Post by jimmyangst on Sept 1, 2015 15:29:58 GMT -8
Howdy all, just bought a 76 Corona Wagon (5 speed) and discovered the site. Excellent stuff here! I hope to aggravate everyone with many, many trivial questions in the future.
My history with Toyotas:
Older brother bought a beat up 1971 Corona sedan in about 1984, it was an incredibly reliable car AND had frosty cold air conditioning. Amazing for a car of that age back then. I used it to pass my drivers license exam in 1985.
In 1987 I found a 1970 Corolla 2 door, 4 speed for sale in the local paper, $500 as is. Having never bought a car before, I asked my dad about it. He said, "first of all, don't just pay the asking price. Take a test drive, look it over, and finally offer something less than asking." I'd grown up working on cars, so had some vague idea of what to look for. The old gent started it up for me, then warned, "it DOES have a carburetor problem. I completely rebuilt it, but you need to keep your foot on the gas or it'll die. Probably nothing serious, but you'll probably want to tow it home. It's dangerous to drive it that way."
We popped the hood, took off the air cleaner and he fired it up. Even as an 18 year old delinquent, I could see that when he'd put the carburetor back on, he'd bolted the carb return mount upside down, so the spring wasn't keeping the butterfly open.
I offered him $300 and told him I could drive it home. My dad, who'd driven me there, gave me a knowing look. We shook hands, made the deal, and I drove it down the street and around the corner. We stopped, dug out the tool box, removed the air cleaner, flipped the spring right-side-up, and away I went.
Probably ended up putting another $400 into it, turns out the valves were eaten up and the radiator was gummed up. I pulled the head and had it resurfaced, new valves, valve guides and seats, oil pump, radiator rebuilt (yeah, they did that in those days), new timing chain and sprockets (all JC Whitney parts) and away I went. Drove that car for five years, then my dad drove it a few more while I was in college. It eventually succumbed to rust, as Ohio cars do.
Fast forward through many beaters (81 Mazda 626, 82 VW Rabbit, 86 Jetta diesel (how I miss that car!), 91 Neon, 91 Jetta (non-diesel, it was a bad car), 80 BMW 320i) and I bought a GASP brand new car, a 2005 Hyundai Elantra. It's ticking upwards of 200k now, so I've been worrying over whether to bite the bullet and buy a brand new car to replace it.
Last weekend, on Craigslist, my GF alerted me to my present project: a 1976 Toyota Corona station wagon, running and in more or less decent shape (for an original, non-restored 40 year old car). I had to have it. So... I bought it. Mechanically, it's exceptional. The body needs work. I'm hoping I'll be able to rustle up some wisdom on halting the existing rust and eventually figuring out how to get it restored. Also, I plan to DRIVE it. No room for garage queen Corona Wagons here!
Cheers
Jim Barber
Grove City, OH
My history with Toyotas:
Older brother bought a beat up 1971 Corona sedan in about 1984, it was an incredibly reliable car AND had frosty cold air conditioning. Amazing for a car of that age back then. I used it to pass my drivers license exam in 1985.
In 1987 I found a 1970 Corolla 2 door, 4 speed for sale in the local paper, $500 as is. Having never bought a car before, I asked my dad about it. He said, "first of all, don't just pay the asking price. Take a test drive, look it over, and finally offer something less than asking." I'd grown up working on cars, so had some vague idea of what to look for. The old gent started it up for me, then warned, "it DOES have a carburetor problem. I completely rebuilt it, but you need to keep your foot on the gas or it'll die. Probably nothing serious, but you'll probably want to tow it home. It's dangerous to drive it that way."
We popped the hood, took off the air cleaner and he fired it up. Even as an 18 year old delinquent, I could see that when he'd put the carburetor back on, he'd bolted the carb return mount upside down, so the spring wasn't keeping the butterfly open.
I offered him $300 and told him I could drive it home. My dad, who'd driven me there, gave me a knowing look. We shook hands, made the deal, and I drove it down the street and around the corner. We stopped, dug out the tool box, removed the air cleaner, flipped the spring right-side-up, and away I went.
Probably ended up putting another $400 into it, turns out the valves were eaten up and the radiator was gummed up. I pulled the head and had it resurfaced, new valves, valve guides and seats, oil pump, radiator rebuilt (yeah, they did that in those days), new timing chain and sprockets (all JC Whitney parts) and away I went. Drove that car for five years, then my dad drove it a few more while I was in college. It eventually succumbed to rust, as Ohio cars do.
Fast forward through many beaters (81 Mazda 626, 82 VW Rabbit, 86 Jetta diesel (how I miss that car!), 91 Neon, 91 Jetta (non-diesel, it was a bad car), 80 BMW 320i) and I bought a GASP brand new car, a 2005 Hyundai Elantra. It's ticking upwards of 200k now, so I've been worrying over whether to bite the bullet and buy a brand new car to replace it.
Last weekend, on Craigslist, my GF alerted me to my present project: a 1976 Toyota Corona station wagon, running and in more or less decent shape (for an original, non-restored 40 year old car). I had to have it. So... I bought it. Mechanically, it's exceptional. The body needs work. I'm hoping I'll be able to rustle up some wisdom on halting the existing rust and eventually figuring out how to get it restored. Also, I plan to DRIVE it. No room for garage queen Corona Wagons here!
Cheers
Jim Barber
Grove City, OH