Earlier today we showed you some racers catching bad breaks at the strip and bending up their cars. Well this story is totally along those lines but there is a slight plot twist and we’re looking for your help to get this racer on the road to repair. As the title states, we are not looking for your money, we are not looking for your votes in some sort of internet contest, and we’re not looking for you to pull out a violin and play us a sad song on the strings. We’re trying to deploy the long arm of BangShift nation here to get this racer in touch with someone who can sell him a new body for his race car and that’s where you come in.
Before a bad day at Lebanon Valley Dragway, this 1971 Toyota Crown was a magnificent looking beast. Powered by a turbocharged 2JZ Toyota inline six, it was super powerful and with only a few passes on a feshly built stroker engine the thing was cutting 60′ times in the low 1.20s and had run through the eighth in 5.1 seconds. They were just getting this combo warmed up when on the following pass at about 150′ down track the car lubricated the rear tires rolled and smashed face first into the wall. The driver as OK but as you can see from the photos below there isn’t a straight panel left on the car. Therein lies the problem. This is not a 1969 Camaro, 1967 Mustang, or fiberglass replica of such. This car is impossible to find parts for in the New England region on a good day let alone now. Let’s go into search mode!
Here’s what you are looking for specifically:
1971 MS75 Toyota Crown Coupe two door hard top — This is a must on the specific year and model
If not a whole car the parts needed are:
Roof skin – fenders – grill molding, all the pieces on the front of the car, etc. Obviously a complete parts car would be the best.
IF YOU FIND ANYTHING EMAIL ME LEADS: [email protected] — Not looking for freebies or deals, just the stuff!
Front end parts,should be the same as the 4 door and the wagon..lots of them over here..i guess 4 doors where sold in Us too..roof skin..should be able to find one from a rusted shell.
not sure where Arild is based but we had plenty of the 4 doors in Australia – never even seen a picture of a 2 door version before ( I like it, though..)
I remember seeing one on Craigslist a few months ago. Only reason I remember is because I had never seen one before. Doesn’t help, but proves there’s at least one more out there in the US
Really too bad about the crash, good luck on the rebuild. I don’t follow metric cars at all, but I don’t know how this got past me. First, I was 18 and all about cars in 1971 and second, this is a bitchin’ ride. I’ve never seen one. Cool, looks like a late 60’s cross between a Torino and a Barracuda. I’m sorry my enlightenment came at the cost of this man’s race car.
A guy in Alberta just sold this exact car two days ago:
http://www.dorikaze.net/showthread.php?43820-1971-Toyota-Crown-Hardtop-MS75&highlight=ms75
Maybe the buyer will resell it…or maybe the buyer was our racer…here’s hoping!
Lol! Beat me to it! Good job on finding that, I was still digging for something with any contact information.
There was one that sold for $2500 up in Edmonton, Alberta recently. If I can find the actual listing maybe it might lead to something, but holy hell these things are rare here! I’ll keep nosing around, but nothing on Craigslist anywhere, and no listings in Ebay. Delving into the more obscure auction sites and such now..
This is an old listing for one (from 2008), but there are a couple of contacts in the comments section that might be worth looking into. One of them, Jean Luc Schmit, talks about having a collection and gives his email.
Also look for NJ Crown’s comment, says he has several of them. Maybe he at least still knows where to find one or 2.
Just realized I never put the link in. Oops. Working kinda fast here.
http://bringatrailer.com/2008/06/23/stately-japanese-2-door-1972-toyota-crown-ms75/
I’m finding several people in Australia and a few Europeans that have restored these or have sold one recently, but very little in America.
Check out the link to this photo I found on a Flickr account. Every other hint in this guy’s album shows he’s from the Kansas City area. Look in the background of the pic and you can see a sign with the name of a salvage yard. I can’t quite make it out. Anyone have any ideas? https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacecowboyian/5252061259/in/photostream/lightbox/
Sly and Sons Auto Salvage, maybe? That’s as close as I can make out. Looking for that now.
Ow… that`s hurt hope that he finds new body..
