Thread: The most unusual car you've ever owned...

Had a 1965 Toyota Crown Custom Sedan,3 on the tree and 2 speed elect overdrive,(which freewheeled) full tinted glass including w/screen,light green tint,1900cc 4 cyl of M-B origin,drum brakes unboosted, straight out of the early 50's Humber parts bin,first model with full coils,truck quality chassis,manual steering,did 190,000miles in it,took it off the road in 99,brakes were not up to 1990-2000 standard,when trying to stop with other traffic on 4x discs 30 miles to the gallon,light under bonnet,light in carpeted boot,glove box,+power point for shaver,top dash mount clock,in seat arm rests front & rear metalic thread upolstery,4 h/lights, reversing lights,3 spd heater,curtesy lights on 4 doors, not bad value in 1965/6 when the Holden had the HD Premier and Ford the Falcon Futura at slightly higher price,good competition for the Nissan Cedric (4 cyl 4 spd) and Personel 6 sedans,& wagons

cheers

Originally Posted by UncleHo

Had a 1965 Toyota Crown Custom Sedan,3 on the tree and 2 speed elect overdrive,(which freewheeled) full tinted glass including w/screen,light green tint,1900cc 4 cyl of M-B origin,drum brakes unboosted, straight out of the early 50's Humber parts bin,first model with full coils,truck quality chassis,manual steering,did 190,000miles in it,took it off the road in 99,brakes were not up to 1990-2000 standard,when trying to stop with other traffic on 4x discs 30 miles to the gallon,light under bonnet,light in carpeted boot,glove box,+power point for shaver,top dash mount clock,in seat arm rests front & rear metalic thread upolstery,4 h/lights, reversing lights,3 spd heater,curtesy lights on 4 doors, not bad value in 1965/6 when the Holden had the HD Premier and Ford the Falcon Futura at slightly higher price,good competition for the Nissan Cedric (4 cyl 4 spd) and Personel 6 sedans,& wagons

cheers

You forgot to mention the wind out quarter vents and electric arial. They were excellant value, I had four including M, 2M and 4M six cylinders.

Originally Posted by Hall

Hey Sleepy I had a 1969 crown ute. Was a 4cyl 2ltr ute that weighed in at over 2 ton. So had the power of a four and the fuel economy of a 5ltr V8. Is the only vehicle that I have known to be tripled paneled. Removed a inner panel to gain access to knock out one of the many many dints it had only to find another panel in the way. Chasis was a massive box section flat X frame unit that would have been more suited under a large truck. Only kept it long enough to realize I was contributing to the world fuel crisis and sold it.
Cheers Hall

I learnt to drive on one of those !

I loved it, the poor, gutless thing

Dad bought it new in 1969 for work, alongside all his Holden panel vans (I was only just out of nappies) and every apprentice he had through the place had driven it into the ground, so was in a very, very ordinary state by the time I got to it in 1983.

It would actually do 85MPH if you had a long enough stretch of road, and i raced an E38 Charger once (I'm not joking) on the old Prospect Road when it was one way west bound as the then DMR where upgrading the Gt Western Hwy.

The Charger would blast past me under power, then I'd fly underneath him, all crossed up under brakes, and within three corners the reason I kept going underneath him was that I had terminal brake fade thanks to the twin leading front shoes

I learnt all about controlling slides on dry bitumen at well over the posted limit, how to control slides in the wet, how to try and pull up with smoking brakes/no brakes, how to drive without a clutch, how far sideways you could go on dirt without completely going right around, etc.
Can't remember being able to do handbrake turns though with the umbrella style handbrake

As you said, built like a tank and the perfect young idiots car as it didn't go terribly fast, didn't steer, brake or handle very well, so you learnt how to overcome poor characteristics and made the transition to the race track a non event when I eventually started racing.

