Another unusual member of the Toyota family has just found a place in my shed (thanks to a Bellett Forum member) - a 1964 Toyota 700 - (700c.c. ,2 cylinder,aircooled motor,in front of a 2 speed Toyoglide auto transmission, rear wheel drive, 2 door, 4 seat sedan) In need of a resto. but complete, with very little rust and virtually no damage. Unusual,quirky,interesting, rare - ticks all the boxes! Just shows that there are still a few early Japanese vehicles out there.
Thought it might be of interest to some of the Forum members.
KB

That looks so straight, nice one.

Has a Zeta look about it.

Cheers
Rob

excellent its found its way into the right hands all the best with the resto on a neat little part of history straight as a die we will keep watch on its progress regards davo in qld

Hey Kerry is that the same as a Toyota Publica?

Looks awesome!

Good work!

You have no fear of projects, do you!?!??

Cheers,

Dave

cool, nice find! very interesting, i didnt realise toyota made an air cooled engine for thier cars.

The Publica was the same car but I think it was more of a Deluxe version with more chrome etc. and I think that the Publica had a water cooled motor - I may be wrong. Any info would be appreciated.
KB

There's a reasonable looking one of these in Heinze's yard outside Kapunda too, if anyone's interested. It obviously hasn't been there too long, as it hasn't rusted into the ground. It's mustard, so no doubt resprayed. Have no idea what he wants for it, but as always, probably more than it's worth.

Cheers,
Duane

Fantastic project car!! Gotta love the old Toyo's too. Good luck with it!


Hasn't been there long Duane? I thought all of Heinze's stuff had been there for a long time, hence the general lack of paint and excess moss!

Cheers,
Ross.

Ha! That's true. Well, I didn't have a real close look, but the lack of moss seemed to suggest it had been there less than a decade. He does get 'new' cars in from time to time.

As you come up the dirt road towards the house, it's sitting in the front near a red VC (or VE?) Valiant...from memory...but there were so many cars, I could have got confused!

Cheers,
Duane

The UP10 (your car) is the first version of the Publica, as it was known on the domestic market. As per every car, it grew and grew. All UP10 Publica's were 700cc air-cooled flat twins, but were replaced by a significantly restyled conventional water-cooled 4-cylinder Publica in 1969 (replaced by the Starlet in the late 1970's). No subsequent Publica's made it to Australia. I think all Aussie UP10 models were Toyoglide auto's...but don't quote me.

This model also came in a wagon, van, ute and convertible, all 2-doors. To the best of my knowledge, only the sedans made it to Australia, although anything's possible, as other models were imported to nearby Pacific and Southern Asian countries. The most notable offspring is the Toyota Sport 800 (or S800), which utilised a more highly tuned 800cc version of the Publica body in a pretty sports body (featuring a targa top design). A dozen or so made it to Australia, one of which was on display in the Fremantle Motor Museum until it closed last year.

That's my Publica brain dump.

Cheers,
Duane

I have photos of that Publica at Dudley's I think. Looks OK from memory.

Hey Kerry, had one of these chase me in 81, though it had a 1600cc water engine, geoff

Thanks all for the info.everyone .."Toyota" and "Air-cooled" are words that are not usually used in the same sentence in Australia and that is what caught my interest when I heard about this car.
What a "rippa" photo of the Bellett and Toyota
KB

...and it was the only time they ever did it too. Maybe Toyota fancied themselves as a Japanese BMW at the time?

Here's a link to the Yahoo Group KB, there's a lot of info there, and a few Aussies onboard too:

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Toy700and800/

Lots of parts and info available through this group.

Cheers,
Duane

Hi KB

I think you'll also find one advertised in this month's (Sep) Just Cars Magazine.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew
KB

Wow.. it's really really really hard for me to not be GREEN with envy about California and the rest of the west coast. Old cars are rare here period. Weird old cars are 10x rarer.

Then there's you blokes. Rocking crazy old japanese stuff, I've never seen!