Spotter's delight?

[Johnso]

Now I think my spotting skills have improved, the seats and engine bay vent are mk1a but colour coded bumpers are mk1b

I am not sure about what happened first. Did the bodywork move to mk1b before the engine? So is this a mk1a with a b body kit?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321494650968?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

[cchrysos]

All correctly spotted! What you have actually spotted is a very late Mk1 crossover. It also has the mk1a steering wheel, chrome tipped air balls and wiper/light switches.

The body is not a full mk1b as it has mk1a front valances and lower lip. The bumper is also flat faced like the mk1a rather than raked.

All of this spells factory crossover model.

[Johnso]

Thanks for pointing out the other differences, I guess a lot of parts that are clues can be changed by the owner, so it is good to know as many as possible.

[Martin42006]

There are a couple of other differences as well, the ashtray is in front of the gearstick in the MK1a and the fuel gauge doesn't have the smaller lines between the 1/4 marks which are present on the MK1b

[jimi]

What you have actually spotted is a very late Mk1 crossover.
I'm not sure it is a crossover car, it looks like a 1a with side skirts (quite common in later 1a's) the interior is straight 1a, exterior looks all 1a apart from the side skirts (ie engine bay intake, roof aerial, front bumper, alloys) crossovers were more like 87 and even early 88 and were more 1b body with a 1a engine. It's also had the bump strips and decals removed when it was resprayed

[Boondougal]

is that pin stripe detailing original?

[Master-B]

is that pin stripe detailing original?

Could be, I've seen other early cars with very similar stripes. But it does look like its had paint, so might not.

Verdict: Who knows.

Ive posted some useful* stuff in my time, but this has to be an all time winner :D

[jimi]

I'd say it's not, all the original decals and pin striping have been removed when it was sprayed

[charged]

In my experience - The only true mk1a's are the 85 models. Anything later is a cross over or b.

[cchrysos]

In my experience - The only true mk1's are the 85 models. Anything later is a cross over or b.

If you mean the only true mk1a's are 85...then i would agree that my experience is the same. They are all B and C reg cars. There are some C reg 86 MK1a's around as they were in the showrooms for some time.

I'm not sure if the pinstrip was ever an option or factory / dealer fit but i have seen quite a few over the years with it fitted.

[Sweetpea]

Part of the problem here is defining what a 'crossover' actually is. As far as I know Toyota were fiddling and changing things all through production. By the strictest definition the few hundreds cars were Mk1a and the last few hundred cars were Mk1b. Everything in the middle could be thought of as a crossover.

My definition has been when (or if) the major mechanical parts (engine / suspension) wound up in the 'wrong' shell. Personally I don't think of a skirted Mk1a as a crossover because there were probably more of them then non-skirted ones. It's all a matter of opinion really.

[Master-B]

Part of the problem here is defining what a 'crossover' actually is. As far as I know Toyota were fiddling and changing things all through production. By the strictest definition the few hundreds cars were Mk1a and the last few hundred cars were Mk1b. Everything in the middle could be thought of as a crossover.

My definition has been when (or if) the major mechanical parts (engine / suspension) wound up in the 'wrong' shell. Personally I don't think of a skirted Mk1a as a crossover because there were probably more of them then non-skirted ones. It's all a matter of opinion really.

I was discussing this at the weekend with someone on the club stand. For me I think they should have defined 4 evolutions, but the 3rd one is still pretty variable:

1a = Black bumper B&C plate cars
1b = Early colour coded flat front bumper & body kitted cars with 3 spoke wheels & dual tone interior, coupe only, a pillar mount aerial, normally seen on C&D plate cars
1c = "Crossover" cars commonly seen (but not exclusively) with colour coded sloping front bumper, dual or single tone interiors, aerial position can be either a pillar or rear wing, pepperpot wheels & 1a or 1b spec engine, Tbar and Coupe, proper Frankenstein jobs, normally on D&E plates
1d = Colour coded body kit, single tone interior, aerial on rear wing, b spec engine only, normally F&G plates

[cchrysos]

So what exactly are the engine differences?

[Master-B]

Injection, tvis, induction, ecu, alternator, driveshafts. I'm sure there are other little bits & bobs... sensors etc. Long & short of it is 1a version is slightly more aggressive than 1b.

[cchrysos]

COOL! 1a is the way!

[charged]

If you mean the only true mk1a's are 85...then i would agree that my experience is the same. They are all B and C reg cars. There are some C reg 86 MK1a's around as they were in the showrooms for some time.

I'm not sure if the pinstrip was ever an option or factory / dealer fit but i have seen quite a few over the years with it fitted.

Sorry, yep.. I meant to say the only true Mk1a's

[jimi]

My definition has been when (or if) the major mechanical parts (engine / suspension) wound up in the 'wrong' shell. Personally I don't think of a skirted Mk1a as a crossover because there were probably more of them then non-skirted ones.
That's pretty much how I differentiate 1a, crossover and 1b

[Fab4mr2]

Just a standard '86 (call them a crossover if you want, lol). The major differences between the '85 and '86 are as follows: the '86 got color coded bumpers; color coded rear wing; a third brake light on the bottom of the rear wing (usdm); headliner, visors, and moonroof shade changed from vinyl covered to cloth; a/c controls changed to mechanical control from vacuum controlled, plus the auto climate control was dropped; side moldings also became color coded with inset striping; front and rear small side black strips were changed to pinstriping to match the side molding pinstripes; rear sway bar was deleted; and the rear plastic visor was added to the c-pillar. I think there are also a handful of minor mechanical differences as well, but mostly not worth mentioning.

The front and rear bumpers on this one are not MKIb, but color coded MKIa versions (actually the rear bumper is the same on all years). I've also seen that upper side pinstriping over here quite a bit, and believe it to be a dealer option. Definitely not original, but too many of them to be anything else I would think. Oh yeah, the front lower spoiler lip on this car is not original. Those were also color coded on all '86's, which I think looked really odd. Much preferred the black contrasting one as this example has.

The fact that they color coded some exterior items on the '86, and left others black, made them look a bit like an unfinished project. The nice part though is that the black ones, like my recent '86 purchase, are 100% color coded. The only '86's to be so. They look pretty much identical to the 'Black Limited' special edition for that year. I also like the way the complete aero package looks on the MKIa (side skirts and rear wing) in combination with the unique MKIa front lip. I much preferred that lip to the MKIb version.