Oldest UK Toyota
Does anyone know of a car/owner that can beat long-standing TEC member Dave Clarke’s acheivement of possibly having the oldest UK Toyota. If there is an older car, can this then boast still being in regular road use ?
If it can, can it then beat the triple whammy that Dave can claim of having actually bought the car brand new from an early UK Toyota dealer and having continuous ownership of it since then. I thought not !!!!
Here’s the car at Oulton Park this year (2012) where it won Best Japanese Classic.
Here’s Dave at Cholmondeley in 2010 enjoying a cuppa !
And here’s the article about Dave and his Corona from the Toyota Today magazine.
Details are Toyota Corona RT40 registered on 1st January 1967 as although Dave agreed the purchase in late 1966, he wanted to wait for the all-important ‘new’ E- suffix registration.
We’re hoping to have Dave and the Corona at the Event City Indoor Show in Manchester in April 2013.
The RT40 Coronas were new cars when I first began working as a parts salesman (later parts manager). The early cars had a three-on-the-tree gear shift, but from 1965 they were four speed, at first with the lever on the steering column, later with a floor shift. I remember my dealership owner at the time putting me into an early four speed car, and telling me to let him know what I thought. Those Coronas, with 1.5L 12R engines, or were those early ones the 2R version? Whatever, they were quite good performers in their day, having almost the same performance as Ford Cortina GT’s. Of course, standard equipment in the Toyota was far in excess of what came with the Cortina. The major items included radios and heater demisters. Here in Australia Cortina customers had to wait until 1971 to get these items as standard. I was a Toyota Parts Manager in various places, including Papua New Guinea, until 1994. I have many great memories of Toyota cars and commercials, but this short story will suffice for now.
Thanks for the post and sharing your Toyota memories on the site