There are pros and cons to being a landlord. Let’s skip the cons, having just had to tear out a rotted bathroom floor. One of the minor pros (or cons, depending) is the stuff tenants leave behind. Need a microwave, coffee maker or air purifier? Brooms, mops, cleaning supplies and dustpans (all under-utilized)? Bottles of hair dye or boxes of feminine hygiene products? Got plenty. How about a Corolla? Yes!
This ’92 Corolla sat neglected and forlorn at one of my rentals for well over a year, with one tire almost flat. Its owners had bought a Volvo 740 turbo wagon, and I never did know why they abandoned the Corolla. But it always sort of spoke to me, whenever I saw it: “Rescue me! I still have life in me yet!”
Then just recently, they bought a slightly used Altima, and the Volvo started sitting gathering dust and weeds too. I do have a clause in my leases about abandoned cars, but they’re a nice young couple and didn’t want to get heavy with them. Then one day we struck up a conversation about the Volvo when it sported a For Sale sign ($600). It has a number of issues, including the turbo, and badly ripped seats.
Then the Toyota came up in conversation, and I asked how much longer it would be there. He said he was just about to call a tow truck to scrap it. I could hear it calling again: “Rescue me…”
And then I remembered that my younger son’s first serious girl friend, a wonderful and sweet young woman (way too good for him, but isn’t always the case with 20 year-olds?) was moving away from near campus into one of my little cottages, as a matter of fact. And some wheels would come in real handy, especially since my son isn’t currently licensed (don’t ask).
“Scrap? So what’s the problem?”
“The clutch got worse and worse, and eventually we couldn’t get it into gear anymore”.
Hmm. “But it ran last time you turned it off?”
“Yes it did”.
“How many miles on it?”
“219,000” Hmm. Just properly broken in, for one of these.
“How much do you want for it?”
“I’ll take two hundred”
“Deal!”
We came back the next day with a bottle of brake fluid, a hose, and one of Stephanie’s canning jars. When we arrived, he said: “I’m sorry, but you’re not going to want it. We charged up the (almost new) battery, and it wouldn’t start. It spun and spun, but wouldn’t start”. You don’t have to honor the deal”
“Let me try it”. I got in and sure enough it spun. But a wee bit faster than I would expect. I could feel that it wasn’t totally not firing, so the ignition wasn’t dead. On a whim, I depressed the accelerator some, which is not SOP on a modern fuel injected car. It started spinning a bit faster, and then caught…in a noisy fart-can fusillade.
“Oh yea; the muffler is shot too”
Hmm. “Anything else I should know about?”
I checked the clutch master cylinder: dry. And the slave wasn’t moving. That was the problem. So we hooked up the hose to the highly accessible bleeder on the slave cylinder, and my son started pumping and I poured in fluid and bled it. Three minutes later, the clutch worked like a charm. I gave him his two Benjamins, and drove off, noisily.
The engine ran like a trooper. And it’s started instantly ever since. Even the oil was like new. The transmission shifts like a hot knife through butter; better than my low-mileage Xb, which has a rather weak first-gear syncro (since always). Got it home, took off the rear wheel and found that one of the flanges connecting the exhaust pipe to the front of the muffler’s pipe had popped or broken off. The muffler was rock solid. Has anyone replaced a muffler in modern history? Poor Midas. A guy I know in the neighborhood welded the flange and hooked it all up for a few bucks.
Popped off the front wheels, to check the brakes. Or tried to; two lugs nuts on one front wheel were badly cross-threaded, and just barely came off. Some idiot with an air wrench, probably. Bought two studs and lug nuts for a couple of bucks; the only parts I’ve had to replace so far. The brakes were over 50%.
One minor hitch: Eva didn’t know how to drive stick shift! But she was game. So off we went to the fairgrounds, and I quickly added her to my list of happy former stick-shift students (my wife is not on that list). The first ten minutes was spent by her just delicately “bumping” the car along the level parking lot with the engine idling. Too many folks think the clutch is an on-off switch. That notion has to be disabused from the very beginning. Then it’s time to add a bit of engine power, and eventually letting the clutch out all the way; but none too soon. Within a couple of days (and a couple of stalls), she was on top of it. Turns out most of those stalls were from her trying to start off in third gear. The lever is a wee bit floppy: “all the way over to the left.”
Another unexpected detail was the unassisted steering. Oh right; 1992… Not a problem. A bit odd though, for a car that does have air conditioning, which works perfectly. But Eva is liking driving a small and engaging car, quite different than her Mom’s Grand Caravan.
