s seat. It was the glory days of AM radio, so I never had any trouble finding a station to listen to:
In the fall of 1972 I transferred to Harvard on the Hocking, otherwise known as The Ohio University in Athens. Next spring, on my way back to Athens after a weekend visit home, I had my first car wreck on Ohio State Route 56 (future location of Car & Driver road tests), when I went off the road:
Still, the car was drivable after two days at the Tansky Toyota dealership in Logan (which is still in business). I talked to the mechanic while he worked on my car. However, by that time, the car’s bumpers were starting to rust, so Dad got the whole car painted and the bumpers rechromed.
As I recall, I consistently got about 20 miles per gallon in mixed use driving, 31 miles on the highway. And by the end of four years of ownership, I had put close to 75,000 or so miles in the car.
Related CC Reading
Curbside Classic: 1970 Toyota Corona Mark II – Stodgy, Thy Name Is Toyota
Wonderful photography and story! Our dorm RA at the first year of college had a red 1966 Toyota Corona. He said it was the best car that he had ever driven and that he would always buy Toyotas in the future. My first Toyota – a used 1973 Toyota Crown Mark lll station wagon in 1982 for $1000 was a great car, ran like a tank and served a young, broke guy very well. Now after a Celica and three Camrys, and a number of mediocre (at best) American cars in between, my opinion that Toyota, like Microsoft and Apple, really changed the world with their well thought out products. What a great choice in 1970 for your parents to invest in a Toyota.
That was great fun! We didn’t all take pictures of every little thing back then, and it’s great that you have these as souvenirs (most of the photos taken with a pretty nice camera, too). I was an early-1970s Ohio State undergrad, and the parking sticker looked immediately familiar. Even in that handful of years in Columbus, I noticed the increasing number of Japanese-maker cars in the commuter lots and parking garages. Times were changing!
Nice , sad the head gasket blew but that’s life .
You could buy a VW Typ III fast back but _not_ a notch back as VWoA flat refused to import them .
Was the accident caused by too fast or rain / ice ? .
I really like the looks of the red coupe in the advert .
-Nate
Too fast, alas!
The top shot looks fit for a car brochure. Excellent photography overall.
Great pictures and a good read. I wish I had taken pictures of my early cars, especially posted so well.
I had a GF in Iowa whose family was an early Toyota adopter and had a MK II like this. I drove it a few times; my first Toyota driving experience. Obviously not a BMW; these were not conducive to fast cornering but it drove well and most of all, it shifted better than any manual I’d driven up to that point.
Lima born, Lima (Columbus Grove farm) reared here. Foreign cars were rarely seen. I recall seeing a car, a “Mercedes.” Odd. Attractive, but odd.
Like your Dad, my Dad considered Toyota in 1970. We’d moved to Arizona in 1969. Our first time in a foreign cars dealer showroom. Dad never took the Japanese-made bait until 1986, though. After 1986, he never bought another American-made car.
I’ll echo the others above about your excellent photos – the black-and-white is my favorite, but all are great to see. It was great to read this – occurred to me as I was reading this that I don’t know of anyone who owned a Toyota of this vintage… terrific to read about your purchasing and ownership experiences!
An elderly, retired, couple living in my aunt/uncles, apt building had this car (a “67-8”). Same color. I know they had it , still, around “1980”.
I believe the wife passed away in “80-81ish”.
She was the one that usually driving, when the car was in motion.
Other car was a “69 Dart Swinger”. Husband generally drove that one.
Welcome Typopete!
I’ll just chime in on the quality of the photography. It’s as if you somehow knew since 1970 that you’d be posting here on CC.
I’d love to hear more in future posts about what so clearly opened your dad’s mind to Japanese car ownership. To me, he seems pretty ahead of the curve (or at least on the leading edge) for his day.
The Renault hatchback was probably a Renault 16.
Awesome story and stunning photography – the last photo looks very artistic, with fine grain and taken with a wide angle lens. Keep ’em coming!
That Renault hatchback was a Renault 16, one of the first to hit the market. I was in kindergarten in 1970 so wasn’t quite reading Road & Track but was car mad, and the New York City suburbs had a lot of imported cars.
I think sliding off the road was a rite of passage, I put my Volvo in a ditch on snow sophomore year of college.
Thank you all for the kind comments. Not sure why my dad was open to Toyota, perhaps it was frustration with all of the American cars he had through the years, being impressed with Japanese electronics, and my fascination with Japanese SLR cameras. He was a member of the Allied Industrial Workers and he told me that part of the “union pledge” was to always buy “American-made” products but he bought the Toyota anyway. As this series continues my dad will continue to figure in this story.