THE JAPANESE INVASION

AUSTRALIA DURING the decades following World War II had built a thriving and quite unique motor industry, based mostly around USA and British brands.

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Volkswagen was the standout interloper, having shrugged off wartime animosities to build a local assembly plant and challenge the Morris Minor for supremacy in the Small Car class. No one really expected our other main adversary from the conflict to stake a claim to local motor vehicle sales as well, but when the challengers from Japan came it was from multiple sources.

Toyota and Nissan were early arrivals; Nissan with teams of Bluebird sedans that impressed during late-1950s Reliability Trials and Toyota via its LandCruiser 4WDs that made their name on the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

The 1960s brought an influx of Japanese product from a range of manufacturers including Toyo Kogyo (Mazda), Mitsubishi, Isuzu and Honda. Mostly we saw passenger models, however, Nissan would soon join Toyota in supplying to the off-road 4WD market. Sixty years later, survivors from the age of expanding Japanese influence are scarce, yet only one is as yet regarded as expensive.

Keeping any of our selected Five alive means tapping into the dwindling knowledge base of people who recall these cars from new and forming global relationships with businesses and other owners who can locate or have hoarded spare parts.

TOYOTA CROWN

TOYOTA'S early offerings to the Australian market, the twin-cylinder 700 and frumpy four-door Tiara, had the brand pegged as a source of cheap, basic cars. Then came the roomy, well-equipped Crown that changed those perceptions.

Initially sold with a 1.9-litre, four-cylinder engine, the Crown which appeared in 1964 was a rival to the Holden Premier and Ford's Futura in every area but performance. Within two years that had changed as well, once Toyota replaced the original engine with 2.0-litre then 2.3-litre sixes with up to 86KW.