The 1971-74 Toyota Crown was a watershed moment for the company; one that I believe had a significant influence on the initial success of the Lexus. Being a Toyota, it was most likely an in-house styling job. That said, in tracing the stylistic influences on this car – overt or otherwise – I find that the 1967-69 Thunderbird plays the greatest part.
The S60 Toyota Crown is known affectionally as the ‘Kujira’ or ‘Blue Whale’. The nickname comes from the shape of the car; a steeply-angled chin under the wide, finely-grilled mouth and those deep side panels. It was an avant-garde anomaly in the succession of Crowns, and stands out all the more for it. I looked for one to purchase a few years ago, but (as with anything ubiquitous in the 70s) they have now disappeared from the roads. I ended up getting the next generation Crown instead which I loved anyway.
At first glance, the glamorbird influence is not so strong. In profile, the four-door T-bird looks even less like the Crown than the two-door, so I’m sticking with the two. The glamorbird does suffer from awkward proportioning. If I had my druthers, I’d push the front wheels forward, pull the cabin back and voila – the first three-seat T-bird. But I digress. The telling aspects of the glamorbird for this story lie not in the car’s profile, but in its end-caps.
Paul’s recent treatise on fuselage has opened the floodgates on discussing this much-maligned style. I’d like to pick up on a particular aspect of fuselage I over-elaborately call the hollow-section extrusion effect. In order for this sub-theory to work, you have to allow for some tapering and minor curvature that is not possible with genuine extrusion.
The cap-f Fuselage Mopars such as the 1970 Chrysler 300 provide a great example of this effect. The body appears to have been extruded lengthways, and then the front end is sliced off cleanly and a grille applied to fill the hollow-section cavity. The lowercase-f fuselage Mopars were also in on the act, this 1971 Sebring being an exemplar with a more sophisticated extrusion cross-section. Mark Newson’s 1999 Ford 021C concept provides another simpler example from a completely different era. I put all the above in a sub-sub-category called ‘thickwall’ hollow-section extrusion, where the loop-bumper appears to be the thickness of the extrusion wall.
To continue, these above examples fall under the ‘thinwall’ category. Ford’s 1968/69 Ranchero provides a great extrusion example in its bodyside; unlike the rest of the Ford intermediates which feature a hip-kick. With those side-outriggers at the front end, however, this is not a ‘clean slice’. The 1965 Bertone Mustang is an excellent example of thinwall extrusion with a clean-slice face. The 1967-69 Thunderbird provides another example. As does our Crown.
But there is a more telling feature that links the Crown to the T-bird. The T-bird has a distinctive styling detail; a stepped bodyside style, where the step appears to be defined by a rebate running along the front and top edges. It uses this to reduce the width of its grille aperture.
To demonstrate this, I have hidden the headlights on the S60 (not an option on the real car) and filled in the aperture above the grille on the hood. The Crown uses this rebate effect along the top surface, rather than on the bodyside. In rotating it 90 degrees, I hope you can see what I mean. It’s a curious detail I’ve not seen often; this GMC provides another bodyside example.
The S60 used this solution to overcome a problem of its own; tall engines. In order to accommodate the height of its carryover mills, Toyota used the T-bird rebate. This long lens shot shows how tall and narrow the S60 actually is; that hood rebate and the sharp angle of the bumper under the grille go along way in mitigating this impression.
I love me a large-ish Japanese wagon, but I’m in two minds about this one. The rear lensware is certainly spacey and exotic, with the differences between updates shown here. What troubles me is the radius curve around the outer sides of the lens panel. On the front of the car, this area is defined by a flat plane which puts it at odds with this circular rear end treatment. That c-pillar doesn’t help, either.
It’s not alone as an oddball Japanese wagon; this Nissan 110 Skyline van (top right) is another missed opportunity. The S60 appears not to take the full volume of a wagon that its predecessor Crown (middle left) and successor Crown (middle right) did. The Peugeot 304 had short-butt wagons so as not to compete with its larger and more senior brethren – but that’s not an issue here. Whatever the reason, the 1971 AMC Sportabout gives us a masterclass on how to treat a short-butt wagon which the S60 should have perhaps heeded (or anticipated).
