Have always liked these Crowns. My old boss had a 1989 model as his company executive car in Australia which included a built-in mobile (cell) phone - the first car i ever saw with one. His was a 2.8 litre six cylinder version. They also had a standard icebox built into the back seat/shelf for keeping drinks cool. Toyota stopped importing them into Australia in 1989 to make way for the Lexus LS400.
The headgasket problems on the 7M engines are easily fixable by tightening the head bolts! Toyota shipped them from the factory with an insufficient head torque spec lol. If the car is low mileage, tighten them more, if its high mileage get a thicker metal headgasket and tighten it down good and the engine will be great! The engine has almost as much potential as a 1JZ, in recent years people have made as much as 1000+ hp with them!
Love these Toyota crowns, I have never seen front license plate lamps. This has to be my favorite years for Japanese vehicles, 82 to 89. During these years the Celica, Luce, Cosmo, Crown, Leopard, and so many more had that edgy squared off styling. I can't wait to see a mid 80s video of a Nissan Leopard be done on your channel, that would be cool.
I wish we had these kind of Japanese cars in North America, when I was growing up. This car reminds me of the Buick LeSabre and Oldsmobile 88, and so on. For such a large car, I would go for the column-mounted transmission, and even a front bench seat. Well, life goes on.
That's incredible how Toyota was able to make a rear AC system and have the AC actually pass THROUGH the A Pillar! That's probably why this car has no door frame around the windows, they needed the extra space to fit the AIR VENTS.
Memories of my parents 1991 Toyota Camry V6 LE came flowing back as I watched this. I detested the thing when my dad bought it but now I miss it dearly. The plush seats, the buttery handling and all the boxy chassis. I am seriously thinking about getting one. So far I love the Crown, the Chaser, the Celsior, the Century of the late 80's and 90's. Which of those would be easiest to maintain in Canada in terms of parts? I'm open to other suggestions. Thanks Derek, best channel ever. Hello from Toronto!
Ah, what a cool Crown. Beats out the Ford Crown Vic any day of the week, lol. I remember you teasing this Crown a couple weeks ago, glad to have waited for it, it's really the coolest version I have seen- Can't believe it has only one owner and 35k miles! Wow! I thought that in Japan people usually don't tend to own cars too long, so this owner must have really loved it to keep it for nearly 3 decades.
+Viet Commie that's ironic because Kia and Hyundai are doing exactly what Toyota and Nissan did back in the 80's and 90's with luxury brand offshoots, rwd sedans, turbo cars
Well to be honest, North America gets all the shit. All these innovations never come here because all we want are trucks and suvs. As an example, the corolla could come with a supercharger up until a few years back... IN A COROLLA!!!! We aren't on the right continent I'm afraid. I'm thinking of moving back to Germany in the near future just for the glorious cars.
@4:26 It is likely that previous owners of the turbo version did not treat them properly which resulted in head gasket failure. Powerful cars are more likely to be abused.
I love toyota crown. I remember we had a 1978 crown and 1988 crown super saloon. Why did they stop the production of crown and corona in some part of asia. Like philippines...
I always ask myself when I see lots of 4 cyl cars that had head issues... did the person ever change any of the fluids or do any maintenance, its a big park and the cheaper the car the cheaper the owner often is.
Another grate video. I absolutely love these older cars. Even more so when they are as clean and complete like this one!! How much can I expect to pay for a car like this one bus transportation to the USA?
Great looking car I especially like the front bench seat. I have a 1980 toyota crown supersaloon 2.8 non turbo it's a great car for cruising but I'd love it to have the 1989 front seat set up.
3rd comment lol... That "light" on top of the fender does not light up... It's a reflector when you turn on the headlights, reflecting the light from the said headlights :)
I really like this era of crowns, but the problem is I can't import any right-hand drive car to my country wich really sucks, i'm deeply in love with this car ❤️
Great videos. You're living the dream as far as I'm concerned. When are we going to start seeing some brief test drives? Even just around the block would make these vids more interesting...
I think its a great idea but it's hard to fit it in. We already spend a hour per car checking them. It's hard to add another 20 minutes in setting up the cameras and taking it out considering the profit that we make on each sale. Our competition usually doesn't even see the cars themselves and generally charge the same price.
By now, the first gen Legend is pretty rare in Japan. Car owners here don't often drive cars that are older than 7 years. By the time they are 25-30 very few survive. You could still find some, but there are not going to be stacks and stacks of them.
The 7M-GTE's torque bolt were way below what they should be, whuich is what generated the blown headgasket thing... I think it was a mistake from Toyota, not sure non-turbo had that problem.
about the spreading rumors thing...rotarys...people always hate on rotary engines but if u take care of it it will last u a long while...my dads engine went at 132k and we r swaping a new motor in now...and it has been super reliable until it wasnt.
I own Toyota Crown Royal Saloon A/T 1991, S130 Model GS131, Engine 1G-FE 2000cc DOHC 24 valves, Silver color, interior seats Maroon color , full leather dashboard with analog meter, not digital meter, telescopic & tilt steering, driver`s power seat, power sliding back seat, Auto A/C, front auto swing A/C vent, rear A/C vent, rear small fridge, the same model as yours but the windows are not frameless, your Crown is Hardtop model, the backlight model is different too, my Crown has Red light on upperside, Yellow light and backward light on downside, this vintage car is really awesome, I`m in Jakarta, Indonesia.....
Wasn't the 7M head gasket failures caused by incorrect head bolt torque from the factory? They changed the gasket to a different type but didn't touch the torque? I think
To my knowledge that is correct. I had a Toyota Soarer with the 7M-GTE turbo engine and the head gasket blew at about 80,000 kms. The torque spec was way below what it should have been and it took a long time for people to realise that. My wife had a Toyota Cressida with the 7M-GE engine and it ended up with a cracked head though it still ran quite well. They were great engines for their time - fuel injected with twin camshafts and four valves per cylinder. But their weakness was the head gasket.
I bought my 1988 Crown Royal Saloon over 2 years ago and I have loved it, but the big let down was that there are no front rotors to be found for this model. Anywhere , and believe me I have checked in every country & had Toyota to check. No aftermarket company can do it. So I am stuck. Huge disappointment.
That's really weird. I would think that rotors are easy to find for these. I can even find rotors for my Honda City Turbo 2 and they sold about 1/100 as many Cities as they did Crowns.
Do you make so little money on these that you tell the new owner to clean the car rather than just paying a couple of dollars to run it through a car wash for 5 mins? lol I don't get why someone would pay to have such a slab of non descript shite sent to their country lol, it's just a box... or it's more like a podium, 1st, 2nd, 3rd at the olympics... and why the hell would they add on shiter like electric forward moving back seats? like when would you ever use that? apart fro the first time you buy it... and what does it replace? lol, a lever that if you push it up, allows you to move the seat as fast as you want haha
Yes, we make very very very little money per sale but that's where the market prices this service. This is a simple equation and one that is understood by all businesses that are still in business. You can only make money if the customer is willing to pay you for it. That said, I think that we offer an amazing value for money.
