Here we go for another JDM parallel universe oddball, this time in two-door form: the curious case of the Celica notchback that got facelifted and rebranded as a Corona. Was that sufficient to really turn it into a Corona, whatever that actually means? In hindsight, probably not.
The early ‘80s saw Toyota’s range, hitherto quite conservative, overcome with a wave of Front-drivitis. Near the apex, the brand new Camry / Vista went FWD in 1982. The lowest rung of the range, the Starlet, changed over in 1984. The Corolla / Sprinter lost its floor hump more gradually from 1983 onwards, as did the Carina / Corona. Yet the new FWD Corona T150, sold alongside the RWD T140 for several years, did not initially include a two-door variant.
Then, in 1985, the Celica succumbed to the FWD epidemic and re-aligned itself with the Carina / Corona, just as it always had been, as the T160. Abroad, the new Celica was available as a notchback, a hatchback and ultimately a convertible. Toyota felt that the notchback would sell better on the JDM if it were marketed to a more mature clientele – one that did not go for the Celica’s racy hidden headlamps.
Thus the Corona Coupé came to be. It would remain a JDM exclusive, offered initially with three engine options (a 1.6, a 1,8 and a 2-litre) and five trim levels. The 1.6 was deleted after the mid-cycle refresh in 1987 and the SOHC 1.8 was replaced by a twin cam the next year.
Our feature car is a late-model GT-R, the highest trim with the most powerful engine, the 3S-GE. This engine was available in the US market Celica GT-S, where it provided 135hp. In Japan though, different emissions regulations meant that the same 1998cc block could churn out 160hp.
This car lacks license plates, which means it’s probably going to be chopped up in due course – yes, even in this condition. Heartbreaking!
Looks mighty tight back there. But hey, if you wanted space for the kids, the Corona saloon was just a few meters away within the same Toyopet Store.
The T160 Corona Coupé counts as one of Toyota’s rare missteps on their home turf – and it happened during a decade of unmitigated success. It replaced the RWD T140 Corona Coupé, which was a rather sweet-looking (if a bit origami-esque) genuine hardtop, but failed to elicit anything near the same level of interest.
Between August 1985 and September 1989, the Corona Coupé only tallied just under 35,000 units in Japan. That was during a massive expansion of the economy, a time when Corollas, Crowns, Mark IIs, Soarers and Supras were positively flying out the dealerships in their thousands every week.
This goes some way to explain why the Corona Coupé died without issue. Would the story have been different had it been called a Celica and had a different front end? Changing tack, Toyota decided to create the Corona Exiv hardtop sedan to spruce up the Corona range. It was a somewhat more successful gambit than this T160 Coupé, though in the final analysis, the historic Corona nameplate itself was found to be disposable. As was this particular car, unfortunately.
Related post:
Curbside Classic: 1988 Toyota Celica GT – Oh What A Feeling!, by Brendan Saur
Interesting. I did not know of this one’s existence. I really like the Celica of this generation, but this Corona Coupé is a little more meh to me. Could it be the lack of pop up lights? Maybe but not sure. The front end is a little more generic at the very least and I assume this cost more than a Celica given its upmarket aspirations.
You’ve done it again – shown us a car we (ibn Europe at least) are totally unfamiliar with and demonstrated a full knowledge of it, its place in the JDM world and even interpreted the number plates.
Very impressive, even if the car is not the most exciting thing every to come out of Tokyo
It does look very conservative, to the point of blandness. Too bland for Japan?
Here’s the T140 it replaced. Much more stylish (if dated by now).
Given its success in other segments, Toyota really struggled to sell the later-generation Celica and its derivatives in the home market. Japanese buyers really liked the first-generation car, probably because it was such a novel merchandising concept, and they went for the six-cylinder Celica XX (which became the Supra), but JDM sales of the four-cylinder Celica were generally poor after the first year of the second generation. I assume slapping a different headline treatment on the notchback and selling it as a Corona coupe was an effort to find some variation domestic buyers would like.
One quibble: The JDM 3S-GELU engine in this generation was still rated in JIS gross output, as the domestic market was still making a slow shift to net ratings. JIS gross ratings were about 15 percent higher than net, and both were in PS rather than mechanical horsepower, so the 160 PS gross rating probably translated to a net output almost identical to the 135 hp SAE net rating the engine carried in the States. (Japanese emissions standards in this period were about the same as in the U.S.) The European-market Celica, which did without a catalytic converter, claimed 147 hp DIN.
I do wish Toyota made a modern equivalent of the T140.
Altezza was 2.0 RWD, lots of them here called a Lexus in some markets.
Yes, but the 2 door hardtop element is just as important to me as the RWD.
As an aside I’ve driven an Altezza. I was not impressed with the engine as it was not particularly smooth and willing to rev like say the 4AGE engines or a Honda engine.
They tried and failed again in the 90s to sell the notchback Celica with more mature styling, as the Curren. They really didn’t learn anything from this Corona Coupe.
Toyota st165 corona gtr jdm only
3sge engine
With 127kw and a top speed of 222kph
Was fun until I over revved it and twisted the crankshaft!