Toyota Corolla Ke55 Sedan Badges

[justJDMit]

hey guys I'm new here and own a buff ke55 cs corolla could anyone tell me what the cs means and if there are any othr badges for the ke55 sedan

[Mechanical Sympathy]

Nice wheels.

 

Some say "CS" means "Club Sport" while I just think it means "Cloth Seats".

 

Other badges/trim levels include "SE" standard equipment, Deluxe (typically on earlier coupés), XX, SR5 and Sprinter (Australian and overseas coupés).

 

[Hiro Protagonist]

I think there was a pov-spec "L" model at some stage too...

 

Actual letters stopped really meaning things ages ago (if they ever did) and just became generic, hell you could get a 1999 CSi base model Camry that was in no way a "Club Sport" (the "i" was for injected though, and obviously applied), badges like "GXL" and "SX" are created by marketing departments and are all about perception and sound rather than actually standing for something - Kelloggs LCMs are a prime example of this, LCM doesn't actually stand for anything but sounded good and tested well amongst kids

Edited January 14, 2014 by Hiro Protagonist

[Ben-89]

Some examples from Hiro are true, they sound appealing but the appearance off the car is completely opposite. It's all marketing...

Mechanical Sympathy was getting warmer....

 

CS stands for "Cloth and Stereo" I'm not making it up as it sounds good but that's what it is. A number of magazines from 1976 stipulate this as this was the newly released trim level across the range. A rank above the SE and two above the L model.

 

Your ke55 is a square headlight 1980/81, I guess you have removed the chunky bumpers?

Looks great judging by the photo, made a ride thread yet?

[Hiro Protagonist]

You have to be careful sometimes with acronyms, often they are actually folk etymology/"backronyms" (in that the definition is created after the acronym is already in use) - a common one is that Lexus stands for "Luxury Export to the US" (Lexus themselves have repeatedly stated that it is just a made-up word, derived from the name Alexis, that sounds luxurious and sporty at the same time) or just adopted from other manufacturers despite not being applicable any more (GTi stands for Grand Tourer Injected and was originally a Maserati term, but is most famous for being on small Euro hot-hatches which are by no means "Grand Tourers"

 

SE is deceiving too, since it is often used as "Special Edition", which in the Corolla sense as the almost-base model (vinyl seats, mono AM radio etc) is anything but...

[Mechanical Sympathy]

"Levin" is the other badge I forgot to mention, though technically they were another brand like Lexus is.

[justJDMit]

thanks mechanical sympathy it would be better if my dad got to getting it ready fr me what do you guys think

[Hiro Protagonist]

"Levin" is the other badge I forgot to mention, though technically they were another brand like Lexus is.

 

Levin isn't a brand, it's just a model (ie Toyota Levin, or sometimes Toyota Corolla Levin).

[Mechanical Sympathy]

Well at least in Japan the earlier Levins like the TE37 were sold exclusively through Toyota Corolla Store locations. So I was thinking of the Trueno then.

[Hiro Protagonist]

Toyota has distributed dealer channels in Japan, with different "sub-brands" sold at distinctly named dealers - Corolla/Publica Store, NETZ, Auto/Vista Store, Toyopet Store etc....they're still all Toyotas though. Normal Corollas and the Levin were sold at the Corolla Store, Sprinters were sold at the Vista Store (which was originally the Auto Store, because all of them except the KE15/17 were not branded as Corolla, despite being superficially identical to the Corolla Levin)

Edited January 15, 2014 by Hiro Protagonist