So sad for your car hope that it could find a replacement things for your car…
A very cool car turn a junk…. tsk tsk
He should be fabbing these parts. DO NOT USE OEM TOYOTA METAL! It’s FAR too rare to keep smashing it up like this. Some of us want to own these cars in one piece and have spent WAY too much time welding and griding to replace metal to think its ok when someone smashes it like this.
UPDATE: Ian was nice enough to let me know that he did, in fact, shoot that pic of the Crown in the salvage yard before the car was sold 4 years ago. Sorry guys… it’s gone.
UGH.
Why do people ruin such good cars??
Is there not enough mustangs out there to jack with?
I say give the car a respectful burial and go race a “dime a dozen car.”
That was a good car???
What exactly was ruined?
It looks like the guy genuinely loved his Crown, and took good care of it. Accidents happen, and he’s trying to put it all right.
The man man builds the nicest, fastest Toyota Crown on the freakin’ planet and you think he ruined it? The car is gorgeous, runs in the 8’s, and is all Toyota powered and you still think he ruined it?
Dude…no disrespect to you, but are you on the right website?
Seriously.
I’m an outspoken “Toyota guy”, I can quote transmissions and gear ratios until the cows come home and know the various JZ variants and I see nothing wrong at all with this guy’s Crown. It’s a glorious piece of work that deserves extra credit for deliberately straying from the easy route.
Talk to any other Toyota guy out there, and not one of us will say anything positive about that car’s stock 1M engine, it’s a pig. This guy’s got an amazing, sensible car that remains true to its styling and keeps the drivetrain in the family.
I’ll post this up in Yotatech to see if we can spread the word.
http://ca.sellsgood.com/p/1971-toyota-crown-hardtop-ms75-6468979?utm_source=Trovit&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Canada-Autos
Edmonton Alberta, posted May 12th 2015
Year : 1971
Make and Model and Body type/trim Level: Toyota Crown Hardtop MS75
Transmission:Automatic
Exterior Color : Brown
Interior Color : Black
Odometer Reading : 99999
Location of Vehicle :Fort McMurray AB
General condition of vehicle: Rough, restoration candidate. Frame is solid. Low compression on 2-cylinders – it’ll run but you’ll want to rebuild (or better yet, replace! no one likes a 4M…)
Extras :PS inner fender and missing trim is included.
Asking Price : $2500
Transportation inside AB negotiable, open to creative solutions
Phone number and email in the kijiji ad…
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details….dId=1071566315
Dean L.
2007 Lexus LX470
1985 Toyota Celica Supra 1JZ – 1JZ, restored
1971 Toyota Crown Coupe MS75
1971 Toyota Crown Sedan MS65… times 2
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05-12-2015, 08:34 PM #2 oldskoolcool’s Avatar oldskoolcool oldskoolcool is offline
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Do you have 2m parts?
Toyota-ly Awesome~!
More old toyotas then common sense
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05-12-2015, 09:32 PM #3 SliP SliP is offline
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It’s got a 4M in it. I do not have any spares. What are you looking for?
Dean L.
2007 Lexus LX470
1985 Toyota Celica Supra 1JZ – 1JZ, restored
1971 Toyota Crown Coupe MS75
1971 Toyota Crown Sedan MS65… times 2
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05-12-2015, 09:33 PM #4 SliP SliP is offline
north of you
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also, the car is sold. that was fast.
Dean L.
2007 Lexus LX470
1985 Toyota Celica Supra 1JZ – 1JZ, restored
1971 Toyota Crown Coupe MS75
1971 Toyota Crown Sedan MS65… times 2
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Yesterday, 10:36 PM #5 sunray sunray is offline
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Did Louis buy it? I moved out of the mac some months ago and sent the link to him.
Or you could have said “sorry, my kidnap victims keep kicking my elbow, it made me drop my crack pipe and swerve”
-bangnscrape
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I haven’t seen one of those around here. Old 510’s and 240Z’s are about all the old Japanese cars left.
That is one very classy riceburner. Extra bonus points for being Toyota powered too. Hard to imagine it considered “ruined” before the crash.
As a fellow Crown owner, this hurts a lot.. But it was by far one of the most beautiful cars I have seen and was very well done.
I believe that there was one in a junkyard in Gulfport,MS. Check car-parts.com.. Search for fenders and you will find it. It is probably a rust bucket, but might be a good start.