Recently there has been a big revival for classic Japanese cars from the 1960s to the 1970s and it has not been just for sport cars and coupes. Sedans are in demand and the biggest problem with this early Japanese sedans that came to Malaysia is rust.
Yes, you can find plenty of the early Datsun’s, Mitsubishi’s and Toyota’s still running around small towns and even in the cities, but they are all rusting away with owners spending money to keep their body panels intact. Only a handful have been lovingly looked after by their owners with proper covered garages and dry storage.
One classic Japanese sedan that is starting to get noticed is the 1970’s Toyota Corona.
In many countries, the Corona was one of Toyota’s first international exports, and was shortly joined by the smaller and super popular Toyota Corolla providing buyers with a choice of a larger car, with similar operating expenses to the smaller Corolla.
The Corona was Toyota’s second sedan in their hierarchy of products, just below the Crown, until 1968 when the Corona name was used on a larger, all new platform which was called the Corona Mk2, and this sedan gave buyers more interior space while still offering dependable, affordable performance.
The Corona became successful in export markets and was marketed under a number of different nameplates worldwide—including those branded in much of Asia as Coronas marketed in European markets with the name Carina.
