Fashion and niches are just as popular here as they are anywhere, despite some of them clashing with the Japanese way of life. For example, there are just as many folks who go for the grungy, torn jeans, Nikes and leather jacket post-punk look here as there are in, say, London. But here, their torn jeans are impeccably ironed, the leather isn’t smelly, the hair is scientifically coiffed and the shoes are brand new. I think this Toyota’s owner is playing a similar game with patina.
Not a dent in the bumper, not a trim piece missing or even askew. If it weren’t for the oxidized body (chiefly the roof, trunk and hood, indicating a car that probably sat in the sun for a good number of years), this first generation Toyota Mark II could have come straight out of the Nagoya museum.
Oh, it’s a ToyoPET, of course. Silly me. And silly them for picking such a stupid name. That’ll teach them to ask the public about what anything should be called. These things ought to be left to the professionals – you know, the geniuses who came up with Edsel Citation, Renault Duster and Daihatsu Naked, among other gems.
This first iteration of the Mark II was very much a trial balloon from Toyota, an attempt (successful, as it turned out) to find enough room between the Corona and the Crown for an intermediary model to exist. Nissan did the same thing at the time with the Laurel.
Not surprisingly, the Mark II kept a lot of the Corona’s styling cues – especially that peculiar shovel-nosed snout – when it appeared in the autumn of 1968. But it did get a couple of facelifts, which is a lot for a single generation, but does show that the company understood the Mark II needed to stand out a bit more.
The initial Mark II grille (top left) was a little too close to the Corona. It was superseded by the grille-within-a-grille design of 1970 (right), which only lasted a little over a year. In early 1971, the final grille (bottom left, colourfully nicknamed “Eagle mask” in Japan) was implemented. And, no so incidentally, we can also see the Mark II’s body variants here, which included the T70 coupé, the wagon-van and, based on the latter’s chassis, a pair of pickups. Those were strictly a first-generation thing, though they outlived the other T60/70 variants by a couple of years.
The engine situation was most confusing. Several were available – all of them 4-cyl. and comprised between 1.5 and 1.9 litres, i.e. precisely between the 1.3-1.6 litre Corona and the 2-litre Crown, but they changed with alarming regularity within the JDM lineup, with different power outputs from one year to the next. Our feature car seems to have had a little tinkering done, so there’s no telling what engine that stovepipe of an exhaust is connected to. Export cars usually got a choice of the 1.6 or the 1.9.
The interior mirrors the outside, with a mixture of mods (that A/C unit especially) and well-worn originality, as exemplified by the driver’s seat’s patched-up upholstery.
Toyota put a “Deluxe” script on the rear end, but precious little of that deluxury made it inside. By 1971-72, the higher-trim, faux wood console, mini-Crown variant was obviously called something else.
With an extra 9cm between the wheels compared to the T40 Corona, the Mark II was decent enough in the rear legroom department. Looks like that door card was just replaced – soon to be followed by the carpet, maybe. I see a couple of patches in that seat’s near future, too. We’ll call it a work in progress.
The 1st generation Mark II was a hit. I’m not sure about export numbers, though these were certainly shipped far and wide – not just the usual Toyota markets like the US, Southeast Asia and Australia, but also many markets in Europe, South America, Africa and the Middle-East. In Japan, the Mark II tallied over 430k sales in four years, prompting Toyota to graduate the model to its own platform from the second generation onwards.
For the next 30 years, the Mark II would remain one of Toyota’s best-sellers, keeping Toyota dominant in the 2-litre RWD saloon/wagon niche. It’s a big niche, too – in the Mark II platform’s late ‘80s heyday, Toyota were selling close to 10,000 a week domestically. That’s a lot of metal.
The “Toyopet Corona Mark II” name was a little confusing, though, so it was adapted for foreign consumption. Under the Cressida nameplate, it also made its presence felt in export markets throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s.
It all started with this modest and now rusty mid-sizer, but that first try was well aimed. It’s amazing how little Toyota had to tinker with the formula to find its groove – all the Mark II needed was a small 6-cyl., more gingerbread and a bit more character.
