Mystery car pix

ab348

No real mystery here but I would love to know the background story on this picture. Somehow I doubt this is an early example of "glamping" The lady on the left is Corine Rottschäfer , Miss Europe 1957 and Miss World, 1959, from the Netherlands, where I believe this picture was taken.

stickguy

Photo shoot out in the woods?

fintail

Out for a picnic and a photoshoot. Great color for the Squire, too.

ab348

fintail said:

Out for a picnic and a photoshoot. Great color for the Squire, too.

Yes, especially with the wood grain contrast it is a very attractive shade.

fintail

Looks like a matching (maybe three tone?) blue interior, too. I approve.

ab348 said:

Yes, especially with the wood grain contrast it is a very attractive shade.

lemko1968

andys120

Toyota Crown ca. late1960s. USDM version.

magnette

thanks @omarman for finding my picture is in Yonkers

I thought I would mention the 53 Packard facing in foreground and the Mercury facing us on extreme right - with a similar one beyond obscured by the lamp post

ab348

andys120 said:

Toyota Crown ca. late1960s. USDM version.

That looks more like a Corona to me. The Crown would be rather larger.

andys120

ab348 said:

andys120 said:

Toyota Crown ca. late1960s. USDM version.

That looks more like a Corona to me. The Crown would be rather larger.

I think youre right.

fintail

Yep, Corona. We did get the Crown for a brief period, incredibly rare today, but they exist as USDM official imports.

First Crown sold in the US was this style:



And a few of these were sent to Canada - in coupe, sedan, and wagon form, too - not sure if they were sold south of the border, but I have seen them in BC:

sda

lemko1968 said:

1972 Corona Mark II.

ab348

I remember I had a Toyota Canada brochure for the first-style Crown above. I forget what year that would have been but I'm thinking perhaps '69 or so.

I remember seeing a couple of the second spacey-style ones around here but they were not plentiful. I think they were not priced competitively.

sda

We had a 72 that was this color, the color a bit darker.. This car is oxidized and faded.

stickguy

I had a white celica GT of the vintage of the one backed into the garage. Incredible rust bucket.

fintail

Spacey, that's a good description. Apparently a handful were sold as USDM models, I found this coupe that was unearthed last year:



Kind of a guilty pleasure, but I bet they are quite prone to rust and decay, body and trim parts have been NLA as long as I have been alive, and they are indeed a bit weird looking.

I recall seeing a coupe for sale in BC, seller wanted something like 17K for it, it wasn't selling, shocking I know.

texases

That era Toyotas had a wide variety of front end styles. I remember my teacher's 'shovel nose' gen 1 Corona very clearly.

sda

texases said:

That era Toyotas had a wide variety of front end styles. I remember my teacher's 'shovel nose' gen 1 Corona very clearly.

Our neighbors in New Orleans had one like that in baby blue, Toyoglide and a/c.

Michaell

We had a '73 Corona, brown with brown vinyl. Bench seats up front, column shift. Bought 8/12/73 (my dad's 38th birthday).

We kept that car until I totaled it in HS - '81 or '82.

magnette

I remember these Toyota Crown Custom Estates - they sold quite a few in UK in about 1973-5




Funnily enough most of them seemed to be in yellow

lemko1968

fintail

The latest pic looks like a Toyota Crown from maybe 1989.

The wagon was apparently sold here as well, I found this image of a 1972 Toyota full line brochure (trucks on the back page):

magnette

@fintail

We got the Crown saloon and estate like that earlier one you showed as the first US import one but like you we never saw them really

The one I showed was available here as a saloon and estate but they were never common - they were directly competing with Volvo for the estate market here as we didn't have really large estate cars from domestic firms until the Ford Granada came along and that wasn't introduced as an estate until about 1974

Don't recall seeing a coupe but maybe they did offer a few..

UK bought a lot of estate cars then - more than most other European countries I think. (Regardless of Brexit we are still European as far as I'm concerned)

andys120

If you can read the scripy on side you havea better monitor than I do.

ab348

Looks like a '54 Roadmaster to me.

andys120

ab348 said:

Looks like a '54 Roadmaster to me.

Nope. Hints: this model cost more than a Roadmaster but had no "portholes" and it's MY 1953. .There was a similar (not identical) 1954 version.

ab348

Nope, it's not a '53 Skylark. The quarter-panel badging is the giveaway.

imidazol97

I believe the badging says "Roadmaster." I've compared to several examples.
Is this a Riviera model of the Roadmaster? I believe the car is a 1954 because
of the odd bulging on the rear fender.

lemko1968

fintail said:

The latest pic looks like a Toyota Crown from maybe 1989.