The Hardtop, on the other hand, is the most sophisticated and complete Crown body ever. The sedan and wagon received the S60 designation, and the hardtops were S70. In first iteration form with the colour-coded bumpers, there is not a wrong line or detail. Even the vent in the c-pillar is not too elaborate or distracting; all the detail on this car’s exterior feels right and not overdone.
The most obvious influence is the intermediate 68/69 Torino fastback, particularly with those three chromed accents. Certainly the leading edge of the c-pillars are similar, but the Torino is a full fastback, with the angle of the rear window continuing into the trunk. The 68 Barracuda fastback and Doug D’s 72 Matador are probably more apt references. They share the same style of c-pillar leading edge and – unlike the Torino – the trunk plane is horizontal as it is on the S70. If I had to choose the most direct influence, the AMC hardtop (which first appeared in 1970) wins.
Another car to have tried this sort of c-pillar is the Ford Capri. This window line appeared on production prototypes and was deleted very late in development (for good reason). I chose this styling prototype image because it also demonstrates how the Capri toyed with a more severe thinwall extrusion effect at the front before softening it for production.
The S70 Hardtop sits comfortably with the top echelon of Japanese sedan-based coupes such as the Mazda R130, its direct rival the Nissan 230 Cedric, and the Nissan 110 Skyline, shown here in thickwall extrusion racing guise. In truth, each of these coupes are as attractive as most of their global rivals.
The S60/70 Crown represented a deeper commitment to luxury for Toyota. The Super Saloon and Royal Saloon trim options became available with this model. The pick-up utility model from previous generations was dropped and a bigger engine, the 2.6 I6, was available across the range. Toyota was leading the Japanese foray into the rest of the world, and the Crown was their flagship model for the task. Its avant-garde styling most probably reflects a confidence manifesting throughout the company at the time.
In retrospect, perhaps it was an overconfidence. The S60 was not considered a success. The S40 generation was rendered in a conventional style, things started to go a bit weird with the second S50 (top right) and its Triumph-like face. Then the S50 went more conventional (middle left). Then they went weird again with our S60. In 1974 the range was comprehensively redesigned over the S60 platform and returned to a very conventional appearance (S80/100, bottom left), as did the 1979 S110 (bottom right) and all subsequent Crowns.
Perry’s piece on the failure of the Infiniti Q45 comes to mind here. Whereas the completely competent Q45 was launched with an avant-garde grille-less face and seemed to suffered for it, the Lexus was utterly conventional in its styling and became a success. There can be no more obvious example of lessons learnt for Toyota here than the S60 Crown.
If I haven’t completely convinced you of the glamorbird influence, let me take you to the other end of the car. The 67 and 68 Thunderbirds had one of the most fantastic rear panels in cardom. The loop light emphasises the shape of the ‘extrusion’ beautifully. The 1969 glamorbird, on the other hand, had a one-year-only rear end treatment (lower left). At lower right is an S60; just turn those lenses inside out… ‘Thunderwhale’ seems more appropriate than ‘Bluebird’.
It took me a long time to see the glamorbird’s influence on the S60, because it’s not a slavish steal. It’s a smart application of a design conceit used to overcome inherent limitations (okay, maybe the rear was a steal). As for other influences, it cribs no more than US carmakers were cribbing from each other. It may not be as beautiful as the Nissan 230 Cedric, but whenever I catch a glimpse of an S60 Crown I see a Syd Mead spaceship gliding through space.
Further Reading
I was a small kid in the mid 70s back in Puerto Rico but we had the Crowns. I remember the sound of its engine. They were kinda ugly but they did sell well back home. Just like here in the US, hard to find one. You only see the old Coronas and Corollas and that’s it.
The front ends do look alike. Don’t really think that either one is good for style though.
Very nice; I had made a generalized connection of these two cars’ front ends way back in the day, but had not really thought about in decades.
This generation Crown was a CC find even when new! They just didn’t sell well, even in Toyota Land (So Cal). Its predecessor was quite successful and common, but the S69/70 was a total sales failure here, undoubtedly mostly because of its front end. Toyota had always been pretty conservative stylistically, the Crown especially so. This just blew its potential buyers away.
Seeing one one on the streets soon became a challenge. I can’t remember the last one I ever saw, but I have held out hope that I would, or at least a cohort poser might. No such luck, yet.
Thanks.
Quite rare in NZ rust ate them all but common enough in Australia my neighbours teen son in Geeveston Tas had one I offered him a 5speed box for it but he was having diff problems at the time and demurred, full revs and sidestepping the clutch will break even Toyota parts as he discovered.
