2k: When Harry Met Sally: 1978 Toyota Corona Wagon
With the New Year just passed we couldn’t avoid watching Rob Reiner’s classic When Harry Met Sally (1989). We say couldn’t avoid because each year around New Years Eve it plays 24/7 on several major networks but it is a classic movie to get into the spirit of New Years. Today’s feature is the car driven by Sally in the opening scene when the two first meet or a reasonable facsimile. Find this 1978 Toyota Corona Wagon for sale in Seattle, WA for $1,500 via craigslist.
The 5th generation Toyota Corona was produced in Japan and sold around the world from 1973 to 1979. It was powered by Toyota’s R-series inline-4 that were reliable and frugal at a time when domestic vehicles were struggling with excess fat from years of complacence.
The Corona wagon driven by Sally in the movie was actually a 1975 model according to IMCDb.org and in a slightly more smiley face shade of yellow.
This Corona would have originally come with a 16R good for 80 horsepower, but it was been upgraded with a Toyota 20R engine that makes 90 horsepower and has much more low end grunt. It is also mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox that would have come from a later model Toyota.
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I like these last one i saw was running a small block ford.
lol.
That was my car in the CL ad- I still have it. It's got a broken tail light and it's impossible to find cosmetic parts for it- but everything internal can be gotten, of course, everywhere. I had 510's for so long (Datsun 510's) that I kinda burnt out on fixing or restoring these old cars- I got this one and I've done nothing except maintain it and keep the fluids and rubber good.
Funny… it's like my grocery car, but I see pictures of it on the internet here and there, like some of my old dimes.
I'd love to get a newer car.
Oh it's got much nicer rims than the ones in these pictures.
I'll probably put it back up this fall (2014) to try and get something newer- hard to sell though, they get such good gas mileage.. I still get 28-32 in town and 44+ on I-5 average, or better… and plenty of power for what I haul around.
To whomever posted that that this car was theirs, liar liar pants on fire! I have owned it since 2011 bought then in Nampa ID, it now lives in the Seattle area and is garaged awaiting full restoration.
The 20r is the original engine from the factory as listed on the manufacturers build plate under the hood.
Hello Teresa, we actually bought this car from the older gentleman that had it in Des Moines, WA. Can you tell us, had the motor ever been rebuilt? Has there been a different distributor put in it? Also, who did the lowering?