Junkyard Find: 1979 Toyota Corona LE Sedan

by Murilee Martin

April 4th, 2012 12:05 AM

junkyard find 1979 toyota corona le sedan

We saw a Crusher-bound 1970 Corona last week, but that wasn’t the only 1970s Corona in this particular Northern California wrecking yard. A few rows away was this equally beige, but much larger and more sophisticated, ’79.

By the end of the 1970s, the Corona wasn’t selling so well in the United States. American car shoppers with fat wallets and a yen for a luxurious-yet-sensible Japanese sedan went for the Cressida, cheapskate car shoppers who still wanted Toyota reliability went for the Corolla, and everyone else bought Malibus and Diplomats. A few years later, the Camry showed up… and that was it for the Corona in North America.

The 20R engine wasn’t exactly smooth, but thousands of Hilux-driving warlords can vouch for its reliability.

This survivor of the streets of San Francisco may have been running just fine at the end; it doesn’t take much for the parking tickets to build up, and the next stop (unless the owner has thousands of bucks to pay The Man) is the the towed-cars auction.

#1970s #1979 #1979ToyotaCorona #Corona #DownOnTheJunkyard #Junkyard #JunkyardFind #Malaise #MalaiseEra #Toyota #ToyotaCorona

Comments

Join the conversation

3 of 18 comments

Old Skool Toyotas on Jul 04, 2012

Can you provide the name of the salvage yard you found this vehicle at? I've been looking for that front headlights/grille setup. Thanks.

Like Reply
- Emergates on Jan 15, 2013
  
  Old Skool Toyotas I'm also looking for parts. Contact me
  
  Like
Emergates on Jan 15, 2013

I'm looking for 79 Corona parts. Please share the contact info for the Junk Yards.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

SCE to AUX I charge at home 99% of the time, on a Level 2 charger I installed myself in 2012 for my Leaf. My house is 1967, 150-Amp service, gas dryer and furnace; everything else is electric with no problems. I switched from gas HW to electric HW last year, when my 18-year-old tank finally failed.I charge at a for-pay station maybe a couple times a year.I don't travel more than an hour each way in my Ioniq 1 EV, so I don't deal much with public chargers. Despite a big electric rate increase this year, my car remains ridiculously cheap to operate.
ToolGuy 38:25 to 45:40 -- Let's all wait around for the stupid ugly helicopter. 😉The wheels and tires are cool, as in a) carbon fiber is a structural element not decoration and b) they have some sidewall.Also like the automatic fuel adjustment (gasoline vs. ethanol).(Anyone know why it's more powerful on E85? Huh? Huh?)
Ja-GTI So, seems like you have to own a house before you can own a BEV.
Kwik_Shift Good thing for fossil fuels to keep the EVs going.
Carlson Fan Meh, never cared for this car because I was never a big fan of the Gen 1 Camaro. The Gen 1 Firebird looked better inside and out and you could get it with the 400.The Gen 2 for my eyes was peak Camaro as far as styling w/those sexy split bumpers! They should have modeled the 6th Gen after that.