Very nice styling analysis; I never thought of the extrusion analogy, but it makes perfect sense. My dearly departed Mazda RX-4 (Luce) Coupe would have fallen squarely into this camp.
I like the fact that you have, partially at least, exonerated Dick Teague. One nit: The Rebel / Matador / Ambassador coupe roofline pictured debuted for 1970.
Utility be damned, in my (Kenosha-slanted) opinion the Hornet Sportabout is about the best looking wagon ever.
Thanks for the correction on the AMC hardtop date, 1964bler. The RX4 is another great Japanese coupe and only just missed the cut for this piece.
I am so glad to finally see the S70 Crown coupe on this site! I just paid for a 1972 red one which has been disintegrating in a barn since 1987. I grab a trailer and pick it up tomorrow, and tomorrow night I will get to see if I can start it! It cost me 500 bucks, but will need a ton of work. Seeing how rare a japanese car older than 25 years is here in Ontario (with how aggresively we salt our roads here) I think that is a fine deal.
Since I paid for it last week, I have been astounded at the complete lack of information on these in English! I couldnt even find the bolt pattern spacing online! So glad to read about the model, thank you.
Superb find; many jealous emoticons from me. It looks like your rocker panel needs immediate attention, but metal work is the easy (if expensive) part. If you’ve got all the trim and, most importantly, lensware, then you’ve scored a bargain.
I hope you will write this car up for CC.
+1! I’d love to read more about this find.
I have been out to see the car once, where I took some pictures and said “I’ll pass, I thought Itd be in better shape and I already have a basket case CRX.” But then the seller (who was clearing the house of an uncle moved recently to a nursing home) said she’d just put the thing on kijiji for a ‘first 500$ takes it’, I had to say yes. And I knew I’d never see another one again!
So tomorrow at noon, title in hand, with a borrowed red Toyota stick-shift Tacoma, we will tow the red Toyota stick-shift Crown to a better place where we will do some work and see if it starts up. Apparently the owner parked it in 1987 after the rockers rusted. “Ran when parked”. Hah. Heard that before. Well, it didnt leak all its fluids out (clean floor underneath), so I doubt it is seized.
Here are some pictures: http://imgur.com/a/7e775 Seems like there is interest, so maybe I can find a way to let people know of my progress. I post a lot on reddit.com/r/projectcar
Lovely find!
Wouldn’t these be a Ford/Mopar 5-on-4-1/2″ bolt pattern, the same as a Hilux? Nissans usually have the same pattern.
Yep! 5×114.3mm. Had to measure, since not a single website had this info. I found a set of slightly balding tires and steel rims off a Mazda truck on kijiji for 80$, so I can at least roll it around and onto a trailer.
Assuming its got the 5 stud pattern it will be the same PCD as the Furd & Chrysler 5 stud pattern. There’s plenty of Toyotas here in Aus with Furd
rims on ’em.
Not sure if the wheel nut tapers are compatible however.
A lot of people don’t realize that Crowns were BOF, not unibody, into the late 80s-early 90s or so.
Even more curiously, the ’90s S140 cars were offered in both BOF and monocoque forms. The Crown Royal had a frame and the bigger Crown Majesta did not. (That’s perhaps overstating the point just slightly: They both had the same basically unitized inner body shell — stretched a bit in the Majesta’s case — but the Crown had a full-length perimeter frame rather than the Majesta’s separate front and rear subframes. I assume the “BOF” S140 actually got most or all of its torsional and bending stiffness from the body and the point of the perimeter frame was to isolate road shocks, which was also the goal, if not necessarily the effect, of Detroit’s late-60s perimeter frame cars.)
Sharing the basic design with the then new Celsior/Lexus LS ended the full perimeter frame arrangement in 1991.
For the Majesta, not the Royal. The launch brochure for the S140 series definitely says the S140 Crown Royal had a perimeter frame while the Crown Majesta series had front and rear subframes — there are even comparison diagrams of the two arrangements.
Amazing to think that they’d do that. But Japanese cars often have surprising home market variations.
Considering the way they did it, it was probably pretty inexpensive to do, but it was an unusual trick. I would be curious to see a side-by-side comparison of what effect the differences had in the real world.