And that’s one giant piece of genuine padded vinyl on the dash, for those that care about those things. Old school Toyota. Just don’t ask about the damn seat belts, that are attached to the door. Hey, it is an official beater.
Now I should mention that old Corollas are the official Beater of Eugene. Volvo 240s are common, but they’re the official Cult Car of Eugene. You have to want one. The Corolla is the default choice, and I can’t tell you how many old Corollas there are in this town. But it suits the locale: folks want something smallish and economical and durable and easy to fix, should it actually need fixing. I’ve shown you some of the older ones. This one is in the middle ages. But there’s very few new ones; where will the future supply come from?
We may have to spend a couple of more bucks eventually. I didn’t notice any obvious leaks, but I just checked the clutch master cylinder, and the fluid was down a bit, after almost a month. And a new set of tires before the winter rains set in. What’s a set of 175 70x13s run? $200?
Eva’s got the stick shift down like a pro now, and loves her Corolla. How many kids would be genuinely thrilled with a beater Corolla? Not as many as once upon a time. She’s a keeper.
Nice work Paul, just what you want for cheap transport. My cousin has had a couple of the hatchback version (not liftback) which are ideal for slotting into tiny inner-city car spaces, plus not being too concerned about the odd scratch is liberating I think. The rust that typically starts appearing around the back window is not so liberating!
I can relate to the teaching side of things, also the armstrong steering although I’ve only driven rwd cars thus (just thought of an exception – a Mini Moke!). The key of course is having the wheels rolling when you are turning them, even very slowly – good advice for a power-steer car too of course to save wear on ball joints.
Nice little car for the $ 200. In today’s world, a lot of good cars go to the scrap due to high repair costs. Unless a person can do some work himself, a new car with a good warranty is a necessity. The people who you bought the car from are the norm. Most people never check the tires, let alone fluids, filters, and other necessity. Changing a tail light bulb becomes a $ 20 repair for those who feel they cannot do it. Repair shops love it. I ordered front fender extensions for my very nice 78 Eldo, at $ 300, and no body shop seemed enthusiastic about painting and installing them. Not when collision work can cost thousands for just bolt on and paint work. I used the closest spray paint I could find and installed them myself. The job looks decent, but not Pebble Beach Concours. Really don’t care about it.
As far as mufflers and exhausts are concerned, Midas or any other shop will not repair the system. Replace from the catalytic converter back for big bucks. To Illustrate, I pulled my 78 Eldo into the garage last week, and my neighbor caught me for a chat. As we talked, we heard a whack. After looking about, we had no answer. The next day, I began to pull the car out and I heard the telltale scraping of exhaust pipes. Pulled the car back in and crawled under the car to see that the pipe holding the tailpipe resonerator had broken off. Unhooked it, and looked to see that the long pipe that comes from the middle of the muffler, over the back wheel and towards the back of the car had broken. Everything was still solid, still quiet, so I started the car up and drove to the storage facility where I keep it.
20 or so years ago, I got a catalytic back job on a 75 Eldo, cost all of $ 119. Today, the muffler costs more at Midas. Since the car has antique plates, I’m going to see if I can jerry rig a back pipe from the break. Everything else is good. When I bought the car 12 years ago, the muffler and front pipe cost me $ 350 to repair at a local gas station that no longer exists.
Eventually, I will get the entire job done, but I’ll bet $ 500 won’t cover it. It’s jobs like this that hastens good cars to the scrap yard.
You need to find a good old-school exhaust shop. See if you can find who local hot rod guys use for example, or who builds exhausts for race cars.
As an aside…it’s a perfect illustration of why you’re the landlord; and they’re the tenants.
I used to see that all the time – as a former welfare caseworker, I dealt with helpless welfare recipients; and equally-helpless fellow state employees. One young woman, a new hire, came up to me at lunch:
“Margaret told me you know something about cars.”
“Sure,” I said. Probably a bit too coolly. She wasn’t my type…for several reasons. But it doesn’t hurt to be pleasant with coworkers; and make deposits in the Favor Bank. “So, what’s up?”
“The light came on on the dashboard this morning – you know, the one that looks like an oil can.”
“When you started it up? How long before it went out?”
“Yeah, when I started it up. It never went out.” Judas Priest!
We went out to look at her four-old Dodge Omni…start with the basics. What did the oil look like? I pull the dipstick…it’s DRY.