The wagon was apparently sold here as well, I found this image of a 1972 Toyota full line brochure (trucks on the back page):

First car I posted was a 1972 Toyota Corona. Second car was a 1989 Toyota Crown V-8.

andys120

ab348 said:

Nope, it's not a '53 Skylark. The quarter-panel badging is the giveaway.

I was confused by the presence of the Sweepspear and Kelsey Hayes wires, all prominent features of the '53 Skylark. Having looked at pix of Rivieras and contemporary Skylarks I've noticed that the Rivs have the side-script, the 'larks don't (just a small circular badge).





Am I correct in recalling Skylarks having been on a shorter (Special?) chassis?

fintail

In the b&w Buick pic, I notice "War of the Worlds" and "Those Redheads From Seattle" are on the theater marquee - both are from 1953.

Lostwrench3

The big clue on '53 vs '54 Buicks is that the '53s had no side script to the rear of the front door as shown.

andys120

fintail said:

In the b&w Buick pic, I notice "War of the Worlds" and "Those Redheads From Seattle" are on the theater marquee - both are from 1953.

Don't forget that model year introductions were in September so the car could be a brand new '54 or a "leftover" '53.

I've always thought of the Skylarks as being some of the most desireable 1950s cars, right up the 300s, 2 seater 'Birds and 'Vettes.

magnette

Lynchburg WV - the picture should expand ...



Is that a circa 52-4 Chevrolet Suburban parked to the left adjacent to the approaching bus?

imidazol97

I'm confused by the discussion on 53 and 54 Buicks. Didn't the 53 Buicks have a flat top to the rear side panel while the 54 Buicks had the hump on top of the rear panel?

sda

The red Buick has the expensive and rare factory a/c. Cool.

ab348

The ‘53 Buick used the last year of that B/C body. For ‘54 those were all new designs. The ‘53 was much more curvy and sort of chubby.

fintail

Good point - War of the Worlds debuted on August 26th of that year, Redheads on Sept 23, so right on the border for both.

andys120 said:

Don't forget that model year introductions were in September so the car could be a brand new '54 or a "leftover" '53.

I've always thought of the Skylarks as being some of the most desireable 1950s cars, right up the 300s, 2 seater 'Birds and 'Vettes.

fintail

Little van approaching the apparently hitchhiking kid is a (British) Ford Anglia 100E-based Thames. I like those, basis for a famous Matchbox car:

magnette said:

Lynchburg WV - the picture should expand ...

Is that a circa 52-4 Chevrolet Suburban parked to the left adjacent to the approaching bus?

Lostwrench3

And, speaking of Buicks, approaching the intersection, a 1950.

andys120

Nice 1956 BelAir 4dr h/t turning under one way sign. What's the little boxy import on left?

tjc78

sda said:

The red Buick has the expensive and rare factory a/c. Cool.

How can you tell? I’m not seeing it.

ab348

I don't think we've seen this previously, a former rail station now in use as a museum.

kyfdx

'60 Ford

sda

tjc78 said:

sda said:

The red Buick has the expensive and rare factory a/c. Cool.

How can you tell? I’m not seeing it.

Near the backlight on the body is a red air scoop. If you look into backlight you can see a clear plastic tube running from the parcel shelf up to the ceiling. Those tubes carried the cold air from the fan from part of the a/c unit located in the trunk to vents located in the ceiling, airplane style.

tjc78

sda said:

tjc78 said:

sda said:

The red Buick has the expensive and rare factory a/c. Cool.

How can you tell? I’m not seeing it.

Near the backlight on the body is a red air scoop. If you look into backlight you can see a clear plastic tube running from the parcel shelf up to the ceiling. Those tubes carried the cold air from the fan from part of the a/c unit located in the trunk to vents located in the ceiling, airplane style.

Gotcha. Didn’t know that!

ab348

kyfdx said:

'60 Ford

But it's a rare one. Not painted white like 90% of those I find pictured are.

fintail

Black (maybe on red) 57 Caddy convertible to the left of the 60 Ford

tmart

First gen Corvair next to the Ford.

Lostwrench3

ab348 said:

kyfdx said:

'60 Ford

But it's a rare one. Not painted white like 90% of those I find pictured are.

And, it has the optional air brake still deployed a la an F-15.