Those Crown wagons had a panel evaporation rate second to none in NZ they made 50s Vauxhalls look durable the most lasting part was the stick on woodgrain. Mechanically they were great bodywise the just washed away.
I nearly bought an S80/100 wagon that had woodgrain on the tailgate only. Never seen it on an S60.
There were a few Japanese wagons on the Aussie market then that had wood on the tailgate – it must have been a passing fad in Japan. IIRC the Datsun 180B wagon had it too. BTW, the S80/100 wagon was never a common sight. And there was a S80/100 sedan in my town until a few years ago. Those old Crowns often seemed to run forever.
Too right, my 1976 S80 sedan was an outer suburban/inner regional car so it had good country miles in its history. I bought it for $800 in 2009, it had some rust and was never going to be a keeper. This car was so tight and silent at idle, at traffic lights I thought it had stalled. Wallowed like a barge though.
Those 4M’s were ridiculously quiet. Especially compared to the L24E in my uncle’s ’77 Skyline that was always stalling at idle.
makes sense. the Japanese auto industry got going by copying what the other manufacturers were doing, but also making sure they didn’t screw up what the US and European makers were screwing up.
Very nice, Don. An excellent and well-researched and illustrated post. I do love the styling of the Crown line through the generations with the S70 probably being my favorite. The only Crowns though that I have ever been in are the more recent Crowns in Japan and Hong Kong (Crown Comfort model?) that are used as Taxis in those locations amongst others. Do they make those as a “civilian” version as well in any market or is it Taxi specific (HK version pictured)? Nissan has a version of the Cedric as well that competes in the Taxi market but I’ve always been partial to the Crown.
For quite a while, what Toyota was doing was essentially keeping an earlier generation of the Crown sedan in production as the baseline Crown sedan and Crown Comfort for fleet/taxi buyers. So, you could still buy a civilian version, although I imagine sales were pretty minimal. I don’t know if they’re continuing that with the latest generation introduced last fall.
Interesting — I wouldn’t have connected the S60 with the four-door Glamour Bird. (I have previously described the S70 as a cross between a 1971 Plymouth Satellite and a coastal gun emplacement, although the roof smacks more of the 1967 Chrysler C-bodies.)
I suspect the commercial failings of this generation had a lot to do with timing. I don’t know how hard Toyota pressed these in markets like Australia, but Toyota’s U.S. organization never gave the Crown much emphasis (which, at least with the previous generation, Toyota Motor Sales’ Shoji Hattori said was intentional). In Japan, I think it probably ran into a generation gap: In the early ’70s, these were still way too expensive for most Japanese buyers (especially the 2.6, which was also very costly to run) and the people who could afford it were older and very conservative. It seems like it really took until the early ’80s Yuppie boom for there to be a market for more style-driven luxury cars, and even then Toyota was very careful to supplement rather than replace its existing, conservative big cars, apparently having learned its lesson.
Coastal gun emplacement.. hehehe
Really, I would half expect to lift the hood and see a little stack of cannonballs next to the air cleaner. You never know when you might have to defend your engine compartment from a pirate fleet.
CC effect: saw an S70 Crown Hardtop last weekend. Appeared to be a recent rescue as it was in a private yard on a car-trailer, and hadn’t been there a couple of weeks earlier when I last went past. Still the odd sedan around here, but only 6 wagons left here, and I haven’t seen one in over a year. I love the S60/70 Crown the pre-facelift, fully-body-coloured-bumpers form; the styling is so unique, so interesting. And the cool thing is the consistency is remarkable – they all look like they were designed at the same time by the same person.
Another link to add to the ‘Further Reading’ would be Tom’s post last year on a tomica S60 Crown: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/mini-cc-1971-toyota-crown-by-tomica-far-east-fuselage-style/
Anyway, back to the article, any writer who can cohesively tie together Crown, Thunderbird, fuselage and hollow-section extrusion effect is a champ in my book! ’twas a fantastic lunchtime read! After years in the styling doldrums, it’s nice to see the current gen14 S210 Crown displaying some styling verve in the shape (literally) of a crown –
Thanks Scott. It seems from the internet that NZ would have more S60 wagons than any other country in the world, including possibly Japan. The sedans were CKD here, and I don’t think they brought in many wagons or hardtops either in pieces or fully imported.
