Remember the Toyota Cressida? This 1978 one (the name lasted until 1992) is an attractive coupé, looking a lot like a similarly pillar-less Mercedes-Benz 280CE, but maybe even arguably a touch more stylish. I mean, the ad does say you can display your “good taste and personal prestige” in one of these, even if it looks a bit like a Mustang II to me now that I look at it again. I still kinda like it. What’s really unusual about these, though, I think is their name.
You see, Cressida is a woman’s name, which would certainly not be unusual in itself for a car name, especially a Japanese car of roughly this era, which included such cars as the Gloria or the Silvia. What makes is odd is that the name Cressida is most commonly associated with a woman who lived during the Trojan War, and her story involves her declaring her love for a Trojan prince, but then ending up with a Greek warrior, and as a result she’s become sort of a symbol for a disloyal lover.
Not really what you’d think a carmaker would want to name a car after, but who am I to judge?
It’s also worth noting that Cressida is one of the leads in what’s generally considered one of Shakespeare’s crappier plays,Trolius and Cressida.
Huh. Who knew?
I’d always assumed the Cressida was the butt of the old Simpsons line, “People don’t want cars named after hungry Greek broads!”
I always thought it was a reference to salad micro-greens. Wh? Because Japan.
My kingdom for an Edit button.
Looks like she could grip a steering wheel with those toes.
First thing I noticed, too, embarrassed to say.
As if on cue this supre cleam 78 just popped up on Obscure Cars
https://www.facebook.com/commerce/listing/465828792234728?media_id=2&ref=share_attachment
$6,000
Super Clean…for God’s Sake can we get an edit function?
“You see, Cressida is a woman’s name, which would certainly not be unusual in itself for a car name, especially a Japanese car of roughly this era, which included such cars as the Gloria or the Silvia. ”
Mercedes is, perhaps, the best known woman’s name used for an automobile.
Though Portia is also well-known.
And for the etymology of other Toyota names:
https://www.toyota-global.com/company/history_of_toyota/75years/data/automotive_business/products_technology/vehicle_lineage_chart/origin/index.html
A reader mail comment on Car and Driver that I’ve long remembered:
I write the songs and I name the Toyotas.
– Berry Manilow
“It’s named after the Shakespeare play, of course” because that’s what my Japanese mum told me 8 year old me. Strange spec – no wing mirrors so not JDM, no door mirror so not Euro.
Might be a catalog used globally, so therefore no mirrors at all so as to not cause confusion. Or they were shot early, before Toyota had had time to develop the door mirrors. But I speculate.
What I noticed is her toes in the painting. The long second toe is a genetic trait also found in athletes.
https://atlasbiomed.com/blog/can-foot-shape-ancestry-reveal-anything-about-your-origins/
I saw that too! To me it looks like the artist did not know how to draw feet so he gave them more hands
That’s a painting of Uma Thurman! I’d recognize those toes anywhere.
https://www.google.com/search?q=uma+thurman+toes&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS770US770&oq=uma+thurman+toes
I dont even WANT to know how… you managed to do that.
The Royal Toe, a sign of beauty, dominance and intelligence. The greeks believed it came from the gods. Associated with RH- blood.
Maybe they were trying to corner the hoplite demographic.
This makes me mourn the loss of the upscale coupe as a car product category. Now everything is a 4-door CUV/SUV shaped like a lozenge (in grey, black, white or silver.)
Unfortunately the name has gained an extra level of notoriety in recent months. Cressida Dick (her actual surname) was the recently deposed head of London’s Metropolitan Police. She was described as presiding over a culture of corruption, incompetence and cover up by an independent report. Despite being supported by 70% of officers and the home secretary ( a woman who would have deported her own parents) she was deemed a liability by none other than Boris Johnson.
I’m not up on my British politics, but if Boris thinks you’re a liability…
Love the look of those steelies without trim rings. They are the epitome of “good taste and personal prestige”.
Interesting comparison with the Benz; I think it’s how the rear deck seems disproportionately long, but somehow just works. But my first thought was the Mustang II. This is if Ford had gotten it right.
I see the Mustang II as well. The Benz is just classier, IMHO.
Yeah this is kind of a perfected 1970s Ford and honestly I appreciate that.
The second pic (“cs_cressida_-rear.jpg”) shows what appears to be damage to the rear wheel arch. I’d bet Toyota’s California folks made this brochure using shipped vehicles, and the red one had a ding.
(My family has experience with Toyota’s delivery skills circa 1976-1981, and they were not great.)
This isn’t a US-spec car; it has the slimmer international bumpers and the Cressida hardtop coupe wasn’t sold here, just the 4-door sedan and the wagon, and I’ve never seen a US-spec wagon of this generation without woodgrain.
Since the pictures seem to be from a brochure with the text in English, would this car have been Canadian spec? As for the ding, could be that it’s just a crinkle in the brochure itself. Otherwise, that’d be some Ford-level attention (or lack thereof) to detail which would be pretty apropos in light of the frequent comparisons of the Celica to the Mustang & now this comparison of the Cressida to the Mustang II (lolsob.)
I have a brochure for the 1970 Dodge Colt (US version of the Mitsubishi Colt) in which one of the photo cars has an obvious ding in a door.
Hey Jason (waves hand): how many car brochures are you aware of that feature obviously damaged vehicles?