silverra23 Posted November 11, 2011 Report Posted November 11, 2011 Hi folks Decided it was high time I posted a thread of the little Tiara that has been living with me since earlier this year. Story goes that my brother is a bit of a car nut like me, and when I sent him a link for this on ebay, he fell in love and went hammer and tong to win it. Win it he did, and then asked me to go collect it for him since he lives in Sydney and it lived in Melbourne, just like me. It had a few months rego left on it which was handy, so I grabbed it, assured that nothing was wrong with it for a roady, and off I toddled. Here are some pics from the ad. G Complete with relatively gutless 'R' engine (note no numbers in front of that), 3 speed column shift, and drums all round. The drive home highlighted the brakes as not being flash, it didn't like cruising at more than about 90km/h and it appeared to drink like a fish, fuel that is. Deciding I had more than enough on my plate than to try and sort it out along with the rest of my fleet, so I dropped it off at my local old school Toyota mechanic and gave him the brief to make it ready for roadworthy and go right over the brakes. He faffed about a lot, but 6 weeks later he had all the wheel cylinders resleeved, new tyres (bye bye cool whitewalls - will put new ones on after RWC) and had sadly raised the ride height 4 inches to make it legal. The lowering blocks in the back were massive! He had also given it a tune of sorts, done the valve clearances and cleaned up a few oil leaks. This is how she looked when I picked her up There were still a few things left to do for roadworthy. Fix the steering wheel, which was massively cracked all over the place, and fix a couple of tiny spots of rust in the floor and replace the front indicators lenses. The first one was easy surprisingly as I found a guy who had repro ones on the shelf. Those last two have taken ages to sort out as I have been busy doing other shit. The steering wheel was a challenge to fix on minimal bucks. I could have gone the pearlcraft resto option, but neither my brother or I really like them. So i decided to keep an eye out for a replacement. It's a bit difficult to bang another wheel on, as the indicator mechanism is part of the horn ring - you push the ring to the right or left to indicate your intentions. Its cool, but makes it hard to find a replacement. Fortunately I worked out that early RT40 Coronas and early Crowns had a similar style mechanism, and thanks to the good hunting efforts of Dave we got one (after just missing another at the wreckers the day before). Slightly different dish, and in black, and with the corona logo, but not cracked and will get us the roadworthy. Thanks Dave! Last to do is the floor welding, which will hopefully be done this week or next. I ripped the interior out so it doesn't catch fire in the welding, and have taken the opportunity to drop it off at the trimmers. Its going back to the 60's, with some wine red vinyl replacing the apricot velour of the 80's. Sadly I think I am doing all this work for someone else's enjoyment. My brother has lost a great deal of enthusiasm for the project, particularly since he has got engaged and needs cash for a wedding. Hopefully when its all back together and roadworthy he may fall in love again, particularly once the interior is done and I dump it back on its ass again and whitewall the shit out of it! If he does sell it I will try to hold on to it.. though I will then be sorely tempted to replace the engine/gearbox combo with something that is a bit more practical. Would be great with a 4AGE in it I reckon, but would spoil the character I suspect. Any suggestions? Here is a more recent pic from its appearance at September Donuts 1 Quote
kickn5k Posted November 11, 2011 Report Posted November 11, 2011 Hehe I have had some love for this beast ever since, previous owner rocked up to my mates place in it(lives over the back). Nice little ute. Stu. Quote
Spencer[RL] Posted November 11, 2011 Report Posted November 11, 2011 Wow, love it ! looks perfect , wouldnt change anything! Quote
19914afc Posted November 11, 2011 Report Posted November 11, 2011 Looks good there is a Tiara wagon here in QLD. Quote
BUZ440 Posted November 11, 2011 Report Posted November 11, 2011 Looks good there is a Tiara wagon here in QLD. There are a few geting around, OT: Looks the goods mate Quote
kickn5k Posted November 11, 2011 Report Posted November 11, 2011 There are a few geting around, OT: Looks the goods mate Mainly the 64 ones. This is a 63' very rare!! Quote
orangeLJ Posted November 11, 2011 Report Posted November 11, 2011 wow! Absolutely love it! drum brakes all round I'm guessing? very chevy/ek holden looking. Quote
TOM Posted November 11, 2011 Report Posted November 11, 2011 Damn yes, this is fricking radical to the power of awesome. + 1. My vote is for a supercharged 5R (5R-Z?) for that old-school cool factor. Quote
Chobis Posted November 11, 2011 Report Posted November 11, 2011 This is one of my favourite old school Yota's in Australia. Good buying silverra23 :y: Quote
majordad Posted November 11, 2011 Report Posted November 11, 2011 What a beast and rare as rocking horse poo. Funny abouth the drum brakes not being to good,they did not improve much when the Corona came into play, i had one of the first 4 on the tree Corona's in 1965 and when you hit the brakes hard it was a lottery which way the bloody thing would dive left or right. The Corona 1600S was ok discs on the front made the difference. majordad Quote
BlueKsev Posted November 11, 2011 Report Posted November 11, 2011 Wow looks the goods i never knew Toyota made them like this :y: . Without the badges i'd be thinking more Holden/ Chev kind of thing too. Now all you need to do is slam it! haha Quote
doityourself Posted November 11, 2011 Report Posted November 11, 2011 Love it. If you want some more poke maybe consider an 18R or something like that - so it atleast looks original. Quote
kickn5k Posted November 11, 2011 Report Posted November 11, 2011 Love it. If you want some more poke maybe consider an 18R or something like that - so it atleast looks original. HeHe that's what the previous owner is doing with the 64 he kept. Quote
B.L.Z.BUB Posted November 11, 2011 Report Posted November 11, 2011 I wanna lick it :blinks: :wub: Quote
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