Re the wagons Don, and your reply above to Bryce re never seeing a woodgrained S60, my Australian friend Daniel lives in Japan, and owns and runs the great Wasabi Cars website and facebook page. A friend of Dan’s owns an unspeakably cool MS63 Crown wagon that has two-tone paint in the style of woodgrain. Daniel’s ridden in this wagon several times and reports it to be the height of cooldom. It features on several of the Wasabi Cars t-shirts too! So here for your delectation is what an MS63 might look like if it had factory woodgrain:
Damn it’s handsome, needs a front-end shot too:
While I’m here, here it is alongside an S70:
I’m in complete awe of how f-ing cool that car is!
Heck yeah! It blew me away when Dan first featured it on Wasabi Cars; still does. Glad I’m not the only one 🙂
And lastly, Dan’s got one of his humorous and informative videos of it on Wasabi Cars. http://wasabicars.com/video.html?view=rzgkkjN9tU0
Hey Scott. I’ve watched Wasabi Cars videos. They’re lots of fun to watch, and Dan’l shows you some cars that you don’t see anywhere outside Japan.
Glad you enjoy the Wasabi Cars vids Jason; Dan’s style is unique – in a good way! He always makes me laugh, yet I’m learning stuff at the same time.
Only the sedans were sold here when new, never the wagons or hardtops – but knowing the import guys I’m sure we have some in 2014!
Nz got lots of cars Aus didnt, I dont know why, Farmers trading company had Crown wagons as travelers cars a mate of my dads had one he loved it but the body was shot within 2 years our local chemist bought a 69 wagon looked after it like a baby always garaged it too got terminal rust through, this was at a time when most old Kiwi cars had a skim coat of filler hiding rust holes from WOF inspectors but on old British/ American cars it took longer for rust holes to make themselves known.
“Nz got lots of cars Aus didnt, I dont know why”
To a large degree you can blame that on the post-war Australian government’s regulations to protect the local car industry. Import duties were high to encourage companies to manufacture or at least assemble cars here. Component supply was a huge business when you had something like eight or ten companies assembling cars here.
As a result imported cars were often priced way out of line with their locally made competition – the Renault 18 was almost twice the price of the locally-made Japanese competitors. Same with VWs after they stopped local assembly.
Then they progressively lowered the duties, until now we’ll soon have almost no car industry. Who wins? Nobody that I can see.
I read somewhere years ago that Japan used NZ as a pilot market, which is why they got a broader array of models. I’ve asked Scott about this in the past and he hadn’t heard of it.
Nz was a beta market for some cars Toyota had their new widebody Camry tested in our market then reconfigured for Aus / world consumption but other stuff came here and not too OZ from the US and Britain too NZs car market was the most crowded on the planet at one stage, Scott may not realise that he is a bit young to remember the bad old days NZ had a component industry wiring looms carpets tyres exhaust systems radiators and sundry other parts were exported to Aus to pay for our CKD kits local content was a big thing in getting assembly costs down and retail prices all our Aussie cars had carpet on the floors no rubber mats in old Holdens and Fords/
Ha, I saw the fastback and thought “hey, not bad” but then in the next photo block down, there’s my car!
Although I prefer the S50 Crown, as usual because I was exposed to one as a kid, my Dad’s cousin had one.
Agreed that’s a very weird combination on the lead photo, would never have thought those two shared anything.
Thanks for blanking out the front quarter panel on yours to help emphasise the rear end for my demonstration. hehehe
The crown would look better with a canoe on top.. 🙂
Interesting article. I remember the Toyota Crown but not this oddly styled version. I was living in the LA area when they were new, so there must have been a few around. It really does appear to have copied the 67 T-Bird grill. The rear panel and tail lamps on the sedan also remind me of 67 Camaro. The S70 Hardtop looks a lot like a 65-66 Mustang Fastback from the view shown.
The 1969 Camaro looks like an example of fuselage styling as well.
That stepback over the grille looks wrong on a car but it would look just Wright on a building…
http://www.travelphotobase.com/v/USMI/MIKWG11.HTM
We used to call that the mail slot Crown back in the day. I’m sure more than one Crown owner came out to find letters stuck in their upper grille!
Interesting article Don. The front bumper shape surely drew inspiration from the P3 and P5 Taunuses too, with their curled-up ends. Apart from the front end they are fairly conventionally-styled for the time, with nicely executed rear ends. It is definitely one of the reasons Toyotas were not adventurous for a long time (most of the time).
