Over the ten years of CC, I have heard endless sad stories here of old car ownership woe: Expensive repairs, headaches, frustration, regret. Meanwhile, I’ve been peppering you with an endless stream old Corollas from Eugene, including one I picked up for almost nothing eight years ago and which is still going strong. They are the ultimate Eugene-mobile: Cheap, reliable, durable, economical, easy to fix. If you were going to buy a new car and keep it 41 years—or forever—it’s simply the best choice, whether that was in 1980 or 2021.
I’ve long wanted to find an owner of an old one-owner Corolla, to get the inside scoop on just what it takes to keep one on the road for over 40 years. I’ve finally succeeded, and am going to share all the details with you here. But I have to warn you: no offense to John, the owner, but it’s a pretty boring story. No wonder Toyotas have a rep for being boring: one might as well be asking what it’s like to own the same toilet for 41 years.
I’ve seen and shot this same Corolla Liftback—as well as a white one just like it driven by an older woman—for years, but never wrote either of them up. Something told me to wait until I could catch up with their owners and get the straight scoop, although I could have predicted it anyway.
A few weeks back, my wish became true. I offered to volunteer for a tree planting day by a local non-profit, Friends of Trees, which involved driving the trees and tools to various addresses—including one of my rentals—and helping to plant them. When I saw one of the other volunteers drive up in this Corolla, I knew I’d scored. See; it pays to volunteer!
John—who didn’t care to be photographed—is probably about my age, retired, and fits the profile of what I would have roughly expected of an owner of a forty year-old Corolla or so many other old Eugene-mobiles: He’s thoughtful, deliberate, community-oriented and environmentally responsible—he has an LTD transit pass and uses the bus whenever it’s feasible. Undoubtedly the Corolla’s 261k miles were racked up more in its early years than later ones. That comes out to an average of some 6500 miles a year, which is of course less than half of the average mileage racked up by Americans. This alone explains why there’s so many old Corollas and other old cars on the streets here. Their owners only drive when there’s a real need or good reason to.
Enough of the preamble; let’s get to John’s description of his ownership experience:
1980 Toyota Corolla hatchback purchased new in Feb. ’80 at Vic Alfonso in Eugene. It has a 3TC 1.8L engine with standard automatic transmission, heater, radio, and (empty) tape deck slot (never used). It came equipped with seat belts, but no airbags or anti-lock brakes.
I do routine fluid & filter checks/replacements myself (oil, battery, coolant, brake), excepting transmission fluid. Apart from usual maintenance/replacement of tires, shock absorbers, brakes, sparkplugs, fuel & air filters, etc., the car has a relatively uneventful repair history over 40 yrs., except as noted below.
In 1996 its rear end was rammed above the bumper, collapsing the rear hatch area, but leaving the chassis unbent. The insurer declared it a total loss after over 5 weeks of delay, although I continued to drive it in daylight hrs. using hand signals. The insurer’s agent, however, had the car termed “undriveable” and secured for me a per diem rental car allowance spanning the five-weeks unexcused assessment delay, although I never actually used a rental car (such are the ways of insurance companies).
I used the insurance settlement funds to reconstruct the car’s rear end. The repair shop simply found a similar car with no rear end damage at a local salvage yard, sliced off that end, and attached it to my vehicle. The bill for that, including painting to match, was less than the insurance settlement payment!
In 2013 the radiator was replaced along with the rest of the cooling system (water pump, hoses, fanbelt). Later there were a few other oddball repairs, such as replacing the heater core, carburetor (Weber aftermarket) plus air filter system, and a worn out ignition cylinder.
Because there have been no major problems or repairs involving the engine, transmission, or suspension, I continue to drive the car into its fifth decade. Current odometer reading is 261,300 mi. It’s now lightly used 3-4 days per wk. since I retired and acquired a LTD senior pass. Before the pandemic I was driving it some 4K mi. per year; in 2020 even less than that.
So there you have it. Just how much did these replacement items cost? He didn’t say, but today, on Amazon, here’s what they go for: radiator: $108; water pump: $42; radiator hoses: $25; heater core: $88; Weber carb: $170; air filter kit: $35; and a new ignition key cylinder: $28. Total: $496.00.
Of course that doesn’t include labor and regular maintenance/wear items. But still: $500 in parts to keep a car running dead-reliably for 41 years is extremely impressive. And extremely cheap. No stories to tell of engine swaps, blown head gaskets, pulled cylinder head studs, blown automatic transmissions, dead starters, etc., etc..
Toyotas are so boring…
Gold
My ’91 Corolla had 280K miles when I sold it a few years ago. It was running just fine, no issues other than a broken window crank and some minor rust behind the rear wheels (New York winters). The first owner did no work on it at all. I replaced belts, hoses, spark plugs and wires, filters and fluids right away, then at some point brakes and tires (more than once). After about 250k miles, had to replace the muffler and the clutch. That’s it. I only sold it because I found a good deal on a Subaru wagon that I wanted, not because I needed to. These cars can run forever.
