We know a young woman called Ebola. There is also a forestry / landscaping company called Ebola in the region. We know someone called Sars. In 1957 Toyota presented the first Corona. And nowhere is more toilet paper available.
The Toyota Corona was made from 1957 to 2001. And in the first and last years, there was no global phenomenon, but the Corona's were sold exclusively domestically. The Toyota Corona has never become pandemic, but it has been a success for Toyota for many years.
So Toyota
The Toyota Industries Corporation was founded in 1926 by Sakichi Toyoda. And like other Japanese manufacturers who later started making vehicles, Toyoda started to produce looms. Before he became a company he had invented and made such a thing. That was in 1890. So Toyota now has an impressive history. The company has remained true to its roots, far-cousins of those machines still leave the factory. The 'factory' now consists of 40 car factories and about 350.000 employees. The first Toyota car, the Toyota AA, was made in 1935. And in 1957, the Toyota Crown / Corona became the first car the company exported to the United States, where the car became a long-term success.
That first shipment of Corona's were of the T 100 type and they were available as sedan, hardtop coupe, a kind of 'woody' and van. The American Coronas had 2,2 liter four-cylinder. For other markets there were 1600 and 2000 cc blocks while there were 'For Nippon only' blocks with double overhead camshafts. But the Coronas proved themselves as 'Dauerbrenners'. Take a look:
- First generation Corona (1957-1960),
- Second generation Corona (1960-1964)
- Third generation Corona (1964-1970)
- Fourth generation Corona (1970-1973)
- Fifth generation Corona (1973-1979)
- Sixth generation Corona (1978-1983)
- Seventh generation Corona (1982-1987)
For us, the origin story ends there. The Corona got front-wheel drive. But counting through, we arrive at ten generations.
In the first few years sales doubled each time. In terms of figures: In 1967 476.807 were sold, in 1968 the spread had grown to 6.591.991 according to our archive. The American success was explainable. In road tests, the Toyota Corona repeatedly emerged as a fine, but rather small car by American standards. The Hotchkiss rear axle and four-speed gearbox were highly rated. The firstfruits had 9 inch drum brakes all round and had to do without power steering. The 90 hp four-cylinder was also seen as highly adequate.
The first mutation was the 1969 Toyota Corona MkII
It had a slightly larger wheelbase, a slightly smaller engine (with a crankshaft mounted five times) and a little more power and was optionally - and very important for the USA market - equipped with a two-speed automatic transmission. The Corona's between 1974-1978 had a longer wheelbase and (even) better handling. In 1975 new engine blocks with electronic ignition, an electric petrol pump, fewer parts and lower emissions plus standard radial tires were introduced. Furthermore, the Toyota was standard rich in design and buttons and meters. The appearance was also heavily upgraded. In 1976, 3.000.000 had been sold worldwide.
1972-1982 Corona's
A hatchback arrived and the Van disappeared. The styling was revised, the price was adjusted and the suspension became even more American. The manual transmission had five transmissions and the automatic transmission had four very progressive. 1982 was the end year for The Corona's in The States, where they were followed by the Camry's. For other countries, Corona's and Camry's continued to co-exist. Or did Corona's simply remain Corona. The Corona's started and ended their history in their home country. The last generation of Corona's was only made for Japan.
We are curious about the market development of this Toyota with its currently somewhat contaminated name. Maybe now is the time to….
Finding early copies will not be easy.
The Toyotas were very sensitive to rust
More Toyota classics through this link…
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that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
Just bought a bunch of roses for my Lief. But you're right