Judging by the number of these Crowns still on the road they must have sold reasonably well in Australia, but I would imagine not as well as the other, more conservatively-styled generations. In particular the subsequent S80/100 (at the bottom left of the generations photo) that could have been a platform-sharing job with the contemporary Mazda 929/Luce.
The dropping of the ute variant is not something I’ve thought about, but it probably marked the end of the car-based ute for Toyota. I haven’t seen a Crown ute for a long time, in fact I have seen both Corona and Publica utes more recently.
Found this ‘Crown Double Cabin’ on Wiki…
I’ve always loved the 1971-74 Toyota Crown. I think it’s better looking than what Toyota was selling in North America at the time. It’s just an unforgivable shame that it was never sold in the large numbers as the Corona, the Corona Mark II, Corolla, Land Cruiser, Hilux (Pickup) truck were sold.
It was sold in North America, but Toyota didn’t market it aggressively because they were wary of going directly against the six-cylinder American compacts. Toyota’s U.S. organization felt that the smaller cars were a much safer bet, which was probably true.
I also have to think that for many non-U.S. manufacturers, there was something galling about having products that in most other markets were considered big, luxurious cars classed as cheap economy cars in the U.S. just because they weren’t 18 feet long. The Crown was the sort of car that high-ranking Toyota executives would have been likely to drive themselves (assuming they didn’t yet rate a chauffeur), so I can’t imagine it would have been appetizing to see it in comparison tests with the Plymouth Valiant, AMC Hornet, and Chevrolet Nova…
In the US, the Crown was never compared to the Valiant and such. It was more comparable in price, size, and quality to cars like the Volvo 144/244, Peugeot 404/504, the low end Mercedes, BMW, etc. It appealed to folks that were early Toyota adopters, including university profs, engineers, etc..
I knew several folks that had bought an early Corona and then traded up to either MKIIs or Crowns (the previous generation). These folks could afford nice cars, and buying a Toyota was seen as being smart, different, cool, practical, etc…
It was no different than the kind of folks who bought diesel Benzes back then; same types: early adopters.
But this gen Crown turned everyone off, except the hard-core T acolytes. It was considered ugly, and a mistake. The previous Crown was very decent looking, both conservative yet different. A Japanese Volvo or W114/123, if there ever was one. Same demographic. It’s kind of a shame that T blew it with this Crown; they were on the way to making inroads into the mid-premium field against the Europeans. They could have started Lexus 20 years sooner.
In Australia Crowns took sales away form the Big Three’s cars. They were a slightly smaller alternative to the Holden/Falcon/Valiant (which were often thought to have grown too big) and appealed to the older buyer as they were built on an old-style chassis. The interior was not noticeably smaller, and nicely appointed and trimmed. Being locally assembled, they were good value for money too.
I can’t say I noticed any difference in popularity between these and the previous Crowns. But by the S80/100, pricing had moved the car firmly upmarket and into a black hole, owned by European cars. No comparison, not in the seventies!
Perhaps Toyota should’ve aimed the S60/S70 Crown against cars like the Volvo 140 series, the BMW 3.0S (Bavaria), or the Mercedes-Benz of the same vintage. What I’ve never understood was what was so ugly about this generation Crown.
I’m inclined to agree with Paul. Sizewise, these were closer to the TC Cortina and LH Torana over here.
But much better finished and equipped Toyota put in all the fruit Toranas and Cortinas were pretty shoddily built and featured nothing but a heater demister standard and even that was ADR required.
Don, the Datsun 240K and Toyota Corona Mark II were closer to being Torana/Cortina sized. The Crown was larger, but not as big as the normal Holden/Falcon/Valiant. Sort of a no-man’s land.
The one dimension that really differed was width, where all Japanese cars at the time had to comply with the Japanese market 1700mm width limit. This was not such an issue with the S60/70 cars which looked well-proportioned, but the S80/100s really looked narrow with their square bodies, vertical grilles and the rubber pads on the bumper corners.
The 240K/Skyline and MarkII (later Cressida) really took off during the seventies, and just about killed the sales of Crowns and 280Cs.
I’m going to write this one up later, but this S40/Mk1 Cortina comparo is interesting.
I know where that one is Don, this shot is from 10 days ago! For a change the Cortina was without its companion.
