Just off one of Athens main motorways is a Toyota dealership, which has had a large red saloon parked outside it for years, from the motorway it isn’t immediately obvious what the car is, so I went to investigate. To my surprise I found that it was a very rare fourth-generation Toyota Crown. I’ve been passing it for over two years, but it looks like it has been sat there for much longer. Years sat in the sun have done no good for the paint and interior trim, both of which have become cracked and distorted.
The fourth generation Crown was made between 1971 and 1974. It was available in numerous body styles, including a seven-seat estate and a beautiful pillar-less coupe. The crown was available with four different engines, ranging between 2 and 2.4 litres. Most Crowns were automatics, however this one is a manual, adding to the rarity.
The fourth generation Crown was very forward thinking in its design, and featured some interesting features, including flush body-coloured bumpers on some models. The Crown was also available with luxuries such as electric mirrors, electric seats and electric windows. Sadly in some markets the Crown didn’t sell well as a result of its rather unorthodox styling, particularly the chrome band that runs across the front end. In the US, due to poor sales the Crown was pulled from the market.Unfortunately the Crowns that followed have been more conservative in their styling, though they were still great cars.
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Car Spotting in Greece 