I actually did a little checking aorund. Seems that the 'Yoda engine is actually about 2" longer than the 235. So while it looks like one, it is actually only copied. Not the first time Toyota did that. Their first engine was copied from the 207, with many parts interchanging.
As to the fate of the 235/251? The tooling went ot GM do Brasil, where it was used well into the '70s. I have heard that GM had a plant in Arizona that continued making them in small numbers into the early '80s for service engines for the S.America market. Wouldn't it be cool to find a stash of those engines, still in the crate? Just like those "new" Flatheads that they found in france!
