Another reason people buy Jap vs US
DeserTBoB
OEM gasket and small parts for my Accord, and Honda still provides
them, along with internet ordering! Try THAT with GM or Ford! This
car is 27 years old, and I can still get most all critical parts to
keep it running as it should. Trim and interior parts are spotty, but
still available sometimes, and in the right color! I remember my '70
Ford...after five years, you couldn't order dash pads for it
anymore...five years! I put a new dash in that Accord in 1997, fresh
from the factory, and in the CORRECT color.
Another story on this. For reasons never fully explained, my
grandmother bought one of 199 Toyota Crowns sold in the US that year.
This was truly a "japmobile"...4.11 gears with 14" rims which would
give about 4500 RPM at freeway speeds, archiac power steering stolen
from GM's Saginaw design used from 1951-'55, a direct and smaller copy
of Moraine's power brake unit, a downsided copy of the
Borg-Warner/Ford FMX transmission, dash design stolen from the 1969-70
Oldsmobile...just a patchwork of mismatched, badly engineered parts
that didn't work well. Add the then-common "jap" styling, and you had
a real novelty...and one that would have people stop and gawk every
time you drove it. In Japan, these cars were considered to be
limousines, and all high government and industry officials of the late
'60s and early '70s were chauffeured around in them. True to form of
the era, it was too small for most any American, unless you were a
woman. It also had the horrid 4M straight 6 cylinder engine, which,
like many Toyotas of the era, would burn exhaust valves regularly due
to bad cooling design. The 4M also had siamesed cylinders, which gave
uneven piston skirt and ring wear. Chevrolet also had siamesed
cylinders on its dreadful small block 400", which didn't last very
long.
Anyway, Grandma gave the Crown to my Mom to use as a "grocery getter"
so she wouldn't have to use the Cadillac around town, and Grandma went
to a Buick X body, which lasted her until she died in it in an
accident. Not that it mattered much to my mom...the Crown got worse
gas mileage than did the Cadillac...around 11 MPG around town, MAYBE
14 on the road. Anyway, since it was such a curiousity to people on
the street, and in mint condition, we kept it in the fleet.
One day many years later, a tell tale puddle of green under the front
of the engine foretold a failing water pump seal. Getting a water
pump for Toyopet 4M in the US was nigh impossible through most parts
sources, but one call to a local Toyota dealer had a new pump, with
its captive viscous fan drive clutch, air freighted to him the next
day! $104, which for a water pump in those days was outrageous, but
they had the parts. Other very obscure oddball parts for this
particular car, such as the retro-50s power steering gearbox, were
also similarly available for years afterward, even though only 199 of
these things were sold in the US in 1971!
Try that on GM or Ford...FAHGEDDABOUDIT! However, Chrysler has bucked
that trend, and you can still get many minor parts for the old M-body
RWD Fifth Avenues today, even though most M-bodies are more than 20
years old. I bet Noodles can't get a lot of parts for his Grand Prick
now, either! HAHAHAHAHAHA!
Oh...the Crown? My sister wound up with it, and sold it to an
interested collector. Despite her inability to keep a car running for
more than a year at a time, the Crown carried her around for two.
Reason she got rid of it? Bad fuel economy!
66fourdoor
a good reason to buy lead sled American Caddy/Lincoln over small
foreign cars
girth
William W Western
> like many Toyotas of the era, would burn exhaust valves regularly due
> to bad cooling design.
was pretty much a Chevy 6. Every machinist who saw me lug the monster in
thought that was what it was. Lots of valve problems, the culprit being
poorly cast in place seats according to these same machine shops I had do
the headwork every few years. I bought that thing new and kept it mint
finally selling it when I had kids and needed four doors and some civility.
Those old ones now sell for pretty good money if you go by what I saw on
Ebay last year. It was one tough hombre. I actually did well with some spare
parts I still had around. Sold the original shop manuals and owners guide
two years back for decent money. But really did well on the original canvas
tool kit with most of the tools still with it. I think only the pliers were
missing. No Detroit cars came with such a tool kit in 1971 that I can
recall. Brits used to include some.
8 Track was not a Toyota option on that model but I had one under
the dash. In about 1978, right at the end of the 8 track era, some stupid
thief took the time and energy to crawl around under the dash and steal it.
He must have looked quite the fool when he hauled it in to the local fence
because it also barely worked. Saved me the trouble of removing the POS
myself. Hopefully the punk realized he wasn't cut out for that line of work
and got on at McDonalds.
DeserTBoB
<wweste...@shaw.ca> wrote:
>> woman. It also had the horrid 4M straight 6 cylinder engine, which,
>> like many Toyotas of the era, would burn exhaust valves regularly due
>> to bad cooling design.
> I drove a Tojo Land Cruiser in the 70s. I think that in line six
>was pretty much a Chevy 6. <snip>
Yes. Toyota couldn't build decent engines until the late '70s.
Everything before was very prone to valve failure due to excessive
casting thickness around the seat area and cast-in-place seats with
soft valves. My dad bought a '73 Celica (what a shitbox!) with the
18RC engine, which would fry exhuast valves every 30K miles until
Toyota finally had stellite seats and valves installed, out of
warranty, for free. That won my dad over as a Toyota lover for life.
The Land Cruiser 6 was a near exact copy of the Chevy 250, so close
that GM sued Toyota and won. Toyota then ceased production of that
engine, and the Land Cruiser was no longer sold in the US.
dB
66fourdoor
General Motors- the best there is
William W Western
> that GM sued Toyota and won. Toyota then ceased production of that
> engine, and the Land Cruiser was no longer sold in the US.
diesel. I had lost interest by then and have never heard if that foray into
diesel was as disastrous as most others in the 80s.
I have also heard stories of very early Japanese cars (usually Toyota
is claimed) with four cylinder engines where you could still faintly see the
Austin of England markings on the castings. Thank goodness they improved on
the Austin engines or today we would have Toyotas that never start and leak
bucket-fulls of oil. And this from one who loves the old Brit cars.
DeserTBoB
<wweste...@shaw.ca> wrote:
> I have also heard stories of very early Japanese cars (usually Toyota
>is claimed) with four cylinder engines where you could still faintly see the
>Austin of England markings on the castings. Thank goodness they improved on
>the Austin engines or today we would have Toyotas that never start and leak
>bucket-fulls of oil. And this from one who loves the old Brit cars. <snip>
That one I hadn't heard.
Insofar as Britmobiles are concerned, I do know this:
MG stands for "My God!"
66fourdoor
My sympathies, DB- (laughter..)
your poor wife and kids, must be so embarassed for you...
oh well, not everyone can drive a nice GM.
66fourdoor
let's see a Jap motor sell for this much