Originally Posted by UncleHo

Had a 1965 Toyota Crown Custom Sedan,3 on the tree and 2 speed elect overdrive,(which freewheeled) full tinted glass including w/screen,light green tint,1900cc 4 cyl of M-B origin,drum brakes unboosted, straight out of the early 50's Humber parts bin,first model with full coils,truck quality chassis,manual steering,did 190,000miles in it,took it off the road in 99,brakes were not up to 1990-2000 standard,when trying to stop with other traffic on 4x discs 30 miles to the gallon,light under bonnet,light in carpeted boot,glove box,+power point for shaver,top dash mount clock,in seat arm rests front & rear metalic thread upolstery,4 h/lights, reversing lights,3 spd heater,curtesy lights on 4 doors, not bad value in 1965/6 when the Holden had the HD Premier and Ford the Falcon Futura at slightly higher price,good competition for the Nissan Cedric (4 cyl 4 spd) and Personel 6 sedans,& wagons

cheers

Originally Posted by V8Ian

You forgot to mention the wind out quarter vents and electric arial. They were excellant value, I had four including M, 2M and 4M six cylinders.

Yep, had forgotten about the wind out quarter vents !

The utes weren't assembled here by AMI but were fully imported and the build quality was beautiful, and so far ahead of the Holdens and Jeep Dad also had at the time.
As an 18yo I dreamed of pulling the 5R and installing the 2l 6 (M ?) and adding triple Webers, etc.
Dumb idea as the car was so heavy, but I was young.....

I've seen a '69 Crown ute driving around Tamworth occasionally and it brings back memories.

First car was a Morris 8 Series E.

Had to replace the floor boards because of the borer. Anything over 50mph (downhill and tail wind) and the rear seat would fall forward from the wind in the boot.

Windscreen had a little handle you could wind out to open it.



Another was a Nissan Silvia, back in the early 90's. Damn thing went like a streak of Weasels pee. Had two dizzies and two plugs per cylinder. Only 4 stroke engine I've had with a noticeable power band at around 160km/hr. Looked like this one in Osaka.



One of my favourites was a three ton Austin lorry, with a straight six petrol engine. Same engine as the Wolsley, so parts were easy and cheap.

Originally Posted by disco2hse

Another was a Nissan Silvia, back in the early 90's. Damn thing went like a streak of Weasels pee. Had two dizzies and two plugs per cylinder. Only 4 stroke engine I've had with a noticeable power band at around 160km/hr. Looked like this one in Osaka.

at first glance i would have sworn that was a Toyota Carina/Corona Coupe
wonder who copied off who





on second thoughts it was the Corolla coupe i was thinking of

Originally Posted by rick130

Yep, had forgotten about the wind out quarter vents !

The utes weren't assembled here by AMI but were fully imported and the build quality was beautiful, and so far ahead of the Holdens and Jeep Dad also had at the time.
As an 18yo I dreamed of pulling the 5R and installing the 2l 6 (M ?) and adding triple Webers, etc.
Dumb idea as the car was so heavy, but I was young.....

I've seen a '69 Crown ute driving around Tamworth occasionally and it brings back memories.

Some were imported and some were assembled in Evans Road, Salisbury, Brisbane in the same plant that assembled Jeeps. Imported ones had a diecast grille, local ones had a stamped sheet grille. Not sure now whether all had the then fancy radio with front and rear seat controls or only the imports.

The first Coronas hit the market about them and were touted as a rival for the Cortina GT. Brian Power, a Toyota dealer, and well known racing driver found out the hard way about the eff awful handling. He took their demonstrator for a fast fang and lost it on a bridge in Zillmere Road. Poor thing had a diagonal crease front to back in the floor pan.

Guess I'll have to stick up for the Aussie product. Seems that my early auto history was stuck between the big two, Ford and Holden. My only saving grace was that some were toward the 'fast' end.
A couple of cars I had that I'd sell my soul to have today ... HG Holden Monaro and a LH SLR Torana.
Man, could they pull the girls! Sadly tho, most only wanted to drive them!