The Early Days Of Japanese Cars In America

[Palumboism]

The Corona was a giant step for Toyota in the U.S. It went on sale in 1965. That year Toyota's U.S. car sales were 2,847. The next year sales shot up to 16,411.  "It was the first car we could drive in American driving conditions that would not break," recalls Tatsuo Hashiguchi.

They kept testing the American environment, he says. "This was a good teaching ground. If you survive in the U.S., you can survive anywhere in the world. This is a car country." The Corona's target was the Volks-wagen Beetle.  In its first year in the United States, the Corona lifted Toyota's annual sales from 6,404 to 20,908. In 1968, Toyota sales reached 72,554, almost entirely because of the Corona.

The little Corolla arrived in 1968 as a subcompact with a 60-hp, 1.1-liter, four-cylinder engine that soon was expanded to 1.2 liters and then 1.6 liters. As the engines grew, so did sales.

With the addition of the Corolla, sales jumped from 72,554 in 1968 to 124,356 the next year. The Corona and Corolla together had put Toyota on the U.S. map.

http://www.autonews.com/article/20071029/ANA03/710290307/after-toyopet-trauma-corona-got-toyota-up-to-speed-in-u.s.

The beginnings of the Japanese car companies in America were humble. 

[Palumboism]

The Toyota pickup was introduced in 1969 with sales of 1,756.

[Palumboism]

The early history of Nissan starts at the 3:30 mark.  Both Toyota and Nissan targeted the Beetle owner as their market.  They knew they had something when they could beat a VW Beetle up a hill, which shows you how slow and under powered cars were back then.

Katayama (Vice President of the Nissan North America): “What we need to do is improve our car’s efficiency gradually and creep up slowly before others notice. Then, before Detroit realizes it, we will have become an excellent car maker, and the customers will think so too. If we work hard to sell our own cars, we won’t be bothered by whatever the other manufacturers do. If all we do is worry about the other cars in the race, we will definitely lose.

[Palumboism]

The Datsun 410 was first exported to American in 1964

[Palumboism]

Datsun 520 pickup 1966-1968.

[Palumboism]

The first Honda Civic in America sold in 1972.

[Palumboism]

Then the oil embargo occurred in 1973 and suddenly sales of Japanese cars take off.

[calfzilla]

Datsun 520 pickup 1966-1968.

Big fan of Datsun pickups here.

[Palumboism]

Surely by 1975 there had to be at least one Japanese car in the top 30 best selling models.

1975 best selling cars
Pos   Model
1   Oldsmobile Cutlass
2   Ford Granada
3   Chevrolet Chevelle
4   Ford Pinto
5   Chevrolet Monte Carlo
6   Chevrolet Nova
7   Plymouth Valiant
8   Chevrolet Vega
9   Ford LT D
10   Ford Mustang II
11   Chevrolet Impala
12   Buick Century
13   Dodge Dart
14   Cadillac DeVille
15   Ford Maverick
16   Chrysler Cordoba
17   Chevrolet Camaro
18   Chevrolet Caprice
19   Chevrolet Monza
20   Plymouth Fury
21   Ford Elite
22   AMC Hornet
23   Pontiac Grand Prix
24   Buick LeSabre
25   Buick Electra 225
26   Mercury Monarch
27   Pontiac Le Mans
28   AMC Pacer
29   Pontiac Firebird
30   Oldsmobile 98


I guess not.  Apparently America was still addicted to full-sized V8's.

[rocco-x]

Datsun 280ZX was one of my favorites as far as Japanese imports went. A friend of mine had one and once the engine was on its way out he put in a small block Chevy lol...

[Palumboism]

I don't want to forget the Datsun 510 and 240Z.  The 510 was a perfect balance of engineering, styling, and cost. The 510's engineering left all who bothered to crawl under the hood, or under the car itself, inspired by its genius, and by its potential. The styling was practical, smooth, and very comparable to European sedans of the era. The cost was impressive. A 4-door sedan sold for just $1996 in the US, that's less than a dollar a pound. The 510 with it's low cost, up to date engineering, and inoffensive styling, made it a big hit with buyers. A 4-door sedan sold for just $1996 in the US, that's less than a dollar a pound.




33,000 z cars were sold in 1971, 52,000 in 72, and 45,000 in 73.



Nissan sold over 58,000 vehicles in the US in 1968, Over 90,000 in 69, and 154,000 in 1970.  These are small numbers compared to the American big three.

[Palumboism]

Then comes 1979 energy crisis due to the Iranian Revolution.  Surely Japanese cars must be cracking the top 30 list.

Best selling models of 1985 list


By 1985 there were five Japanese cars in the top 30 vehicle list.

7) Toyota Truck
16) Nissan Sentra
20) Toyota Corolla
24) Nissan Truck
25) Honda Accord

For anyone who doesn't remember how dominant GM was, they had 50 percent of the top 34 best selling vehicles in 1985.

[Palumboism]

In 1976 Honda came out with the Accord.  It was based on a stretched Civic body and initially only came in the hatchback with a 1.6 liter engine.  The four door and 1.8 were added in 1977.

[ESFitness]

The Datsun 410 was first exported to American in 1964

Datsun 510s and 240s are classics.