I’d go along with Pete. The Crown was only a couple of inches shorter than a HQ Kingswood and priced up against the upper-level Holdens. If you weren’t after 5-6 seat capacity the Crown would serve just as well, with better equipment levels and refinement.
To clarify, there were Japanese cars of the ’70s that were wider than 1,700mm or longer than 4,700mm, but not many and usually not by very much. Models with engines over 2 liters would often be a bit wider or a bit longer since the engine would put the car in the next tax bracket anyway.
It’s a shame that Toyota didn’t market it aggressively. The Corona, Corona Mark II, Corolla, Hilux (Pickup) were good vehicles, but I believe that had Toyota offered the Crown to the North American market, it would’ve showed us that yeah, Toyota can make something other than small, economical cars. That Toyota can build mid-sized cars, similar to what was sold by GM, Ford, Chrysler.
I don’t understand what you’re saying. Toyota did offer the Crown in America, from 1958 through 1973. The pulled the plug because this S60S70 version sold very poorly; it was a dud, because of its odd styling.
So it was its looks that drove people away? That’s too bad. I knew that the Crown was sold in the US from 1958 to 1973, but I’ve never see a Crown. I’ve seen pics of them, but I’ve never seen one in person, either at car shows or on the road.
I consider it unforgivable that Toyota didn’t market the Crown aggressively. I believe it would’ve given loyal Toyota buyers something different to think about. They like the Corona, Corona Mark II, and Corolla, but want to upgrade to something larger, but don’t want to buy an American car like the Chevy Nova, the Ford Maverick/Mercury Comet, or a Dodge Dart/Plymouth Valiant.
Perhaps Toyota should’ve marketed the Crown against the likes of the Volvo 140 series of cars?
Great piece, Don! This is my favorite period of Japanese design, lots of creative and adventurous styling. Inspiration was coming from all over the place while they were hammering out their own unique language. Oftentimes, they weren’t very cohesive, and some were horrific, like many Nissans from the latter part of the decade, but I even like most of those weird/failed efforts if only because they’re so different. On the other end of the spectrum, there’s that gorgeous Mazda R130, which looks like the perfect offspring of a 2nd gen Corvair and a Lancia Fulvia.
It’s too bad Toyota didn’t go for a hidden headlamp setup like the Photoshop here – that looks incredible. I’m really into the S50 as well, but I think if I was given a choice of any Toyota Crown I’d go with that white S60 wagon. I don’t see the incongruity between front and rear as a big problem and I actually think the C-pillar is kinda cool (sorta like half of a fake targa roof). The tail lamp/rear fascia arrangement is “out of this world”!
Thanks Sean. Truth be told, I wouldn’t kick one of those wagons out of my garage.
I agree. And it’s not just the Toyota Crown of this generation. There are other Japanese cars that got unique and interesting styling. For some reason, they were never imported to North America.
The front clip of the Crown does kinda resemble the mouth organ grille on the `67 T Bird, the roofline and tail lights are close. The Crown is a better looking car except for those way up front mounted rear view mirrors.I`m a T Bird fan, but my cut off date is 1966. IMHO the 4 door “Blunderbirds” are just too fugly to even comprehend, and every other T Bird really has nothing to recommend itself, especially the duds and misfires of the 70s and 80s.
There was a 1971 Crown 4 door sedan for sale in Quebec city recently. The owner sent me large pictures of it and it seemed in decent condition. The original Toyoglide was replaced with a 5 speed manual from a late seventies Celica.
I was tempted to get it but apparently, it needed some mechanical work and I had no space for it…
Here’s the engine.
It didn’t have the fancier trim and it wasn’t a 2 door hardtop but I like the strange shape of the front!
Still, it’s an attractive, unusual car that could’ve sold had Toyota marketed it more aggressively.
Here’s a view at the instruments.
And the rear seat… The storage pockets needed new elastic bands but it was still in decent shape.
This car looks relatively clean, Phil. The mammalian fish that got away?
Quite a decent amount of room in the rear too.
Rare among Japanese cars, the Crown had a full perimeter frame (until 1991)
The Glamorbird was the first 4-seat T-bird to be body-on-frame …
Found this recently
I remember reading about this in a Road & Track magazine. I believe it was 1969-70. Their review of the car wasn’t positive. While they liked its styling, they didn’t like its performance.
My former father in law had a S70 coupe in the 70s- always needed a stylish set of wheels to ferry the mistresses around!
