Ultimate classic shite boughted

[rob88h]

I absolutely love these. 
Unsolicited flash back: I’m too young to remember these in period but in the late 70’s the Children’s Film Foundation made “Electric Eskimo”.

A decade later my mum taped it off the telly… (missing a decent amount of the start I’d add!) and it was one of the few things to watch over and over. In it there is a car chase - mk1 Granada (probably Consul, blah blah) and one of these Crowns. I recon it’s the reason I own a Granada now, but this era of Crown is its equal to my mind and I absolutely “would” if I’d have found one. 
I tried to find a clip, but it’s too obscure of a reference  even for YouTube. Anyway, as you were!

[danthecapriman]

The Jap’s were certainly on point with their styling back then! Absolutely fantastic looking cars. Almost American in a way, but not quite.

[Richard_FM]

You can see one of those Crown estates in the title sequence of Only Fools & Horses, I imagine by the early 1980s they were a cheap second hand purchase.

[Datsuncog]

2 hours ago, rob88h said:

I absolutely love these. 
Unsolicited flash back: I’m too young to remember these in period but in the late 70’s the Children’s Film Foundation made “Electric Eskimo”.

A decade later my mum taped it off the telly… (missing a decent amount of the start I’d add!) and it was one of the few things to watch over and over. In it there is a car chase - mk1 Granada (probably Consul, blah blah) and one of these Crowns. I recon it’s the reason I own a Granada now, but this era of Crown is its equal to my mind and I absolutely “would” if I’d have found one. 
I tried to find a clip, but it’s too obscure of a reference  even for YouTube. Anyway, as you were!

Heh, I remember that film being shown on TV as well in the late '80s (seemed to be a spate of CFF films shown weekly as the Friday Film Special on CBBC), and I loved it - as I recall, the final chase ended in a large scrapyard and culminated with the titular Electric Eskimo (Tooshoo?) remotely operating the electromagnetic grabber to neutralise the baddies... I was absolutely fascinated by scrapyards at the time, so this was quite the televisual event.

I'd never seen a Toyota Crown of that vintage before and was quite perplexed by the odd styling, as it looked like nothing else I'd ever seen.  I don't think I knew what it was until I found a copy of Graham Robson's 'Cars of the 1970s' and the penny finally dropped.

I'd no idea these had a separate chassis. No wonder the banger lads are so fond of them...

Great to see one on these fair pages, though. Following with interest.

[Conan]

Toyota Crown only went to having Monocoque in 1991. Then they kept making body-on-frame variant until 1999!

[Rocket88]

Wheel arches are really going to need replacing…… everything is repairable.

Some research is needed to see if anything else you can get repair arch panels for is of a similar profile

[DSdriver]

I might be wrong here and it is another large estate that a mate had but does it have a small built in cold box/fridge in the back?

I've always  been a fan of quirky styling and one of these is definitely in my virtual garage.

[Rocket88]

1 hour ago, DSdriver said:

I might be wrong here and it is another large estate that a mate had but does it have a small built in cold box/fridge in the back?

I've always  been a fan of quirky styling and one of these is definitely in my virtual garage.

Not that I’ve found…. Does have original Toyota tool kit.

[goosey]

15 hours ago, rob88h said:

I absolutely love these. 
Unsolicited flash back: I’m too young to remember these in period but in the late 70’s the Children’s Film Foundation made “Electric Eskimo”.

A decade later my mum taped it off the telly… (missing a decent amount of the start I’d add!) and it was one of the few things to watch over and over. In it there is a car chase - mk1 Granada (probably Consul, blah blah) and one of these Crowns. I recon it’s the reason I own a Granada now, but this era of Crown is its equal to my mind and I absolutely “would” if I’d have found one. 
I tried to find a clip, but it’s too obscure of a reference  even for YouTube. Anyway, as you were!

Is the the one where the Baddies smash the battery on the Crown to disable it but the Electric Eskimo is able to provide the power needed to start and drive the Crown and escape? *
 

*i may have dreamed all this

[rob88h]

That’s right. The Eskimo (Poochook) serves as a 12V source for the starter after the baddies nobble the battery. And then he serves as the battery in the charging circuit as when he lets go of the shifter when he gets tired the Crown dies. 

Presumably fictitious Electric Eskimos are top of the hard to find spares list for this old Crown. Hope it starts and charges ok without him. 🤞

[eddyramrod]

A saloon appeared in an episode of The Persuaders!

Part of a climactic action scene, on Italian plates for exotica points.

[TheOtherStu]

I love the idea of owning one of these.

Fortunately, I think it will stay as an idea.
I'd also like the 90s one. It's soooooo 90s

The later ones had the 2GR, as found in many Lexus and some decent gee gees.
Now there's a Restomod..... a Mk1 with a Mk13 engine.

[grizz]

Thank you. 

[Richard_FM]

8 hours ago, rob88h said:

That’s right. The Eskimo (Poochook) serves as a 12V source for the starter after the baddies nobble the battery. And then he serves as the battery in the charging circuit as when he lets go of the shifter when he gets tired the Crown dies. 

Presumably fictitious Electric Eskimos are top of the hard to find spares list for this old Crown. Hope it starts and charges ok without him. 🤞

I remember in the scrapyard he (non-fatally!) harpoons one of the villains with a chrome strip from a a scrap car.

[Rocket88]

Collected this morning, and dropped off to the menders. Strict instructions to go through it mechanically. It seems to be fairly healthy in engine/ gearbox/ brakes department, but grovelling around under cars in beyond my skeletal capabilities now, so Peter’s going to sort it out

[HMC]

On 8/7/2023 at 9:53 PM, rob88h said:

I absolutely love these. 
Unsolicited flash back: I’m too young to remember these in period but in the late 70’s the Children’s Film Foundation made “Electric Eskimo”.

A decade later my mum taped it off the telly… (missing a decent amount of the start I’d add!) and it was one of the few things to watch over and over. In it there is a car chase - mk1 Granada (probably Consul, blah blah) and one of these Crowns. I recon it’s the reason I own a Granada now, but this era of Crown is its equal to my mind and I absolutely “would” if I’d have found one. 
I tried to find a clip, but it’s too obscure of a reference  even for YouTube. Anyway, as you were!

I Loved this too, there was also a scrap yard scene which i found fascinating (aged 9) and still now i would imagine

[bezzabsa]

didnt wossisname who was gunna buy those stollies get one of these from that there Sweden???????

[brownnova]

No that was a Nissan Cedric, from Finland IIRC. 

[Rocket88]

Going through the paperwork yesterday…… one owner from new!

[motorpunk]

On 07/08/2023 at 22:50, Richard_FM said:

You can see one of those Crown estates in the title sequence of Only Fools & Horses, I imagine by the early 1980s they were a cheap second hand purchase.

That's the obsessive level of shite spotting and worthless info retention that I love about this place.

[Richard_FM]

13 hours ago, motorpunk said:

That's the obsessive level of shite spotting and worthless info retention that I love about this place.

The site I found the picture on is great for identifying chod in TV & films.

[Rocket88]

Initial mender’s report is surprisingly favourable. Very solid underneath, basically what you can see is what’s up with it as far as rot is concerned. The doors will be fairly easy to sort out, the rear wheel arches less so

Mechanically, surprisingly good. One front calliper needs sorting out, but of more concern is a leaking petrol tank. Hopefully repairable.

Other than that, all seems well