What the heck IS this thingy???

[DARK AGE 53]

pawsplus, don't let them get to you. I found it on page 297 of my 09 manual, it's under Emergency towing.

Later,
Al

[MadMax]

I thought that was were you inserted the key to wind up the engine!

Just like these bugs, but their engine is in the back...



With our engines in the front, it makes sense that the key would go there!

[b_hickman11]

Originally Posted by pawsplus

Um . . . pardon me for asking a question! Didn't SEE it in the owner's manual, and the owner's manual is a piece of CRAP, so I figured I'd ask you guys. I guess you only want to talk about tricking perfectly nice cars up to look like pimpmobiles. Never freakin' mind.

You have to watch out for the Yaris World Police. They get very pissed when someone new comes on here and ask a question that they asked a few years ago. Feel free to ask anymore questions. These people that say "You need to use the search feature" are a bunch of idiots.

[Yaris Hilton]

Originally Posted by MadMax

I thought that was were you inserted the key to wind up the engine!

American cars of the '30s and '40s usually had a small opening to insert a crank in case the starter didn't work. My '40 Ford had one, with a small pivoted cover over it in the lower center of the grille. The same tool served as the lug wrench, jack handle, and emergency starting crank. The end of the handle had two little lugs that engaged a socket in the front of the crankshaft pulley, which had angled ramps to kick it back out when the engine started. Fortunately I never had to hand crank the old Flathead V8. It's not a bad idea to be able to, though!

[QuantumIguana]

It's for one of two things:

1) optional laser attachment. I hope the add the rear-mounted version to take care of tailgaters.

2) 1.21 gigowatt adapter to power the flux capacitor. Great if you're already late, and you have room to reach 88 mph.

[Kal-El]

Originally Posted by MadMax

Just like these bugs, but their engine is in the back

New Beetles' engines are in the front.

[Kal-El]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

It's for one of two things:

1) optional laser attachment. I hope the add the rear-mounted version to take care of tailgaters.

2) 1.21 gigowatt adapter to power the flux capacitor. Great if you're already late, and you have room to reach 88 mph.

LOL!!!

[Yaris#2]

Originally Posted by Yaris Hilton

American cars of the '30s and '40s usually had a small opening to insert a crank in case the starter didn't work. My '40 Ford had one, with a small pivoted cover over it in the lower center of the grille. The same tool served as the lug wrench, jack handle, and emergency starting crank. The end of the handle had two little lugs that engaged a socket in the front of the crankshaft pulley, which had angled ramps to kick it back out when the engine started. Fortunately I never had to hand crank the old Flathead V8. It's not a bad idea to be able to, though!

My first Toyota was a '63 Corrola with a three speed on the column shifter. It had a crank in the trunk in case the battery went dead. It had the same set up you describe. I used it a couple of times, not that I needed to, I just wanted to see if it worked and it did quite well.

[Yaris Hilton]

That was a good idea, to test it and see if it worked.

A '63 Corolla makes you a real pioneer. Bet nobody on here's had an older Japanese car.

[Yaris#2]

Originally Posted by Yaris Hilton

That was a good idea, to test it and see if it worked.

A '63 Corolla makes you a real pioneer. Bet nobody on here's had an older Japanese car.

It was a sweet car. Drove it back and forth to college until I handgrenaded the engine on I-94. The speedometer was broke so I just drove a little faster than everyone else. My bad. The little 1100cc engine just couldn't take it that day. Threw a rod through the block right were the fuel pump was attached. Lucky it didn't catch fire. Parts all over the highway

[MadMax]

Wow, I remember my neighbor having a Honda Civic back in the mid-70s like this one...



..but I don't remember too many Japanese cars before that. Did it look much like this '66 Japanese Corolla?



1963 was also the year Soichiro Honda first started in the car industry, with the S500 Roadster...



What a beaut! Forty-four horsepower from a 492cc engine, dual overhead cams, four carbs, a needle roller bearing crankshaft, a 9,500 rpm redline, and cost $1,275!

Cheers! M2

[why?]

i need that laser, man i would use it too much though. All these people on the road just are so stupid...

[tomato]

Originally Posted by b_hickman11

You have to watch out for the Yaris World Police. They get very pissed when someone new comes on here and ask a question that they asked a few years ago. Feel free to ask anymore questions. These people that say "You need to use the search feature" are a bunch of idiots.

Hahahaha!! Good one!!

The search feature is useful and it's always a good idea to try it first rather than ask a question that was just asked yesterday , but it does have its limitations.

Personally, I fail to understand why someone would even bother to post "this question was already asked x times on this forum" or "why don't you read the f'n manual." WTF? Why bother wasting time posting anything on a thread if you deem it beneath you and don't want to help the guy out?

Pfeww, now that I got that out of my system ... feel much better now, always meant to say something about that kind of comment

But I digress...

Originally Posted by Yaris Hilton

A '63 Corolla makes you a real pioneer. Bet nobody on here's had an older Japanese car.

How old is old? I had a first gen. civic hatchback, 4 door, very, very much like Mad Max's pic. Mine was metallic green and had 4 doors and a hatch. I loved that little box! Pretty sure it was a mid to late 70's model, no later. I have some pics somewhere I really need to dig out for the forum.

[why?]

if i am correct, i think the 63 corolla was the first car toyota imported to the us.

i'm wrong, yay toyota website! corollas weren't imported to 68.

[Yaris#2]

My Corolla looked pretty similar to the 66 you see above except I don't recall any side mirrors and there was a small hole in the grill just above the bumper for the crank. Same size and shape. Grill and bumper were different and amazingly the color is the same. I've never seen one like it before or since so I don't know how it got here in the US if Toyota wasn't exporting yet. It was a left side drive like all American cars and everything was in English.

[Yaris Hilton]

I think I recall reading on Toyota's website that a few cars were sold in California in the early '50s, but I don't have time to go hunt for it now. I certainly don't think there was any sort of "mass marketing" of Japanese cars here till the mid '60s. I recall a few odd college professors with those early Corollas, and the first Datsuns (now called Nissans) I really remember were the 1600 and 2000 cc sports roadsters that I think I first saw around 1965. There were small sedans at the time too, but I paid no attention to them.

[b_hickman11]

Originally Posted by tomato

Hahahaha!! Good one!!

The search feature is useful and it's always a good idea to try it first rather than ask a question that was just asked yesterday , but it does have its limitations.

If the poster searched for "What the heck IS this thingy???" he would have not found much on the site.

[MadMax]

Yaris #2, are you sure it was a '63? 'Cause I was looking into Why?'s comment that the Corolla was the first Japanese car imported into the US, and this said the first generation Corolla (E10) wasn't introduced until 1966! And he is correct, the first one didn't hit US shores until 1968 (at a blazing price of $1,700!).

But to answer which was the first Japanese car sold in the US, that distinction still belongs to Toyota! In 1957, it brought the Crown (a.k.a. Toyopet) to the States...

"We took our chances and began exporting to the U.S. in order to stake our claim," said former Toyota Chairman Eiji Toyoda. "But the reception was horrible. To begin with, the car didn't have enough power to travel on high-speed roads." A mere 50 years later, Toyota recently surpassed Ford as the numbr two U.S. automaker.

The '66 Corolla picture I posted was a Japanese model...note the location of the steering wheel. That is also why the mirrors are on the fenders, that was common on RHD cars (the same occurred in the UK and other Commonwealth countries). This is what the '68 US version looked like...



Cheers! M2