I remember building a 240 with tripple side draft Weber carbs for SCCA autocross back nearly 20yrs ago. Fuck those Webers were a pain. Buddy of mine has 2 510s still. One with an NA 13b rotary with straight pipes. Sounds fucking beautiful.

[Palumboism]

20 years of progress at Honda (1971-1991). 

1971 Honda N600


1991 Acura Legend

[oldtimer1]

I remember the early days of Toyota.  The paint would flake off in 2 years.  Early Honda's had modified motorcycle inspired motors.

[Skeletor]

The story about how Soichiro Honda decided to modify a Chevrolet Impala after the head of GM talked trash about Honda's CVCC is legendary:

In some ways this reminds me of Mr. Honda getting furious when he heard the chairman of GM making this dismissive remark about the CVCC engine (after both Ford and Chrysler had bought the rights to it in the summer of 1973): “Well, I have looked at this design, and while it might work on some little toy motorcycle engine…I see no potential for it on one of our GM car engines.”

When Mr. Honda heard this, he bought a 1973 V8 Impala, air-freighted it to Japan, designed and cast a set of CVCC heads for the Chevy engine, tested it in our own emission labs, then flew the car back to the EPA’s facility in Ann Arbor, and had it tested by them…where it passed the stringent 1975 emissions requirements. You didn’t mess with the old man…

Worth a read: http://jalopnik.com/when-honda-gave-gm-one-of-historys-most-amazing-smackdo-1576732771

[Palumboism]

I remember the early days of Toyota.  The paint would flake off in 2 years.  Early Honda's had modified motorcycle inspired motors.

The 1971 Honda N600 had a 2 cylinder air cooled engine.  I think it's safe to say it was a motor cycle engine.

[Bevo]

The rise of Japanese cars were quite simple, oil crisis, they were reliable, fuel efficient, that while American cars went down the toilet in the 70's and continues to be so so even in today's standards

Compared to the 60's and back, they were dominant

Their performance cars have come a long way now but design language and many of their inspirations come from Europe/Germany like Cadillac V series which were blue printed from past BMW M cars

in  ways the corvette is the only sports car that is "American" but rumor has it there's going to be a mid engine version

Soon to be discontinued again viper and dodge products are all owned by Italians

Shelby 350 mustang is more euro in approach and design is euro influenced, pretty much all Ford is from Ford euro/England based

[Palumboism]

In 1978 GM sold more cars than Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Datsun, and Honda combined.

                 1978 car sales
Toyota      441,800
Datsun      338,096
Honda      274,876
GM           5,341,700
Ford           2,536,738
Chrysler        1,087,987

[Bevo]

In 1978 GM sold more cars than Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Datsun, and Honda combined.

                 1978 car sales
Toyota      441,800
Datsun      338,096
Honda      274,876
GM           5,341,700
Ford           2,536,738
Chrysler        1,087,987

How times have changed....

There was a time Lamborghini was a tractor company, Mercedes almost bought BMW, Audi was irrelevant, Porsche was bankrupt in the early mid 90's hence why they expanded their line up with the boxster first

The Koreans are on a roll fast, with their ex Audi designers, BMW engineers

[Palumboism]

The rise of Japanese cars were quite simple, oil crisis, they were reliable, fuel efficient, that while American cars went down the toilet in the 70's and continues to be so so even in today's standards

Compared to the 60's and back, they were dominant

This isn't what the numbers say.  In 1975 after the first oil crisis there were no Japanese cars in the top 30 sales and the majority of the cars on that list were full sized V8 powered.  People were willing to buy Vegas, Pintos, and chevettes,  but they weren't yet ready to buy Toyotas and Datsuns in large numbers.  When gas prices went down they went right back to the full sized V8 American cars.  Although, the oil crisis did convince some people to try Japanese brands.

I think it was more of a generational thing.  The people who were driving Toyotas and Hondas in the 70's and early 80's were all young.  The people who were driving large Oldsmobiles, Buicks, and Cadillacs were older.  flash forward 20 years and the people who were driving Oldsmobiles and Buicks are dead and the people who were drive the Toyotas and Hondas are still driving Toyotas and Hondas.

[Bevo]

This isn't what the numbers say.  In 1975 after the first oil crisis there were no Japanese cars in the top 30 sales and the majority of the cars on that list were full sized V8 powered.  People were willing to buy Vegas, Pintos, and chevettes,  but they weren't yet ready to buy Toyotas and Datsuns in large numbers.  When gas prices went down they went right back to the full sized V8 American cars.  Although, the oil crisis did convince some people to try Japanese brands.

I think it was more of a generational thing.  The people who were driving Toyotas and Hondas in the 70's and early 80's were all young.  The people who were driving large Oldsmobiles, Buicks, and Cadillacs were older.  flash forward 20 years and the people who were driving Oldsmobiles and Buicks are dead and the people who were drive the Toyotas and Hondas are still driving Toyotas and Hondas.

I didn't just list oil or fuel as primarily the reason, it's still one of the reasons but factor in reliability which is a must for the average American with a car, enthusiasts maybe not so much

It takes time to turn the tide, doesn't happen over night, but the stigma of American cars were they were big piles of crap with quality problems, reliability problems, inefficient, etc

[Kwon]

WHAT DO

jap cars look like today?

[Palumboism]

WHAT DO

jap cars look like today?

This is the next Camry.  It'll probably be the best selling car in America when it comes out.