I am not at all familiar with this Toyota model at all, at least I wasn’t before reading this article. When I first opened it, I scrolled down through the pictures before reading any of the text. When I saw not only a T-bird, but the XNR concept, a 1970 Chrysler, a Suburban, and DougD’s matador, I knew it was going to be an interesting read. Well done tying all of this together! I loved the extrusion analogy too.
When I lived in Jacksonville in the mid 80s there was a house with both a sedan and wagon in the driveway. I’ve also seen 1 or 2 hardtops and you are right, Toyota did a pretty good job disguising the narrowness of this car. Actually, I always thought they looked a bit stubby, like the design had been shortened very close to production. I also thought these looked kind of plain, at least for a Japanese car. The hidden headlights look like an interesting design and could have worked really well with the grille being something besides horizontal lines.
Yes, these have all (apparently) disappeared.
Scott McPherson,
Your remark that all the Crowns appeared to be styled by the same person is probably very close to being fact. I can’t remember where or when I read it but I did once read that most of the Japanese car manufacturers (until recently with the abolishing of lifetime employment) kept the same team of employees on a car until retirement.
Funny, a few days ago, in one of the many Camry articles I said Toyota was too conservative/never took chances.
Here’s a nice S40 I saw earlier this year. I remember these cars well.
Yeah they were common once, the girl who managed the Caravan park in Mooroopna I used to stay in seasonally had a Crown that same colour with wide wheels and a 186 motor and overdrive manual.
I’m a Japanese car maniac (starting circa 1968) and I never realized they even sold this car. My God it’s hideous, 2X in wagon form.
Great article. Had a 74 MS 60 during my first military tour in Japan in 81 – had the 2.0 litre M series 6 cylinder. Had that 4 years then sold it for a 78 S100 Royal Saloon. Left Japan and came back in 03 and bought a 92 S140 Royal Saloon with the great 2JZ straight six. All were fantastic cars.
I currently drive a Volvo but I suspect another Crown is in my future…….
I’m behind in my CC reading Don, but wow, what a writeup! I can see the Glamour Bird in the Crown too. Pretty neat.
Thanks!
Yes, I see you have one in your mini-garage. Styling, Tom.
I’ve always loved these and remember looking at a sedan with my Dad at a LA Toyota lot in the summer of 1972; I still have a perfect Tomica 1:43 die-cast model of the coupe. Basically, this car was a fuselage Lexus that appeared nearly two decades too early…
As others have noted, the styling obviously didn’t click with the North American would-be Crown crowd as the boxy prior gen models were fairly commonplace on at least west coast roads. I think these fuselage Crowns were more successful in Canada as I would see them around Vancouver well into the early 90s, although again not nearly as frequently as their predecessors (esp. the older wagons, which were tough as old boots).
I loved the broughamtastic styling on these and would love to have a coupe, myself, but at the time I suspect they were cross-shopped with Pug 504, Volvo, Saab, Rover (until 71), and (in Canada) Austin 1800, and these buyers didn’t want what at the time would have been seen as a Japanese Malibu. And not all buyers at the time would’ve automatically assumed the Crown would be so much more reliable than its European competitors, although — again, on the coast — by 1970 Japanese cars generally, and Toyota especially, were getting a good reputation for ruggedness and quality.
It’s an unforgivable shame that the Crown didn’t sell very well in the USA. While its styling may not please *everyone*, I would think that some people would’ve like it. If I were around in 1971-73 and I was looking for a Toyota that was different from the Coronas, Corollas that were sold at the time, I would’ve bought a Crown, preferably a sedan or a station wagon 🙂
I own a 1971 Toyota Crown 2 door coupe. I was my father’s . It is all original and has been garage kept. It was purchased new by my father in summer of 1972. I am wonderIng what the car is worth Today? It’s a gem!
Superb write-up, thanks a lot!
I like when one car uses a styling element from another and literally turns it on its side. Or even upside down – the ’78 Chrysler LeBaron front end was a Buick LeSabre turned 180 degrees.
I’m unfamiliar with the usage of “rebate” as applied here. Does it mean something other than a partial refund of a payment? I can’t find any other meaning in the dictionaries I checked either.
I believe it’s suggesting a boomerang-like rebound in how the body line travels… I’ve never heard the term used as such either (and gave pause too) but it still made sense to my mind