Said character is heightened by the cautiously curated patina present in this example. Not quite rat rodded but definitely modded, gray on the sides and red in the middle, meticulously cleaned but patched-up seats: this car is trying to emulate something, but it’s really doing its own (very Japanese) thing. And I kinda love it.
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: 1970 Toyota Corona Mark II- Stodgy, Thy Name is Toyota, by Dave Skinner
Curbside Classic: 1971 Toyota Corona Mark II – Some Things Never Change, by PN
In-Motion Classic: 1972 Toyota Corona Mark II – One In A Million, by Eric703
Ditto – loving this too! A rather handsome and distinctly Japanese design. Liking those aftermarket wheels too…
Hmm, a curated patina. Based on the clear coat on my 91 626 there should be fading of the paint, or clear coat, on the very top edge of each fender just before they curve down the sides of the car. The C pillar has a hint but should have more near the top. As you can tell I am not a fan of patina whether a car or a ship. No knock against the car though since I like what it represents from earlier days.
As I pointed out the other day, this kind of patina pattern is very common, and utterly natural. The reason is because the hood, trunk lid and often the doors are painted separately from the main body shell, and commonly end up with a thinner layer of paint, causing it to wear away from UV exposure. The same effect can happen at the transition from the roof top to its sides, where paint is applied thicker as the paint gun moves from vertical to horizontal.
No one who applies fake patine would have such abrupt transitions between the body and trunk/hood. Here’s a typical example of a fake patina job. Note how even the blotches are, and totally not how and where they would be if it was genuine:
The CC Effect again: I found a coupe version just the other day, also a ’71. And it’s sporting a bit of patina too.
I had a fair bit of seat time in these. Pleasant car to drive, if like all Toyotas at the time, not exactly overtly sporty. These all came with the 1.9 SOHC engine in the US, which was new to these parts after the old ohv mill in the Corona. It was definitely a step up from the Corona, which was getting long in tooth.
In the US, this first generation of the MKII sold quite well, as it was a pretty small step up from the Corona in price and a nicer car. But once it sprouted a six and got bigger and more expensive (gen2) sales really dropped off. Toyota was not ready to be embraced in the more expensive price classes yet. That would come soon enough.
I like patina when it is natural like this, though I would clean the oily residue coming from the door locks and around the lower corners of the front doors, oh well, better that the hinges and lock hardware get lubricated than not.
This would also indicate it spends a lot of time outside in the rain, maybe not such a good thing.
I like the wheels on this too, not my sort of car, but love the look of this condition.
Have enjoyed patina week, thanks for these posts.
For a market that was generally not a strong one for 2 doors, we in Australia were for some reason only offered the 2 door hardtop and the sedan or the wagon.
Perhaps they thought the sedan and wagon would take sales away from the Crown sedan and wagon (Crown hardtops were never offered here) , which were not much bigger, which were selling in reasonable numbers.
With the benefit of hindsight I find little bizzare they had a single and twin cab utility version in a model that was supposed to be a, larger and more luxurious Corona variant., with
the Mk2 lineage evolving into the Cressida. But then even the Crown was offered as a utility at this time.
I do like Iike the design of these things, aside from the strip speedometer in the povo versions like this one. Much more character than the second generation.. For the benefit of our US friends, the automatic hardtop had the strip setup, but the twin carbs SL manual had full instruments with proper round dials.
I was fascinated with the hardtop, becase they were semi rare even going back 25-30 years ago and because it seemed that everytime I saw one, it had a different front grile and tail light design compared to the last one. Uncharacteristically for a Toyota, it did not have a very long production life, and it seems they facelifted it each year.
Like our friend here, the majority of hardtops I used to see had a bit or patina. It was rare for me to see a mint one. It seene there were not treasured age were treated like a Hilux.
The only sedan I ever saw on local soil was an immaculate white one
The only wagon I ever saw on local soil was a
yellow one,…. with patina..
