1967 Toyota Corona RT40: A vintage on the road
Peeking into the life of a 53-year-old Toyota vintage
Bangladesh's roads are packed with thousands of Premios and Allions nowadays. You are bound to find a dozen of these on each block.
A transtemporal travel back in time, however, reveals a very different story.
Back in the 1960s, when the country was still known as East Pakistan to the rest of the world, roads used to be filled with (although not as much by today's standard) beauties like the Toyota Corona RT40s, Volkswagen Beetles, along with some American and European cars.
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Having said that, fast forward to 2020, most of these cars are rusting to death at dump yards or have been turned into metal sheets at Dholaikhal.
Only a few lucky ones made it this day, ended up being collectibles, and earned the "vintage" title.
Team Wheels was lucky enough to find one such unit of a Toyota Corona RT40 in pristine condition being taken care of, to this day, by Shahed Hossain.
"My father bought this car back in 1967. This was our first family car and my father purchased this even before I was born!" said Shahed during an interview with this correspondent.
In fact, this RT40 is even older than the country it is being driven on and it surely has been through a lot in this delightful journey in the last 53 years.
Shahed and his father have managed to keep the car in its freshest possible condition throughout its lifetime. The RT40 still has its original carburetor heart and the car starts in one go even on the coldest winter mornings.
The chrome parts have been well maintained; shimmers and shines the same way it did half a century ago.
"I have plenty of memories with the RT40. I still remember, one time, I broke a corner of the dash while I was crying for a toy at the Dhaka International Trade Fair. It was sometime in the early 90s. I was only nine or 10 back then.
I have kept the original dash to this day. The broken corner brings back memories every time I look at it and always manages to bring a smile to my face."
How does it drive though? We asked Shahed out of sheer excitement and passion.
"It still drives like it did back in the late 90s or early 2000s when I just started learning how to drive this car. My father would not let me drive the Corona back then. I remember bribing my chauffeur to teach me how to drive.
It is very different than modern cars. I own a 2015 Toyota Premio. You can say it is a successor to the RT40 but I barely find any resemblance to it."
Even now, Shahed takes the RT40 out once in a while only to keep the car running but it does not serve as his daily drive anymore as it did some thirty or forty years ago.
When asked about the challenges of maintaining a 53-year-old car, Shahed said, "Maintaining a car this old is indeed quite challenging. There has been a huge technological advancement since the 60s. New mechanics and technicians barely have any experience with cars this old. Then there is the added problem of the scarcity of parts.
However, since both, me and my father, have always tried to keep the car in mint condition throughout its lifetime, maintaining it is not as big of a challenge as it might be for a recently restored classic car. Also, this is a Toyota we are talking about!"
Many will find it hard to believe that the car, in its fifties, is still in such shape and runs so smoothly even to this date. That too with its original engine. It will surely be a challenge to find another RT40 in such a shape.
According to Shahed, this car manages to turn heads every time he goes out with it. He loves how the young generation of automotive enthusiasts respect and appreciates this time capsule.
Yes, this might not be an antique race car or a limited-edition European exotic, but it is still a timeless beauty.
"I have no plans of selling this car ever. I will forever keep this car to cherish my father's memory. He always tried to keep the Corona in the best shape possible and I am following his footsteps. Someday I would like to gift this car to my son, Azaan, and I hope he will take care of it the same way!"
