| The WISCONSIN CROWN |
2008 August
For a number of years I was in charge of the membership list for the Toyota
Owner's and Restorer's Club (TORC). During that time, I was able to keep tabs
on who had what. Out of all the members we had, there were only a couple that had
Toyopet Crowns, and one member was actually a couple, Mark and Debi, who lived
in Wisconsin. At the time, I had learned from Mark that he had been restoring a
Toyopet Crown, but was trying to sell it and had been advertising it in the TORC
newsletter. It had been a number of years since I last had been in contact with Mark
& Debi, but since I recently started the Toyopet Crown Registry, I felt it was time to
get in touch with them again. As it turned out they had finally sold the old 'Pet' to a
gentleman in Australia. I asked Debi if she wouldn't mind sharing some memories of
their old Crown with me, and she was more than happy to...
The Pet belonged to our dear friend Gary Schaub of Trego WI, he had passed
away in march of 1994. We bought the car from his estate for a very small amount
of money, I personally didn't want the car, but Mark wanted it for sentimental
reasons which I understood. It sat around for awhile. Then one day I couldn't take
it anymore, I wanted to restore it. I started to strip it down, and Mark got it
running once again, but with the lack of funds to really restore it properly we put
it up for sale.
Gary Schaub was the second owner of the Pet, I really can't remember who the
original owner was, but we did have the original title to it which we sent to Troy
Bailey. Gary had found the car in Indiana I believe, drove it home and it sat
outside for many years.
When we did the interior of the car, we found an old receipt for gas and oil, the
receipt I believe was dated in 1963, a full tank of gas and a quart of oil, I believe
came to $4.98 or real close to that. We sent that to Troy also.
As we talked to people they would say you own a "what" and I would say a
Toyopet. Some people didn't believe this car was for real, even some of the Toyota
dealerships, we thought this was funny.
When we started to restore the Pet, we didn't know what was what, so we took a
scrape of the original paint off the floor boards and had a paint match from our
trusty paint man. We made a lot of calls to find out how, what and why on this car,
and we finally found a number in the Hemming's Motor News on Toyotas, and
eventually we found a TORC member named Phil, and that's how we got the word
on almost everything about the Pet, and this intrigued us more. We did as much as
we could, and with the lack of funds and storage it finally went to Troy Baily. I
hope it brings him much joy.
This is about as much as I can remember at the moment, I'm sure Mark has more
but he isn't here at the time (away on business). I don't have anymore pics of the
car only the ones I took as I said goodbye to it. I'm sure I'm forgetting things
about it, I tend to do that from time to time.
Well Debi, what you did remember was just fine. It is enough to keep the spirit of
this old Pet around for others to enjoy, and if & when you ever recall some more,
I'll be more than happy to add it to your Tale.
Since then, I also got in touch with Troy, and he plans to get to car ready to hit the
roads of Australia. His plans call for a change over to RHD, and a few
improvements to make it into a daily driver. Good luck to you Troy, and I look
forward to adding your own story to my Tales one day!
To learn more about Toyopet Crowns or to share your own stories or knowledge
about these cars, please visit and join my Toyopet Crown Group.
For a number of years I was in charge of the membership list for the Toyota
Owner's and Restorer's Club (TORC). During that time, I was able to keep tabs
on who had what. Out of all the members we had, there were only a couple that had
Toyopet Crowns, and one member was actually a couple, Mark and Debi, who lived
in Wisconsin. At the time, I had learned from Mark that he had been restoring a
Toyopet Crown, but was trying to sell it and had been advertising it in the TORC
newsletter. It had been a number of years since I last had been in contact with Mark
& Debi, but since I recently started the Toyopet Crown Registry, I felt it was time to
get in touch with them again. As it turned out they had finally sold the old 'Pet' to a
gentleman in Australia. I asked Debi if she wouldn't mind sharing some memories of
their old Crown with me, and she was more than happy to...
The Pet belonged to our dear friend Gary Schaub of Trego WI, he had passed
away in march of 1994. We bought the car from his estate for a very small amount
of money, I personally didn't want the car, but Mark wanted it for sentimental
reasons which I understood. It sat around for awhile. Then one day I couldn't take
it anymore, I wanted to restore it. I started to strip it down, and Mark got it
running once again, but with the lack of funds to really restore it properly we put
it up for sale.
Gary Schaub was the second owner of the Pet, I really can't remember who the
original owner was, but we did have the original title to it which we sent to Troy
Bailey. Gary had found the car in Indiana I believe, drove it home and it sat
outside for many years.
When we did the interior of the car, we found an old receipt for gas and oil, the
receipt I believe was dated in 1963, a full tank of gas and a quart of oil, I believe
came to $4.98 or real close to that. We sent that to Troy also.
As we talked to people they would say you own a "what" and I would say a
Toyopet. Some people didn't believe this car was for real, even some of the Toyota
dealerships, we thought this was funny.
When we started to restore the Pet, we didn't know what was what, so we took a
scrape of the original paint off the floor boards and had a paint match from our
trusty paint man. We made a lot of calls to find out how, what and why on this car,
and we finally found a number in the Hemming's Motor News on Toyotas, and
eventually we found a TORC member named Phil, and that's how we got the word
on almost everything about the Pet, and this intrigued us more. We did as much as
we could, and with the lack of funds and storage it finally went to Troy Baily. I
hope it brings him much joy.
This is about as much as I can remember at the moment, I'm sure Mark has more
but he isn't here at the time (away on business). I don't have anymore pics of the
car only the ones I took as I said goodbye to it. I'm sure I'm forgetting things
about it, I tend to do that from time to time.
Well Debi, what you did remember was just fine. It is enough to keep the spirit of
this old Pet around for others to enjoy, and if & when you ever recall some more,
I'll be more than happy to add it to your Tale.
Since then, I also got in touch with Troy, and he plans to get to car ready to hit the
roads of Australia. His plans call for a change over to RHD, and a few
improvements to make it into a daily driver. Good luck to you Troy, and I look
forward to adding your own story to my Tales one day!
To learn more about Toyopet Crowns or to share your own stories or knowledge
about these cars, please visit and join my Toyopet Crown Group.
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