1983 Toyota Crown Super from UK and Ireland - Comments

Differential replaced at 101,500 miles.

Alternator failed at 110,000.

Heater fan was always temperamental, but I never got round to fixing that.

Rust finally got a hold of this car and I had to scrap it.

The Crown is a very large, luxurious car with all the bells and whistles inside.

Fuel economy was poor. 23mpg if you're lucky.

The car accelerated very well and was great for long motorway trips. Its handling was appalling sloppy though, or even scary!

The ultra-soft suspension just conspired to make you sea-sick. I guess you could say it had character, though.

Where are have they all gone?

Never heard of those cars. Did they sell them in America? From your description of its size, handling and fuel economy, it sounds more like my 1983 Dodge Diplomat than the Toyotas you see today.

It's funny, but the Toyota Crown was never sold in the USA as far as I know. It was similar in style and character to a large American sedan so it seems strange that they didn't sell it there. The Crown was sold in some European countries, including the UK, during the 70s and 80s, but didn't sell very well.

From 1984 onwards it was sold in the Far East only, however a mildly reworked version of the 1990s Toyota Crown was sold in the USA and Europe as... the Lexus LS400!

Just wanted to clear this out: Toyota Celsior is known as Lexus LS400 in the United States. Toyota Crown in the U.S. is known as the Toyota Avalon.

There is a scam in the UK where second-hand Toyota Celsiors are imported, then have their badges removed. The Toyota and Celsior badges are then replaced with Lexus ones.

Re:

> Never heard of those cars. Did they sell them in America? > From your description of its size, handling and fuel

> economy, it sounds more like my 1983 Dodge Diplomat than

> the Toyotas you see today.

The first Toyota sold in the US was the Crown (1950s), but it was unsuccessful. In the mid 1960s Toyota started selling Coronas, which did much better.

Re:

> Toyota Crown in the U.S. is known as the Toyota Avalon.

The Avalon is a stretched Camry, not a Crown. Another difference is that the Crown is RWD, unlike the Avalon.

I don't know about availability of the Crown in the US, but it was certainly available in Canada. I remember getting all interested in a 1966 Crown wagon that a friend had picked up. It was a very clean design with super comfortable seats, a six cylinder (2.6 litres I think), and this one had a 4-speed manual transmission. However, when I finally drove it, it turned me off faster than a cold shower. It had hardly any acceleration and almost non-existent torque compared to my 72 Celica that I was driving at the time. On top of that, it got lousy fuel economy. The Crown was still available into the 70s, but was made uglier with a weird kind of stepped hood. I guess sales were never very good and the Crown was superseded by the Cressida, again with a six cylinder.

The Crown was available in US through 1971 model year, but did not sell well, cost a lot more than the Corona and had weird styling.

Up until 1964, Toyota was known as "Toyopet" in the US.

I had a 1972 Crown for 5 years from new, and I thought it was superb. At the time (in the UK) there were very few dealers and the Yank-tank gone wrong styling didn't help sales. It was also very heavy on fuel.

However, it was very reliable and BL should have bought one to dissect when it was developing the SD1 (the car I traded it in for).

Unfortunately the rust has claimed most of them although I saw one in a classic car mag recently.

OK, here we go. Crowns are not Lexus LS400's, Avalons or anything else. They are a totally separate body shape/chassis model, home market only now. They were about the last 'normal' production car to have a semblance of a proper chassis frame until 1991, hence lots ended up on 'banger' race tracks. Yes, sometimes conservatively styled formal saloon shapes, but ugly - NO. Japanese car detailing is superb. These are better than sloppy yank tanks, with their crude and numb detailing, appalling interiors, badge engineered nose cones, oversized bodies, un reliable and bad on juice etc. Crowns are not sports cars so handling not expected to be a strong point. The 71-74 model is so sought after, especially in pillarless coupe form. The 79-83 sedan is one of the most classically formal styled saloon cars ever. Good performance after '79, with innovative 4 speed overdrive gearboxes, later adopted by Volvo for the 700 series they were so good. From about 1989, these cars available with the Lexus 4.0 V8 engine, in Japan only. From mid-90s, even 4 wheel drive etc. Any car will rust badly if driven through salty muddy roads and not kept clean. Crowns are no more rust prone than any other car in this respect. These cherished cars do exist, hidden away in peoples garages for sunny days, even in England! Toni Gerundini.

I would like to second Tony's comments. I had the privilege of owning a 1974 Super Saloon Crown, which even in 1997 had an equipment specification that outclassed many new cars. It never let me down, and attracted a lot of attention too. I could wander into my Toyota dealer and get parts overnight, although I only had to do it once. One day the '74 MS75 hardtop will be mine, oh yes...

>> Where have they all gone?

Well in the UK they have either been exported or used here for banger racing. Very strong cars and I raced one once, it killed 3 Granadas/a Volvo estate and 2 Jags and I still drove it off the track!

I have a 1976 Crown Super Saloon that has only had two elderly owners and has travelled 95000 Km. I can understand why these cars made such an impact when they were new as they were well above the norm in features and ride quality. Even compared with todays cars the Crown still stacks up well in the comfort department.

Fuel economy is 25mpg and the only criticism is with the non overdrive three speed auto trans. (will be changing it with a Cressida o/d 4speed)

A lovely car that feels like it will last forever.

I am restoring a 1981 MS112 Toyota Crown that has been in the family since 1985. I am a motor vehicle technician and am amazed how well built this car is. I own a Mercedes SL as well, its not built as solid as the Crown! The separate chassis is rot free. I've had no bolts shear off, infact they are still shiny! I can get most parts still from Toyota. Can anyone name a car 24 years on that comes with a fridge as standard and a separate chassis? I know there are some, but it was way ahead of its time. A great car that's incredibly rare!

I'm 17 years old and bout a year ago my grandfather gave me his old car. A 1983 Crown super saloon. Ever since has it been in storage and me battling the rust. Where I live salt is spread on the streets as soon as it drops too zero so no car will last here. My crown was scrap when I got it, but now at present time I have made a lot of fixes and I look forward to have it painted so I can start driving it. Front power windows are broken, the altenrator is fried and the gas gauge is off.

My first car was a toyota crown royal saloon 82 and was amazing as a young hoon. 2.8l motor efi 103kw could rev at 6600rpm all day long at rev limiter. first gear 80kph 2nd 140kph 3rd 195kph 4th never pushed past 205kph.

Weighed 1513kg. 4.1:1 diff ratio as standard. fridge split system aircon. it was a pimping machine chicks loved the red paint and chrome champaine velour interior. off the mark not so quick unless running methanol on the highway a wepon of its own. safe as well highly recomended.

Have owned a vn commodore and a vh sl/e currently and don't compare to the crown.