Game Changer

Wondering how Japanese cars got to be so popular in the States? The Toyota Corona is Exhibit A. It used to be that Japanese products got slapped with the same bad rap that Chinese goods often get today: built to a price, of dubious quality, and shoved out the door and onto ships by the pallet load. Over time, however, the tide turned: It started with 35mm cameras that won consumers over, and, starting in the late ’50s, Honda motorcycles helped to upgrade Japan’s image in the motorized Western world. In the realm of cars, it was the Corona that alerted users that Japanese products