Well…I carried a couple of quarts of oil with me for emergencies. Poured one in…the dipstick was STILL dry! Poured another in…and there was just a little bit of oil on the bottom of the dipstick!
It was down about three and a half quarts – on a four-quart supply.
Well, I topped her up, figuring it a waste – that engine had to be toast. And, as it turned out, it was – but not for lack of oil. That gal, who apparently was no better at driving than in maintaining, wiped the car out on the way home. She was off injured for five weeks.
Anyway…it just amazes me how people can be so imbecilic around one of their most expensive investments/purchases.
These folks are very bright, just not mechanically inclined. The Toyota was maintained well until they decided to move on from it. The oil was clean as a whistle.
A friend of mine made the same mistake, but apparently 82 Honda Accords are a bit more forgiving. We got in the car to go somewhere, and I pointed out the flashing oil light.
“Oh, that’s fine. It came on in Livermore last night. I think it’s just the sensor.”
Well folks, Livermore is 40 miles away. I suggested we pull into a gas station to be on the safe side, and sure enough the dipstick practically had dust on it. It was 3.5 quarts low on a 4.5 quart capacity. This was 2 years ago, and the car still runs fine. She now checks the oil religiously!
You’d be surprised how durable those little Omnirizon engines can be. My cousin had a Plymouth Turismo (79?? 82??) 2-door reskinned omnirizon 5-speed that she drove the balls off of back in the late 80s. Not sure what flavor of engine it had in it, 1.8 or 2.2 or whatever they were on at that time. Wal-mart changed her oil and didn’t quite get the filter right somehow. When she got home 25 highway miles later it had a half quart of oil in it. That car kept soldiering on for several years after that. Even her maniacal driving couldn’t kill it.
Great article. Judging by all your care and effort, you must have always wanted to have at least one daughter as well.
Now you have one… for a while…
I actually do have a daughter, but she’ll never drive. She has Prader-Willi syndrome, but she’s doing really well. She’s actually with Stephanie in Italy right now, loving the sightseeing. But, yes, teaching a “daughter” how to drive a stick is one of those fulfilling life experiences.
Glad to hear she’s doing well, and that she is having a chance to see the greater world. You Niedermeyer folk are a durable bunch. All the best!
And I’m driving her younger sister, ’97 model, “Juliette!” Same color paint, even fading out in the same places. Up to 227,000 miles this week, purchased a year ago from a family member (who also had the identical car, except for color, sold to a college student this spring with 250,000 miles-in order to buy a 2006 model from other family). Paid for herself in one year of gas savings over my truck, has so far only needed a wheel bearing, an AC refresh, and replacement radio (E-bay) and speakers (box store). Juliet uses a quart of oil every 3,000 miles, has very little if any surface rust, even underneath (in Ohio!), and runs up and down the Interstate so well I’m going to treat her to a new set of springs and shocks and go for 300,000. (Then, maybe, find another Eva who needs a reliable car.) Mind you-Juliette had been the college car for a couple of my nephews, so you know how she had been driven. Owning a ’90’s Toyota is like running into that girl you never noticed in high school, realizing your mistake, and thanking the powers that be for the opportunity to make up for it. Almost too good to be called a “beater,” although it meets all the criteria. (And, Paul, I hope your son comes also to realize “the opportunity.” Look at you, the matchmaker-I mean, CC and proud new owner!)
What a great story. Just as I was about to give up on the idea of a decent sub-$1,000 car, you find this. It’s almost too good to be called a beater – can a beater really have working a/c?
I also love your idea of clutching at idle for a beginner. I have not had a stick shift car in a long time, so have not had the chance to give any of my own kids stick lessons. Eva will remember you forever.
He didn’t buy that car – he STOLE it!
(no moral turpitude implied)
Truth is, in most parts of the country, that would have been priced fairly at about $2000. The owner just couldn’t be bothered with it…obviously his attention span for his toys is short. Buy high, sell low and in a hurry…
One man’s folly, another man’s find.
Congrats, Paul, on finding and saving one of the last great Toyotas ever made, everything they have made since is a POS.
Good basic car, good save, far to nice to go to the crusher.
My stepson has about 25 homes that he rents out. He runs across things like this all the time. Hasn’t bought a lawnmower for years.
Where was this car when I was commuting over 100 miles per. All I could find were v8s. Good job setting up a kid with something she can use and even better, teaching her to use it.