I’ll take a mint GSS please.
I can’t remember getting this Mk2, only the Corona shovel-nose as sedan, 5-door hatch (ugly!) and 2-door (rare, and nice). These look a good deal nicer than that gawky Corona.
Agree. I remember reading the head of AMI brought one or two in for ‘evaluation’ (probably his own use!), but they weren’t listed for sale until the next generation. By then they were in competition with the Torana six, but proved quite popular.
They definitely sold them here. But we only received about 900 of them so they were not very common.
The GSS was given a brief article by one or two of the car magazines back in the day. I have a Wheels issue with a red one that the AMI manager was using. I don’t know if they brought in more than one.
I understand that it was later sold in Melbourne and a 18RG was subsequentially fitted as the 10R was only used for this model and so keeping it running would be an issue.
I think there is/was one in Adelaide and it might have been the AMI one as it was also red.
Yes, the 2nd generation was sold as only as a six here and sold in quite reasonable numbers. A GSS version of the 2nd generation was also brought in.
Ah, a pateenated coroner, as they say in America (which sounds like a pre-aged examiner of the dead, but they digress).
I like the image of a Japanese fellow ensuring his teena was immaculately pat and his Toyo precisely pet, the whole cleaner than the plate I am eating from (the latter not being hard, the reluctant teen having washed it, but he digressed me).
This Mark Tuah – a derivate from the Hawk, or possibly the internet – actually looks better down-at-heel than newly-Nagoyed, as it is a slightly gaudy arrangement – to whit, one vented tailight, why? – and it is better that the gauds must be hazy. Still, whether shiny or shameful, it improves upon the shovel-faced dowdery of the unkingly Corona base, though I’d crown neither, really.
Still again, I’d give a minor crowned gongage to our intrepid correspondent for collating the collections of such a corroded old crone correctly.
Mark Tuah…
That’ll cause a spit take or two, I’m sure!
Well played, Mr Baum.
Ah, a pateenated coroner, as they say in America (which sounds like a pre-aged examiner of the dead, but they digress).
Your American pronunciation comment the other day sparked so much fun, let’s keep the party going. So actually, Americans don’t pronounce the adjective version of that word as you assume here; it’s pronounced the same way as the rest of the world does. Don’t ask me why; I’m just the messenger.
The very idea of shooting the messeeenger, especially one as patternated by time as your good self, cannot be fitted into my moral universe any more than the proper past tense of “fit” can be accomodated by American English.
”the geniuses who came up with these names” I would like an E-tron Toyopet for the French market.
I’d like a Naked Duster. (I mean, who likes dusting?)
Mind Blown.
The Japanese manufacturers in general – not just Toyota – seemed to have a thing for what we in the west would regard as overdone detailing, especially around this era. And yet it’s harmonious, if not beautiful. Look at that front end. There’s the panelwork leaning back a la Corona non-Mark-II, but more curvy, and you get that prominent centre grille section with horizontal bars the contour of which doesn’t quite follow the shape of the fender edge – but you get the edges of the grille next to the headlights kind of ‘splitting the diffference’ visually between the central grille contour and the fender contour. And the other grille sections aren’t either horizontal bars nor vertical bars, but a diagonal mesh pattern! Also, the way those front indicators would reflect off the upper surface of the bumper for extra visibility.
And those tail lights – faux vents on the side (marker lights in the US?), with large flat red lenses, but look at the ornate detailing around those reversing lights, and the way that relates to the indentations on the central plate bearing the Toyopet badge.
Okay, I’ll stop.
Very nice, I hate patina because it means death sooner than later but this is a nice looking rig .
Mom bought a new wagon of this series, I think it was her first Japanese car .
I’d like the pickup or coupe more but nice to see, almost none are left road worthy in So. Cal. .
-Nate
i believe this was the first type of japanese car i ever rode in. my summer camp counselor would pickup the kids in her little toyota. i remember singing along to top 40 hits like “in the year 2525” with the other campers in her car. 😀