Filed Under: News
This is not intended as an advert, however since we changed to Sky we have been able to watch Wheeler Dealer’s, in case you haven’t seen it, these two guy’s have devoted their time to restoring classic car’s. Modern classic’s might be a better way of putting it.
The basis is to buy a car at a reasonable price, one that has not been restored, then to set about bringing it back to life.
Many of the parts are sourced through Ebay or specialist breakers, or refurbishments by known experts.
It is an eye opener to look at a car which on the surface appears in reasonable nick, to find when they put it on the lift there is a considerable amount of work to do. Luckily for the programme they do the work themselves, and in fairness they seem to do so, for someone without the facilities or knowledge many jobs would be costly.
At the end they then sell the car on, hoping to make a profit, most of the would be buyer’s offer a much lower price than what it was advertised at, a few are told a definite no, other’s who gradually increase their offer normally drive away with some fair bargains.
So far, I have not seen a Japanese car on the programme, we have had French, Italian our little 500 Fiat, a Swedish Saab and a Volvo P1800, a whole clutch of English models, but no Japanese.
Our target for today is a heavenly body situated in the southern hemisphere , pity we cannot see it but the Carina constellation is apparently massive, we are talking billions of light years, so we won’t progress down that road.
It is so difficult to believe that our subject the Toyota Carina first arrived on the scene in December 1970, 42 years ago. It qualifies as an old car but is it a “Classic”, the answer must be yes, it seems to tick all the right boxes.
One of the problems with long running models is the fact that they change considerably during their lifetime, one has only to look at the Cortina, the last model was far removed from the original.
In case you are wondering what is coming next, yes I did have a carina II, provided of course by our generous Insurance company for whom I worked. All our cars were fully leased so apart from putting in copious amounts of petrol, which, okay I didn’t Have to fork out for, one had not the slightest idea of what it cost in terms of servicing, insurance etc.
I will say that during our tenure the Carina only ever needed scheduled servicing, drop it in on the way to the office, pick it up on the way back, washed of course.
The Carina YTC401, so it was known as “Young Ted’s Car”, was a great motorway drive, comfortable with plenty of space and a good size boot, it was equally at home on lesser roads, as for petrol consumption, which was not important as such but I for my own benefit worked out one would get 40 to the gallon, given the way it was driven was brilliant.
In a way I was sad to see it go, however on the way back from dropping friends off at Rosslare one morning what was coming towards me, yep YTC, looking as lovely as ever.
The first Carina’s actually arrived in Europe in the October following the initial launch, and it is cars like this that helped the ailing British car manufacturer on its way to oblivion, included in the price, reclining seats with built in head rest’s, radio, clock, reversing lights and servo assisted brakes, that is not all a 1588cc Overhead Valve engine with a four speed all synchro gearbox and front disc brakes.
Was that it, no, Toyota kept updating the Carina with cosmetic improvements 1972, 1974 and 1976, as you can guess it sold and sold.
Not contented with the success a second generation Carina appeared in 1977, it was still using the 1588cc unit, but output was said to be 102 bhp, which maintained the Carina’s ability to achieve the magic ton, the suspension was coiuls springs front and back, with Macpherson struts up front and a panhard rod at the back.
For the record the tyre size was quoted as 6X45X13 and petrol consumption given as 30-35mpg.
More, auto transmission became an option, then an estate version of the saloon with heavy duty spring leaf springs.
Updates seemed to become more frequent a 1600GT engine was available, it of course complied with the latest emission regulations, then urethane bumpers to lessen injury in the event of impact, on top of this a five speed gearbox.
Somewhere around this time Toyota got carried away with success, a 2000GT coupe was marketed with a dohc motor and the Carina transformed itself into the Celica Camry, but only in Japan, it was exported as the Carina.
To pep up the story do you watch the NASCAR racing from the USA, the Camry is a very prominent runner on the oval track, though it carries the name it is far removed from what you can buy in the dealer’s showroom, these are 200mph runner’s with welded doors and full roll over safety cages, not for me, far too scary.
We come up to 1981, the Carina is still marching on so to speak, out pop’s the third generation, the body was moré angular, it was the last of the model’s rear wheel drive examples.
An 1839cc diesel was slipped in the line up, however Toyota still held on to the 1588cc motor, at this point the Carina went racing, private teams entered it into the notorious Dakar rally in 1981 and 1982, listed in the two wheel drive class, they achieved four championships in the marathon class, who said it was a boring car?
Progress continued a five door hatchback and then an 1800ohc diesel motor were added.
1984 sees a completely revamped Carina, front wheel drive had arrived. With options for 2.0 litre, 1.8, 1.6 and 1.5 motors, the 1800 has the benefit of electronically controlled distributorless ignition.
Over the next 2 years more modifications to interior trim, and surprise there is no let up in sales. 1988 sees the next, fifth generation, this one is more rounded, though it is not the last model bearing the Carina name, we are moving into a completely new design.
1992 sees the sixth generation the Carina E, it no longer looks like the previous model, all the dimensions have been changed, the wheelbase moved up to 102in from 99.4, length up to 175in from 172, both width and height increased, correspondingly so has the weight. Three transmissions were available, 5 or 6 speed manual or 4 speed auto.
Production lasted until 1996, when the seventh generation made its way on to the roads and lasted until 2001. The Carina E, was the fore runner of the mind boggling successful Avensis, luckily Toyota had made the move to produce cars in the UK, a purpose built factory was built at Burnaston just outside Derby, the sheer size in terms of acreage is unbelievable, and it was here our story of the Carina comes to a close.
Except saying that there appears to be very few Carina models around, checking on prices it seems there are some under 1000 euro and cheaper, for the real enthusiast there is a good Toyota owners web site, however is an old one a good buy or is it like so many cars before it Good Bye?
Regards Ted
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