Update: I just got back from “rescuing” Eva’s car. She accidentally drove it down a little steep dead end road, and got into a very precarious situation trying to turn around, facing downhill, about a foot away from another car, but pointing into the ditch. I don’t blame her for calling for a life-line.
That’s a very smart young. At that age, I would have most definitely caused a lot of bangs and scrapes and been too proud to ask for help.
Yes but you are a male and it is a genetic fact that males are much less likely to admit they need help and even less likely to actually ask for it.
“Another unexpected detail was the unassisted steering. Oh right; 1992…”
I’m kind of surprised to see a 1992 car with no power steering that was not an absolute rock-bottom stripper model. We were recently talking about when air conditioning became popular; here in the northeast, my sense is that power steering became near-universal well before air conditioning did. I’m 41 and I have never driven a car that didn’t have power steering. If my parents have owned a car in my lifetime that didn’t have power steering, it was when I was too young to notice/remember.
In my early years of driving, my grandmother had a 1980 Pinto, which has the distinction of being the only car I’ve ever driven that didn’t have power brakes. But even that car had power steering.
PS was optional in early Miatas, in keeping with its minimal light roadster ethic. Mine was upgraded to 15″ 50-series wheels and tiers, and it’s a real upper-body workout to steer at very low speeds. Worth it for the grip, and the looks.
Miatas are a special case though, lack of PS was a feature!
Dad’s ’76 F100 had an automatic transmission, but no power steering (though it was a truck). My first car, an ’85 Omni, had no power steering, but that, with a manual transmission, I believe made it one of the best winter cars around.
With my rental properties the most common thing left behind is gas cans, usually missing their spout, and coolers of all sizes. Cleaning implements like brooms and dustpans are pretty common too along with misc kitchen wear, and dead lawn mowers.
Nice car she got for $200. The leak is most likely the master cyl, leaking from the pushrod end. Have her look up under the dash there is likely a trail of brake fluid running down the firewall. IF she keeps it full it should go quite a while longer but you never know so it might be worth spending the money for a new clutch master cyl.
Dang, what a reasonably-priced car. I have the same vintage GEO Prizm,
essentially the same car, with that same sweet twin-cam engine, and it is the perfect car if you don’t want a lot of frills and can fit inside of an econobox. If I had to pick my favorite thing about my car, it would be the roll-up windows. Who needs electric windows, anyway? How the heck did such a silly extra become so popular? Oops, sorry, starting to rant, better stop…
Now that strong electric motors are so light and cheap, power windows may actually be easier to build than crank-ups. At least close enough to prevail.
I’ve always wondered (half-seriously) why houses don’t have power windows.
It’s certainly cheaper to engineer and stock the parts for just a single window lift mechanism.
I am not sure that most modern window lifts could take the torque that an average male can put on a window crank, if any of my recent experiences are any guide.
Yeah but the modern window motors put out a lot of torque, in fact they are used quite frequently in building FIRST Robotics Competition robots as they are a normal kit of parts item.
My wife and I had one of these cars. It took us all over Washington, Oregon and British Columbia. We only sold it because another kid came along and it wasn’t big enough anymore. I loved how easy it was to work on and it was a stout little runner.
Nice find. I wish I could find a $200 beater like that here. In my case the car would be full of rust holes, as all Toyotas of this vintage have pretty much turned to dust by now.
I was surprised that it lacks rust. Around here (NE Illinois), that Corolla (and the Prisms and Novas that were built with badge engineering – same assembly line) would be shot through with rust.
Oregon has a mild, salt-free climate, so good beaters are still easy to get. Corollas stay running for decades with even the most rudimentary maintenance.
My mum had a hatchback version of this when I was a teenager, it was an EE90, which had the 12-valve, carburettor 1300…… that had no A/C, no PS, no power anything. It was great, and actually got along OK for soomething so underpowered! And of course, beign a stupid teenager I thrashed it like there was no tomorrow, but it just sucked it up and asked for more. One big benefit of that tiny engine and no ancillaries was that the cambelt was a piece of cake to change. Alternator belt off, timing belt cover off, swap the belts and reassemble. Pretty much a half-hour job!
Toyotas of that vintage were rarely fitted with powersteer my 90 Corona diesel wagon had it but its Japanese designation was as a van so PS and air were virtually mandatory if you expect some poor sod to drive it for money
There is a good reason the Corolla is the best-selling car in the world, and why it is especially sought after in countries where…let’s say repair facilities are limited. It has been the “gold standard” of reliability and appears it will remain so, given how quickly competitors are jumping onto things like dual-clutch transmissions (not saying they’re inherently unreliable, but I’ve never seen one car with this type of transmission go 200K – tell me when you see one).
