I'm honestly surprised to come across this, as I thought the liftbacks were all extinct.
This has brought back memories as this was my first car in the 1990's given to me from my dad when he had bought and used it in Holland for his work before bringing it back to the UK and no longer needing it. Mine was a 1979 1.3DX Liftback in a lighter shade of metallic blue and of course left hand drive.
I kept it for 6 years until the rust became difficult to hold back - I was good with body filler but did not have the skills, tools or the money to go full resto. I did respray it once with lapis blue coach paint and had some alloys from a black 1.6 SR Coupe which I briefly bought - now that was quick with a twin carb but had its own issues. I also swapped out the old 4-speed for a 5-speed box because I did a lot of motorway runs.
Towards the end, it also got to a point where I would need to top the oil up weekly with a good litre or so every 300 miles (think Uncle Buck!), then the petrol tank started to leak, followed by the head gasket, so with this and the progressive rust, I sadly scrapped it.
Still have fond memories of it today - for its time (1979) it was quite an advanced car. I loved the pillarless windows.
With the straight lines, chrome trim and sealed beam headlights it was clearly aimed at the US market and had an American feel.
Would like to see Toyota do a retro design for this - much better than the latest Toyotas - each generation has just layered on more unnecessary creases, awkward curves and sharp angles. I preferred them back in the 70s and 80s.
Whoever buys this, please do a build thread!
This has brought back memories as this was my first car in the 1990's given to me from my dad when he had bought and used it in Holland for his work before bringing it back to the UK and no longer needing it. Mine was a 1979 1.3DX Liftback in a lighter shade of metallic blue and of course left hand drive.
I kept it for 6 years until the rust became difficult to hold back - I was good with body filler but did not have the skills, tools or the money to go full resto. I did respray it once with lapis blue coach paint and had some alloys from a black 1.6 SR Coupe which I briefly bought - now that was quick with a twin carb but had its own issues. I also swapped out the old 4-speed for a 5-speed box because I did a lot of motorway runs.
Towards the end, it also got to a point where I would need to top the oil up weekly with a good litre or so every 300 miles (think Uncle Buck!), then the petrol tank started to leak, followed by the head gasket, so with this and the progressive rust, I sadly scrapped it.
Still have fond memories of it today - for its time (1979) it was quite an advanced car. I loved the pillarless windows.
With the straight lines, chrome trim and sealed beam headlights it was clearly aimed at the US market and had an American feel.
Would like to see Toyota do a retro design for this - much better than the latest Toyotas - each generation has just layered on more unnecessary creases, awkward curves and sharp angles. I preferred them back in the 70s and 80s.
Whoever buys this, please do a build thread!