If you’re looking for something that will stand out at the next Cars and Coffee event, this is a strong contender. This 1974 Toyota Crown Saloon is in Dorking, Surrey, United Kingdom, about an hour and a half southwest of London. It’s listed on eBay with a little over one day left on the auction and a current bid of £3,601 ($5,179). If it’s the condition that it appears to be from the photos, this is a great deal.

The Crown has been in production since 1955 and is the longest-running Toyota model, it’s also the first model imported to North America, in 1958. This model, a fifth-generation design made from 1974-1979, was never officially imported to the US. We got the Corona Mark II, then the Cressida, followed by the Avalon for our version of Toyota’s large car. The seller mentions that this car has been owned by a “massive enthusiast in Norway for some years and has loads of invoices and history.” It is pretty unusual to see this car in left-hand-drive.

The most unusual design feature of this car has to be the double-tier thing happening with the front end treatment. Personally I love it, but you know that I like unusual vehicles. This is a four-door saloon (sedan) but they also came in two-door and four-door hardtop, wagon, and van configurations and Standard, Deluxe, Super Saloon, and Royal Saloon trim levels.

The interior looks fantastic and from what the seller says, the seat covers are protecting the seats more than covering up damage. Although, the “driver’s seat base seems Ok, but the backrest has a split in it.” They say that the “seats are a sort of metallic blue colour, typical of Japanese cars at this time” The driver’s view almost looks like an American car of the same era, sort of. Well, ok, maybe not, but it’s pretty business-like in there. Thankfully, this is a manual transmission car! There’s just something about a big sedan having a manual transmission that gets to me.

This is Toyota’s 2.6L straight-six with around 120 hp, that should be enough to move this 1,470 kg (3,241 lb) car along smartly. I drove a Saturn SL-1 sedan with a 5-speed for a few years and it only had 100 hp; an extra 20 hp would have been nice. I wonder if this car were to be in the US, specifically in Japanese Nostalgic Car-heavy California, if the price would be much stronger than it is here? It sure is in nice condition for the current bid price. I’m guessing that the final price may be about twice what it is now. I would love to own this unusual Toyota Crown sedan; do you like unusual sedans like this one?