I’m not exactly suggesting that the Starlet was a drifter in the form that it left the showroom of your friendly Toyota dealership. Or for that matter, almost any other engine that pointed rearward. One could hop up its little push-rod four (available in 993, 1,166, and 1,290 cc versions), or drop in one of the bigger Toyota DOHC fours, a process as easy and common as dropping a big-block Chevy into a ’57. YouTube has many tributes to the Starlet’s prowess in all manner of speed thrills. Indeed, from very early on, there was plenty of enthusiasm about the Starlet’s racing, rallying, and drifting potential. I’m not sure exactly what “Starlet Unlimited” is, but I’m guessing it’s some sort of enthusiast’s entity. Not everyone was overjoyed by the switch to FWD, and the Starlet was the last connection to old-school RWD–a tossable mini-AE-86, if you will. The Starlet developed a cult following very quickly. It’s the only one in Eugene that I know of (I shot this fine little yellow one in Portland). Even after well over 300,000 miles, it’s never had a significant mechanical issue. I know a guy who picked up a Starlet over twenty years ago and still uses it as his daily driver. Maybe the Starlet was intended to be the Tercel’s backstop in case the latter had teething issues. sales run of only a few years, and its successor, the FWD Starlet 70 Series, never was offered here. The Starlet, slotted below the FWD Gen-1 Tercel, played an outsider’s role during its U.S. The FWD Tercel was born a paragon of reliability, and the first FWD Corolla in 1983 was equally bulletproof from day one. Why? It’s likely Toyota was just being cautious, not wanting to repeat GM’s mistakes in that company’s rush to embrace FWD. But the even smaller Starlet hung in there with its old-school RWD and leaf-sprung rear axle, the same underpinnings that Toyotas had worn when they were known as Toyopets. Toyota’s first major foray into FWD was the Tercel, in 1978. and Japan) in 1973 with their seminal Civic. Honda redefined the mini-hatchback market (in both the U.S. And they’ve become cult-mobiles in the eyes of their loving owners for the obvious reason of their “right-wheel-drive”. They’re not exactly common on the streets anymore, but that has nothing to do with their reliability–which was legendary, thanks to their well-proven and simple drive train. The last such car was the Starlet, which wasn’t replaced by a FWD version until 1985. ( first posted ) Discovering the RWD Toyota Avanza in Mexico recently made me consider how relatively long Toyota hung on to RWD in their small cars.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |