Forty-four years is a good run for any car model, that’s how long Toyota made the Corona through eleven generations. We haven’t seen too many of the two-door versions here at Barn Finds but a few four-door models have rolled through the doors here. This 1969 Toyota Corona Deluxe is posted here on craigslist in Portland, Oregon, and the seller is asking $7,900. Thanks to MattR for sending in this tip!
From the 1957 Corona to the 2001 Corona – make mine a ’57, please – they were immensely popular cars around the world. Here in the US, we got Toyota’s Crown sedan in 1957 and it was woefully inadequate for Americans and American roads. Toyota regrouped and came back with the Corona in 1966. It had a much bigger engine and could to 90 to 95 mph depending on which transmission a buyer wanted.
The third-generation Corona debuted right before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and this is what I think of when I think of the Toyota Corona. Although, more in four-door sedan guise, the two-door models are much rarer. I’m not sure why this side view photo of the car is so much lighter, it must just be a trick of the light or something like the temperature of the street lights? This car looks great so far, but then you see the rear driver’s side 3/4 view and you can see that it has some paint issues, but this is the original paint according to the seller. They say that there is no major chassis rust but they don’t mention body rust. I’m assuming that if this is the original paint and I don’t see any visible rust, it hasn’t reared its ugly head yet.
This is the only one of two interior photos, both showing the front seating area or at least somewhat showing it. I’m not sure about the dash but it looks unusual and the driver’s seat doesn’t bother me at all, that’s an easy fix. The seller mentions that this car has new carpet but I would have guessed by the photo above that it needed carpet. Maybe it was added after, but it has had a lot of work and new parts. Check out the ad here if the listing goes away. It sure sounds like it’s ready to go.
The engine is super clean and man is it nice to actually see an engine photo, it’s hit or miss for that as you know. This one is Toyota’s 1.9L 3R and the seller says that this is the 3RC which is a California emissions engine. It would have had between 80 and 90 horsepower which with the 4-speed manual transmission would have been decent for driving pleasure, at least for those buyers who weren’t looking for a muscle car. It runs great and there is a small oil leak but it sounds like it’s ready to go and a two-door Corona with a 4-speed won’t last long. Have any of you owned a Corona from this era?
“0 to 60 in 16 seconds” was how it was advertised.
This and the Corolla helped put Toyota on the map.
That’s in great shape. Not too many around these days. Nice to see one.
There was a 68 2-door on BAT that sold for $3,200 back in 2019. Clone of this car except an auto and much better condition. I know, I know, inflation & all but might be a high ask. I’m a Toyota, Lexus guy, would be on this but other corner of the country & no room.
My first car in Cali in ’78 was a 4 door ’67 Corona. 700 bucks. That’s about three grand today I think. Admittedly this is a 2 door…pretty good appreciation though.
My first car in ’76 was a 1969 yellow Toyota Corona. We bought it from the next door neighbor for $375, needed a clutch. Dad popped one in and I drove the wheels off that thing. I loved that car! Sold it 4 years later for $300 to another guy in the hood. He turned around and sold it for $500, after making some minor adjustments to the brakes and the idle. Fun times.
Same designer as the pontiac aztec
A look only a mother could love
I always found these things fugly
Well , its a 2 door toyota so there are 2 good things about it …
I couldn’t disagree more; I’ve always found these to be very attractive little cars. I’d love to own one of these, two or four doors.
This particular model was actually considered attractive BACK in the day….plus it returned decent performance along with great mileage ; better than the VW bug.
In 1998 a coworker gave me one of these. It was green. It was a 1970 I believe. Not as nice as this one. I drove the wheels off of it for a couple years and sold it for $200.
I had a 78 wagon when I was in my mid 20’s.( In the mid 80’s) Had the 22R and a 5spd. Man was it a blast to drive. Sure would scoot for what it was. Took it dirt trackin’ a lot. Ah the good ol days. :-)
oh hell ya; the R22 with the 5 speed was an absolute trip…..it was even fun challenging the ‘Vettes of the day..!!!!
I don’t love it $8k worth, but I do love it. Drop it an inch, swap the rolling stock for narrow Minilites and putt-putt around town driving all the tuner bois crazy.
I was sitting here scrolling through the comments and thinking about lowering it slightly and putting Minilites on it and then saw your comment. Great minds think alike, I guess!
A lot of negative comments on this car. I love it and coming from a Toyota family I’d love to have this. If you want a muscle car then buy one. This is a neat car
My grandparents had one with the same transmission . The engine went 200000 miles before needing any work . They used that car to deliver newspapers . My parents had a 68 with an automatic and only got 68000 before tossing a rod . the ones with the 4 speeds outlasted all automatics
I tried rescuing an identical one from the local salvage yard, a few years back. Apparently the yard isn’t licensed to sell whole vehicles… My insistence that there had to be “some” way that I could purchase this car… (buy the engine, then come back at a later date and buy the rest…etc…) got me promptly ejected from the yard. I think he couldn’t see any reason someone would be so passionate about saving such a thing, and thought I was state investigator trying to set him up… :(
too bad the guy couldn’t see the forest from the trees.
