As family heirlooms go, Benny Royal’s 1973 Toyota Corona Mk2 is a hell of a lot cooler than an old piece of jewellery. “It’s been in the family for 35 years; I was two years old when my parents bought it,” Benny recalls. “My dad hotted it up in the 90s with a 265 Hemi, and it did a best of 14.3, which was pretty quick for its time.”

First published in the July 2024 issue of Street Machine

As the 90s came to a close, the Corona got parked up, until an 18-year-old Benny decided he wanted to give it another lease on life. “It needed some love, so I started chipping away at it with a mate,” he says. “I moved to Perth for a few years, which delayed the project, but when I got back, I went head-first into it.”

Initially, Benny wanted to keep the roots of what his father had done in the 90s, so he turbocharged the 265 Hemi. “We cruised it with that for a while, but it had a lot of issues and pissed me off,” he says. “So, I ripped it out and sold it off, and then found the 1JZ package with the ECU and loom for cheap. I love JZ engines, and going to a Toyota engine seemed like a nice fit as well.”

That engine is an earlier, non-VVTi item, still using the standard rotating assembly. The stock head now has a set of BC 272 drop-in cams, which is about the only major modification to the long block. Both the mill and the Paul Rogers Powerglide were mounted by Dean G Fabrications, before G-Force Race Solutions sorted a custom exhaust manifold and four-inch system, broken up by a Garrett Gen II GTX3582. The turbo is cooled by a Plazmaman water-to-air intercooler set-up, which takes up to 30psi from the Garrett.

Combined with Haltech Elite 2500 management, E85 and 7500rpm, the virtually standard 1JZ pushed out 443kW (595hp) to the hubs before the fuel pumps ran out of juice.

The XW GT Grecian Gold was sprayed on by Raglan Repair & Paint in Sale, and Benny then finished off the rest of the car at home. “We did the wiring, fuel system and a bunch of assembly in the shed,” he says.

With only a couple of hundred kays under its belt, the fresh Corona was subject to five days of drag-and-drive at the first Hardass 1000 in rural Victoria. “Nothing went wrong with it all week, which is amazing, considering I put it together!” laughs Benny.

Running on cheapie Nankang 235 tyres, the Corona started off on Monday at Heathcote Park Raceway with a 10.2. The week of pub running was interrupted by a stop at Wilby’s unprepped eighth-mile, where the Corona ran a 6.9. The circus returned to Heathcote for the final day, where the little Corona that could punched out a ripper PB of 9.8@137mph. Not only did that have Benny and his mates jumping for joy, but it also yielded him second spot in the 235PSI class.

“I had an absolute ball!” Benny says of the week’s adventures. “I gotta thank the boys for making it so epic, and the car went so well. I’m stoked with it – and it’s got more in it!”

Benny’s already making plans for the next five-day event, with hopes of running even quicker. “We’ll set it up a bit better, get some more power out of it, and put a proper 235 radial under it,” he says. “It’s already done so well for a little nugget, so I can’t wait for the next one.”

BENNY ROYAL
1973 TOYOTA CORONA MARK II

THANKS
Dean at Dean G Fabrications; Gerardo at G-Force Race Solutions; Blair, Luke and the crew at Raglan Repair & Paint; my wife; my daughter Indie; my mates Brodie Villis, Rod Konndouras and Garry Leahy.

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