Searches on Japanese Goo-net and Yahoo Auctions usually turn up a few Coronas – always an option if you can’t find a good example for sale in the UK. The Corona certainly helped foster positive feeling for Japanese cars in the UK by 1969, the model had picked up an Imported Car of The Year gong. Toyota (GB) PLC has an immaculate Corona on its fleet and boasts that its car is one of two left registered in top of the range Deluxe specifications.
coupe and pick up models that we were denied. Not to be confused with the soft drinks range which became popular in the 70s and 80s, Toyota’s offerings lacked fizz but stayed the course.Īlthough a new name in the UK, the Corona nameplate (not to be confused with the Corolla) was on its third generation in Japan by the time it reached us domestic buyers were also offered estate.
Toyota’s first appearance in Blighty took the form of a humble 1.2- and 1.5-litre four door saloon range known as the Corona. You’ll have to budget for some expensive shipping and import costs and you’ll have one of the best classic Japanese cars that’ll keep showgoers guessing in the summer. It’s worth starting a lengthy search to find for sale in Japan via second-hand car site Goo-net. Restored two- and four-door Compagno Berlinas tend to split the difference between project cars and mint Spiders when it comes to values. The Compagno Berlina 800’s £799 price tag in 1965 priced it out of contention with comparably sized cars despite an impressive array of standard equipment (which included an all-important heater, tinted glass and an electrical aerial for the factory-fitted radio) when all was said and done it was a separate-chassied, small-engined saloon car from a marque with no pedigree.ĭufay managed to sell six (yes, six) Compagnos in the UK perhaps of more interest to pedants and historians than driving enthusiasts, a restored example can be bought for under five figures – including Vignale Spiders, which fetch the highest asking prices. Compagno vans and pick-ups, alas, were not imported. It offered the Compagno passenger car line in its entirety: two and four door Berlinas, along with an estate and a Vignale-styled cabriolet Spider were made available. How sad that the first Japanese marque to arrive on our shores was the first to depart! Sold in the UK from May 1965, the Daihatsu Compagno range was imported by Dufay of Birmingham, a film stock specialist more used to selling cameras than cars. Interest in these originals continues to grow, so now’s the time to buy – provided you can find one! The first Japanese cars trickled into the UK over 60 years ago.
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