Oldest UK Toyota

[ifc63]

Following on from the 1936 Toyota AA thread, does anyone know of a car/owner that can beat long-standing TEC member Dave Clarke's acheivement of possibly having the oldest UK Toyota.
If there is an older car, can this then boast still being in regular road use ?
If it can, can it then beat the triple whammy that Dave can claim of having actually bought the car brand new from an early UK Toyota dealer and having continuous ownership of it since then.
I thought not !!!!

Here's the car at Oulton Park this year where it won Best Japanese Classic.

Here's Dave at Cholmondeley in 2010 enjoying a cuppa !

And here's the article about Dave and his Corona from the Toyota Today magazine.

Details are Toyota Corona RT40 registered on 1st January 1967 as although Dave agreed the purchase in late 1966, he wanted to wait for the all-important 'new' E- suffix registration.

We're hoping to have Dave and the Corona at the Event City Indoor Show in Manchester in April 2013.

[ifc63]

I've found this site where the guy had a D-reg car that is registered as 16th May 1966. Currently Sorn-declared but I don't know if it's an original UK car. Anyone know?
But more interesting is his race car, a 1964 (*) Corona bearing a registration that doesn't come up on the DVLA database so I can't confirm an accurate date of registration.

(*)As far as I'm aware, the RT40 was introduced in September 1964 but when did the first ones make it to these shores?

www.svgmotorsport.com/svgmotorsport.html

[japclassics]

My Corona RT40 was registered on 01MAY1966 :-)

Currently under restoration and id love to get it to the Manchester show.

Its current state..





Only 2 previous owners and been off the road since 1984..

[dinger]

In reply to Ian's question I can add the following. The first officially imported Toyotas were shown at the 1965 London Motor Show (effectively the British Motor Show) On display a Corona 1500 saloon and estate, RT40 and RT46 and the ultra rare, even then, higher performance 1600S derivatives in saloon RT40-S and Coupe styles, RT51. The concession to import Toyota to the UK was won by the late John Pride, of the then South London motor retailers Pride and Clarke. He set up a small subsidiary at Brixton Hill, Motor Imports Co, soon to become Toyota(GB) Ltd. (TGB)

For many years and accepted by the Club and TGB as the oldest known Toyota in the UK was a Spanish Maroon RT40 saloon (just like, in the super pics on this Forum of the car being restored) owned by one of the original distributor/dealers from late 1965, Neville Johnston (Garages) Ltd (NJG) registered 6600 0Z, on 1st January 1966. TGB borrowed the car on two occasions. In November 1985 John Pride, now Chairman and Managing Director of TGB, was take to a surprise lunch in it, at Godstone Surrey, to celebate 20 years of Toyota in the UK. He confirmed, from his records, 6600 OZ from a batch of cars imported late 1965 to provide initial dealer demonstrators. Then in Sept 1997 Alan Marsh, Vice Chairman Toyota Motor Europe drove it in the RAC's 100th Anniversary run.

Sadly, soon after NJG's were taken over and the car moved to the North of England, became rather unloved and was sold at auction a few years ago, going to Continental Europe. More stories and some photos of those occasions to follow shortly in the Club Magazine.