26th Sep 2012, 14:48

Funny, the top sellers look different on here.

http://www.autobytel.com/top-10-cars/new-cars/?id=22650

We went with new Mazdas, and second choice would have been Hyundai. I see some Chevrolets on the list. I guess if you want a luxury car, it's not on your list.

27th Sep 2012, 11:11

There were over 1200 Toyota dealers in the country at the time in 1971. I owned a 70s era Toyota Celica GT and a 80 Corolla SR5; both bought brand new. In 73-74, with the embargo and odd even gas, there were huge quantities of Corollas sold in America. Curious what 70s Toyota you owned, or are you comparing what you have fast forward 40 plus years later? It's so irrelevant on a specific 1971 car ownership. Other than the nameplate? I have 2 vehicles on here reviewed, 70 model years, not 2012 models. End of story.

27th Sep 2012, 13:35

The best-selling and the most reliable lists have zilch to do with each other. The previous post was about reliability - not the best-selling.

28th Sep 2012, 11:11

I hope everyone remembers 13:35 reply whenever best selling, most popular cars are ever discussed again as far as Toyota. It seems the argument changes to fit the circumstances.

By the way 13:35, how was the reliability of your new 1971 Toyota - the topic of the review? I actually had brand new Toyotas from this time period, and commented accordingly. Commenting on a vehicle you own 4 decades later is pretty amazing. I suspect my 2012 Ford Edge may differ slightly from a 1971 Ford Econoline somewhat, with amenities, MPG, styling, handling, engine advances etc. Back in 1971, you didn't even have unleaded gas, cats etc.

29th Sep 2012, 06:10

Here's something to try. Go to CL under autos for sale and simply type in 1971. I just found a long list for sale, all domestics, and also the surrounding areas. Not finding any 1971 Toyota dream cars on the list. Note I mentioned Toyota all makes, not just a single model. Try the rest of the 70s and see how many are around.

29th Sep 2012, 10:30

In regards to the comment about "Best-selling", that was not the subject of the response. The response was in regards to those car makers currently at the top of the list as far as the most reliable makes overall. Not the top selling.

Moving on... somehow one of my previous responses was clearly missed pertaining to why you don't see as many early 70's Toyotas for sale in classifieds and whatnot. The answer is amazingly simple: There were simply LESS Toyotas here at that time. Very few in fact, while on the other hand the vast majority were all domestics. So of course you're going to find LESS of anything, when there were less of them to start with. I assume the reason that comment was made was to somehow prove that the longevity of said Toyotas was less. But the above statement is the reason, so that sort of assumption holds no water.

30th Sep 2012, 08:01

I had them and they were everywhere. It does hold water. Maybe you were not born yet? During the 73-74 oil embargo, you could not get gas. They went through odd even rationing days. People traded in their vehicles for new Toyotas, especially Corollas. In the Philadelphia area, where I went to college for 6 years, it was extremely long lines to get fuel around the block. There were many VW Bugs sold new for 1999.00, and they are everywhere today. There were over 1200 Toyota dealerships. The Celicas in the 70s were quite expensive, but extremely popular. I think they sold so well, as the styling was excellent. It was like owning a fuel efficient car with Mach 1 Mustang design. Especially from the rear. They were everywhere. But maybe you were not buying new cars at that time to have been actually there.

1st Oct 2012, 17:47

Even the bodies of Japanese cars are either totally rusted away or falling into pieces after 20 years or so. Not even the suspension components are designed to last very long. That is why so many Japanese cars have sagging suspensions, and can't be aligned after just a few years. I've seen this a lot.

1st Oct 2012, 20:53

It really doesn't matter, because Toyota sold even more cars in the 80's, but yet you don't see many of those these days either.

2nd Oct 2012, 07:44

I could understand if maybe one model in the complete Toyota lineup from the 70s may be hard to find, but we are using Toyota, meaning every single model made over an entire decade. Where are they? Since the review is about a 1971, and they are supposedly so rare, it must be worth a fortune to have a 1971 Corolla stashed in the garage.

3rd Oct 2012, 08:21

With all due respect, your sagging suspension argument, in my educated opinion, is wrong.

BTW, your Fusion is BASED on a Japanese car; has its suspension sagged yet???

3rd Oct 2012, 11:36

In the 70's, Toyota's market share of the US was a tiny fraction of what it is now. So again - the argument still holds absolutely true, and is nothing more than simple mathematics. Less overall cars means that naturally there are less surviving examples.

I see TONS of early 80's Toyota on the freeway every single day - most being driven as everyday drivers. I fail to see the supposed sagging frames or suspensions. But that's not a valid point anyway. Making broad statements that generically speaking ALL "Japanese" cars use inferior suspension components is pointless. A lot of the parts suppliers for American cars also make the same for Japanese cars. So how could it be that the same parts maker's parts would mysteriously fail, just because they are stuck in a Japanese car? How does that make any sense?

But either way, those constantly trying to depict Toyotas and Hondas as inferior products lost the argument decades ago. Doesn't mean they'll stop trying though...

3rd Oct 2012, 18:23

All my cars are full frame. Solid, and certainly ride great.

4th Oct 2012, 06:48

So out of an entire decade of the complete broad based lineup of all Toyota models, there are none seen. A whole decade? Over 1200 dealers in America in 1971. OK, makes a lot of sense. Sorry not buying it. It would be interesting to know the age of this repeated commenter, and if they were buying new Toyotas at the time. I think they are speaking from mid 90s to present actual ownership, as a guess. In the 70s they were everywhere in my area. I guess the 1200 dealers did not sell more than a few a year. The whole decade, all models disappeared.

4th Oct 2012, 10:10

First of all, there are now NO new full frame cars currently available. Thus any use of those as a sort of means to compare the cars of today is no longer relevant. We've been down this road before, and it has repeatedly been shown that unibody frames are every bit as, or even safer than, a body on frame car.

Moving on, the argument over surviving 70's Toyotas. The problem with this argument is that somehow it's turned into yet another attempt to discredit Toyota. It's simply another way to try and say that even though the brand has for decades been at or near the top of the reliability and quality reports, that somehow seeing less 40+ year old Toyotas on the road today is an indicator of their cars today. But even if that were a case in point, it's not a valid claim to start with. In 1970, the total US market share of Toyota was under 2%. That represents an absolutely negligible percentage of the overall market. On the other hand, the Big 3 commanded the overwhelming majority of that pie. So should there be any surprise that there are more American cars from that period out there? Of course not, because there were many MORE of them sold than any other car makers of the time. So hopefully that puts this argument to rest, because it all boils down to simple statistics...