What you’re looking at in the picture above is the first Toyota ever built in Australia (or, at least a member of the original model generation) – and the very last Toyota to be built in the country. These two pieces of Australian automotive history are displayed in the lobby of Toyota’s Centre of Excellence in Altona – a site formerly used by Toyota to manufacture cars.
I was down at the Centre of Excellence to check out Toyota’s new hydrogen van, an ambitious prototype that turns a petrol-burning engine into a hydrogen-burning engine, with low emissions and without the need to convert hydrogen into electricity.
But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t looking left and right at the other cars – case in point, these two beauties.
Let’s start with the older one, a 1963 model Toyota Tiara 1500. The first thing I noticed about this thing was that there were no headrests. Yikes, but it was a different time.
This wasn’t the first Toyota built locally, but it was among them – the 1963 Tiara series were the first cars Toyota manufactured at the company’s Port Melbourne facility. This particular car was model 540, and was among 1,684 Tiaras built at the facility between 1963 and 1965. It was donated to Toyota in 1992, when it was announced that Toyota was building a plant in Altona.
It wasn’t a particularly jaw-dropping car back in the day, but it is an important piece of Australian auto history. A maximum power of 33kW, a top speed of 110km/h, and a 3-speed manual transmission matched with a 1453cc 4-cylinder engine underpinned this car’s highlights, but it was never designed to be a performance vehicle, no sir – it was always intended to be an accessible car for working people. According to Unique Cars and Parts, the Tiara retailed for A£915 back in 1963 (back when Australia used the Australian pound as our currency, which was switched to the Australian dollar in 1966). According to a quick comparison on In 2013 dollars, the Tiara would have sold for $15,774 today.
Then we’ve got the last car Toyota built in Australia – and unlike the Tiara, this really is the last one – the final Toyota to roll off the production line.
“This Camry Atara SX was the last vehicle to roll off the Altona production line,” a black sign placed beside the 2016 Toyota Camry in the lobby reads.
What is there to say? It’s a Camry. This car sold for between $20,000 and $26,000 new, according to Cars Guide, with a 6-speed automatic transmission, a 2.5 litre engine, and a five-star safety rating – a far cry from the headrest-less Tiara, while still being an affordable and accessible car.
And that’s the beauty of the Camry, right? It’s a car designed to be affordable and get drivers from one place to the next. The 2017 Camry lacked the flashiness of the Holden Commodore and the Ford Falcon, the two cars proudly produced by their respective companies until the very end in Australia, but they were cars that were designed to be practical – not for revheads. With fairly alright fuel economy, mixed with uncomplicated internals, commonly available spare parts, and a decent driving experience, you can find respect in your heart for the humble Camry.
Unfortunately, these two cars aren’t on public display in a museum; perhaps they’re not vibrant enough for that, unlike the many cars of Holden’s history – but it would be nice if people could go see them. I’m sure I’m not the only car lover that enjoys this kind of thing.
Zachariah Kelly travelled to Victoria as a guest of Toyota.
Image: Zachariah Kelly/Gizmodo Australia
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