UPDATE 4/15/25: It appears this car is not a Crown as the seller presented, being a Corona instead. And the listing has been taken down, so it either sold quickly or the seller pulled it to make corrections.
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When Toyota brought back the Crown nameplate (for U.S. buyers) in 2022, it hadn’t been seen since 1972. In those days, the Crown was a mid-size luxury car (by Toyota’s then standards) that shoppers were first exposed to in 1958. This 1971 coupe is a non-running import that will need attention to the fuel system, at a minimum. Located in a garage in Chicago, Illinois, this Japanese project is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $3,700. Our thanks to “NW Iowa Kevin” for a tip on an automobile you don’t see every day.
On its home turf in Japan, the Crown has been around for an astounding 70 years. When the Crown first wrapped up in the U.S. in ’72, it was replaced by the Corona, a name that U.S. folks may be more familiar with. When this vehicle was produced, both 4-cylinder and 6-cylinder power were available, though we don’t know which sits under the hood of the seller’s car.
We assume this Toyota has been in hibernation for some time, considering that “dirty, old fuel” occupies the gas tank. At 92,000 miles, the Crown is certainly well-used, and cars in the 1970s didn’t go hundreds of thousands of miles before being refreshed. The seller does say the engine will turn over (by hand?). The body and paint may be okay for a driver, and the interior seems mostly complete. The sale is already “pending”.
This is a CORONA MKII,not a Crown.
The Crown was a larger car.
That’s exactly what I thought. My dad bought a 71 Corona Mark2 wagon. Same front end.
So I’m not a guru on 70’s Japanese cars, but this doesn’t look like a Crown coupe to me but rather like the 4-cylinder Corona. Or did Toyota name also this model Crown?
The ad is gone.
A Corona MKII or a Crown?
The badging on the right rear fender in the lead photo pretty much answers that question.
a pumped 22R and this would be a fun little rocket. Great body style.
Nice looking car. Although I was way too young at the time to drive a car, I remember cars like this Toyota Corona MkII. My aunt and uncle had a 1970 Corona MkII 4 door sedan.
Am I the only one who thinks this resembles a Corvair from the side view?
this was my HS car: 1972 Corona Mk II.
Mine also! ’71 Toyota Corona MkII sedan! Had the 8-RC; went through three sets of timing chains, it really liked to eat them
Some misinformation in this write-up, beyond the initial wrong model listed. The car being sold is a 1972 Corona MKII, identified by the late grill, and was the last year of that body style and with the 4-cyl engine. In 1973, the all-new larger model came out with the 6-cyl engine replacing the Crown as Toyota’s top of the range in the US. In the later years of this model in the US market, they quietly dropped the “Corona” from its name and simply called it the MKII to avoid confusion. The “Corona” was always a separate model which was Toyota’s 1st sedan to successfully sell in the this market.
The Crown was considered a full-sized car in the Japanese market, but fell into more of a Chevy Nova compact size in the US. By the early seventies, the pricing of the Crown was well into the typical equipped mid-sized car range and few units were being sold, so Toyota terminated the Crown in 1972.
I remember seeing a Japanese coupe on a rerun of the ROCKFOR FILES, and could never identify it. Don’t know if Japanese coupes were marketed in the mid-west where my home was. Mazda RX-2s and RX-3s were the exception. This Corona may have been a twin to that one in the rerun.
Milner’s shifter knob?