I’m no Luddite, but the Corolla is tried and true, and for many people, that is more important than gizmos and gadgets.
Which is why, of course, despite the auto press slagging the “low tech” Corolla with great regularity, the cars fly off the lot. It is always in the top five of sales, at least in Canada.
Excellent write up Paul. And by all accounts you did just fine for $200. Up here in Manitoba, Canada that $200 would be just about shredder price for a car of that weight. Always did amaze me how folks drop out of cars for lack lustre motivation.
Oh well, their loss, your gain. That car will go another 100 k with your TLC.
Kudos to you.
Great piece about the ultimate Roach of the Road, the humble Corolla. Cheap, reliable, honest transportation. Why are these the ultimate Roach? That’s because nobody even thinks about them. This is the most produced car in the history of the world. They are THE taxi of the third world. I have been in Corolla taxis in the Philippines with over a million km on them and they still manage to run in that potholed cesspit that is Manila.
From a garage man’s experience, they are easy to service and diagnose. Parts are everywhere and cheap. The quality of Toyota parts has always impressed me, as is how well everything is bolted together. It is obvious that this car was designed for mega-mass production since everything stays the same for so long. Heck, the present model is now eight years old, eons in car time, yet they still fly off the dealer lots. The 1.8 motor and low-tech (oh my god) four speed tranny never, ever break.
There are LOADS of Corollas on the streets here, really, you cannot look out the window and not see one, or a Civic. That is success, ladies and germs.
I agree completely. Never got around to posting it in the “What’s the Best Beater Now?” comments section, but when I was wracking my brain yesterday and running through all the possibilities… I eventually decided that this generation Corolla (and the one after it) are the undisputed beater champs of 2012.
I would wager the same era Honda Civic is actually a better car, but those are too often annihilated by the rice brigade. In fact, it’s rare for me to see a 10+ year old Civic that isn’t riced out in at least some small way.
The Corollas are practically invisible. People who were pragmatic bought them new, drove them gently and maintained them right. People who bought them used did much the same. They have absolutely zero Fast & Furious appeal.
As soon as I poked around it a bit, and took the brakes off, I came to see how well designed they are. I’d never taken brakes apart faster and easier in my life. And everything exudes that same quality: designed by and for mechanics?
Man, I wish I could find something like this up my way!!!
A couple of years ago I found a 1995 Corolla, DX, 5-speed, cold AC and clean. The guy wanted like, $2300 for it. I wanted it, but had to sell my present car first. It got away. I’m still bummed…
Good find, Paul. Hard to beat for that price, the ultimate beater.
I personally dislike those cars, only because I cannot stand the way they drive. I was selling them new in the early 90’s, they convinced me that Toyota was on it’s way to becoming the next GM and in that context, NOT a compliment.
The cars were awful to drive in ascending order from Tercel to Corolla and on up. Taking a page from GM, they made their relatively expensive car, the Camry, ride and drive the best of the reasonably priced cars. The Cressida drove even better, but most folks could float a note on a Camry and get 90% of the utility/comfort/luxury of the Cressida…
I get the irony of me writing this as I have (unwittingly) become the champion of the J-cars on this site and others. But the contemporary small (domestic) GM cars rode/drove a lot better than these penalty boxes, even if they were able to be neglected into uselessness a lot sooner than a Corolla.
I’d love to be able to go out west where you are and shop for used cars. It’d be a blast!
My college girlfriend had a ’91 over 10 years ago, but as a Minnesota car I can’t imagine it hasn’t rusted to pieces by now. My sister has a ’96 Prizm, dad bought it for himself in ’99. Still running strong with over 200k, but her idea of a car wash is a good rainstorm, so it’s literally rusting to pieces. Every time I roll under it to fix something I shudder.
A red ’92 Geo Prizm was the first car I owned with a stick shift, the car I owned on 9/11, and the first car I drove solo cross-country from Texas to California to visit the woman who I would end up marrying 9 years later. It was easy to fit into any parking space without even thinking, and I wish I would have kept it longer instead of letting myself be tempted by a rare 5-speed Mercedes 300E. My only complaints were it had a tendency to get blown sideways in crosswinds, and the front end started to shimmy if I went over 70-75 mph. But in the city, it was perfect.
I have the same exact car, mine is quite a bit rougher though.. the hood is currently held down with a tie down strap..