Some states have laws making it illegal to buy cars out of a wrecking yard. You can’t do it in Wisconsin, and if a yard owner is caught doing it, that is his license. Most people don’t want to lose their business and income over some moron who wants to buy a p.o.s. from them.
Arizona doesn’t seem to have those laws. It just seems to vari state by state. Don’t be mad at a business owner if you don’t know the law lol.
Sold Toyota back in the mid-80s to mid-90s … most Toyotas then were pretty much “bullet-proof” … but some of these Coronas had exhaust manifold problems, so much so that Toyota offered a lifetime warranty on replacement … so if you have an older one with a manifold problem, see if it qualifies … a salesman at one shop here I worked bought a trade-in which developed a leak and was surprised it didn’t cost him anything for a fix …
I have to say i’ve never even thought about these but that little thing is cool
My Aunt Midge and uncle Buford bought the identical car to this one used around 1971 or so. They got it cheap because it already had significant rust. My uncle worked at Frigidaire in Dayton, Ohio, and the union wouldn’t let him park it on the property. Aunt Midge drove a school bus and wouldn’t drive it because she thought it was a tin can. So it sat in their driveway, turning into dust. It rusted faster than my sister’s 71 Vega, which was quite a feat! I don’t know what Ohio used on the roads when I was a kid, but it ate cars in record time.
These were definitely rusters, they’ve all been gone in the salt belt for decades! Nice to see one with a stick shift. The two-speed Toyoglide automatic must have really blunted performance. (I must admit for Japanese cars of this era I much prefer the Datsun 510.)
buddy drove/wrenched on 1 same color in ’70s w/us ina VT college. He’d gone all over it & stayed up so it lasted like new…fun, easy vehicle
My parents owned a 74 Corona with the 2 litre and auto trans a bit of a slug but incredibly reliable
Just a little restoration and you have a car with actually a nice color. You pay big bucks for this Miami Blue type color on a Porsche.
I had a ’71 HiLux pickup back in the day. It had the 8RC engine which was half the reason I got rid of it. I don’t know anything about the 3RC or what Toyota was trying to do with the 8RC because everyone that I knew had the same complaints. Detonation, even on premium gas. If the temperature dropped down below zero they wouldn’t start unless they were plugged in. I understood that the cars had slightly better heaters than the trucks which would’ve been welcome as my truck could keep a six-inch peephole in the driver’s side and a 4 incher on the passenger’s side, while everyone’s feet froze. Toyota must’ve learned something because the 18RC that replaced the 8RC was much better in all fields including cold-weather starting. My mother had a ’72 Corona Mk II which was a good enough car except that the transmission case was porous and leaked ATF like a sieve with holes in it. It took them nearly a year to get a new case in. By the time it came in and was installed, the car was over a year old. The dealer tried to tell Dad that the warranty had expired and he would have to stand the almost $1200.00 bill against it. Well, Dad was a sailor during the war and he almost became a sailor again. The dealer phoned Dad a couple of days later and said that the warranty was miraculously covered. We found out later that the dealership itself ate the bill because Toyota was steadfast. Anyways, we went back to domestics after that and never varied until my wife bought her mother’s ‘Chintzy Recycled Velocipede’ which wasn’t a bad car other than I had to put a paper sack over my head so no one would recognize me driving it. Truth be known, the Japanese were pretty good at recognizing a problem and correcting it in good time before it flooded the world with them. That’s something the domestics were often a little slow with. And now that I’m old and a little crotchety I tend to forget all the shortcomings of previous vehicles and am willing to try them again. Hell, I even tried to buy my HiLux back from the contractor I sold it to nearly 50 years ago. I wouldn’t kick this car off my driveway and I wouldn’t need a paper sack over my head to drive it. Of course, I have a reputation to keep up so I could possibly spew out some unflattering comments without warning. But that’s me, and my neck is red…
I bought a ’72-1/2 Toyota RN22 from my next-door neighbor
who bought it new.It had the 18RC “Valve Burner” Four.I had
four valve jobs done within 62,000 miles.Swore I’d never buy
another Toyota,until I drove a ’76 SR5 Longbed.
I found a ’73 in a local wrecking yard that was surprisingly
savable for $500,but decided I really didn’t want to relive those
“Good Old Days”.
My Dad had a ’74 Corona Mark II, it had an inline 6 of some sort and a 4 speed. He ended up living in this car for a while in the 1980’s (he led an interesting life), and later kept it when he rented a trailer home down in Tampa.
I went down to visit him for a couple weeks in Tampa. He allowed me to drive that car around. I was 14 years old and no license.
I had a great time down there. I tried to convince my Mom to allow me to move down there by him. She thought it was a bad idea. She was obviously way smarter than I lol.
For a beginning driver, that was a very easy and fun car to drive! I would love to own this one too, just for the memories.
My first Toyota was a ‘68 2-door with a 4-speed and a factory 8-track tape player which sealed the deal! Those were the times.