I love this story. Most amazing to me is the way the silver paint continues to be shiny – or at least appears to be in your photos. I suspect the car is garaged when not in use, which goes a long way towards longevity in appearance.
As much as I hate to say it, and as much as I have been a fan of US cars through the decades, I have to honestly admit that if I were going to buy a new car and keep it for a long time (which has become my habit) I would probably not even consider a product of the old Big 3. My life with two Asian cars in the garage, the newest of which is a Kia Sedona that is approaching 10 years old is almost (but not quite) as boring as that of this Corolla owner. And it has been the Honda and not the Kia that has cost me the most in repairs.
LTD = Lane Transit District, right?
Eugene is in Lane County
This hatchback style is by far my favorite Corolla of this era, because in addition to having the reliability of an overlooked appliance, it was neat looking too. A friend of mine had a 1980 Corolla wagon back in the mid 1990s, and it too was the paragon of reliability. That car (being a high-mileage but very reliable example) really boosted my appreciation for these cars.
It’s incredible to read John’s description of four decades of (minimal) repairs. I’ve know people recently who’ve had more work done to cars in their first ten years, as opposed to this Corolla’s forty.
Technically the model in the article was a liftback with a longer roof, the hatchback had a shorter roof and deeper slope
Nice work there. I am hoping for the same out my Celica Alltrac. I’ve spent nothing but oil and gas and other fluids. Of course it’s in stock condition unlike all the idiots who cranked up the boost and blew head gaskets, etc. People are amazed when I tell them it’s still on its first clutch. Way more fun merging onto a 75 mph freeway than a slushy box Corolla.
My ‘95 GT coupe made it past 278k without ever needing a clutch replacement, so I’d say you’re probably good on that one. Watch out for the suspension bushings, though…
I did those for fun with Whiteline bushings from Australia…..
Nice car i still have this one sr5 standar with over 100 milled
Toyota is usually the biggest carmaker in the world, has the most valuable car brand in the world, has cash on hand nearly half the entire valuation of GM, and even with profits down 80% because of COVID, is still expecting to make about $4.5 billion in 2020.
Cars such as this Corolla show why.
That’s just their latest quarter profit. They’re on track to make a net profit of some $20 billion in their current fiscal year.
You haven’t lived until you own a boring car. I often reflect on the time I’ve spent doing what I enjoy rather than sitting waiting at some dealer/repair shop anticipating a large hit to my finances. Just turning 180K miles on my 2003 Accord after 42k of ownership with zero issues makes me giggle. Neighbor did the first 138k from new with the same experience. A bonus when you can do it in a sharp looking automobile like this Toyota. A well designed, maintained car adds joy to your life.
For the huge percentage of the population who value reliability and total cost of ownership over other, less tangible attributes, a Toyota is almost always the best choice. My wife has the same interest in cars as I do in appliances, she wants it to be easy to use and not break down. Her favorite two vehicles out of the wide variety we have owned in the past 20 years? A Toyota Yaris and her current RAV4 Hybrid. Bland, sure, but the Yaris required no repairs in over 10 years of hard use, and the expectation is that the the RAV4 will deliver the same performance. Looking at the values of decade old Toyotas vs competition is amazing.
Another $2.00 to fix the body side mouldings with double sided tape still keeps it under $500! Great story!
No question that the Corolla’s inherent good design and quality play a role in this longevity. But I think there are a couple of other factors at play here. In parts of California, and perhaps other states, the aftermarket carb would be a no-go due to regular emissions and emission control equipment checks. I don’t know about parts availability, perhaps it’s Ok for these cars, but for many contemporaries repairing this era of carb, with all the thermal and vacuum switches and solenoids, could be expensive.
Setting that aside, within a few years, by 1984-85, a lot of popular and reliable cars hit the streets in numbers similar to the Corolla, specifically front wheel drive GM A Body, Ford Ranger, Toyota pickup, and Jeep Cherokee. I still see plenty of these in the road, though admittedly most may be from later in their long model runs. Still, I’m thinking that by 2025 or so, just a few years away, the 40 year old car may not be such a rarity. Though I suspect the repair logs may not be as brief.
I do own a few powered items from new, that are of similar age, mostly hand-held consumer grade power tools plus a blender and vacuum cleaner. Not sure that kind of longevity still occurs with modern equivalents.
There’s a pretty good number of similar-vintage Corollas still on the streets here, and I suspect some/many still have their original carb, or genuine replacement.
Fair enough, and in fact there are quite a few here in California even with smog checks. In any case, the vintage from 1980 to 1990, perhaps even 1995, may be a real sweet spot of reliability and simplicity, balanced with adequate performance, economy, brakes etc and creature comforts, and thus usable longevity. I put a few miles on a girlfriend’s ‘81 Corolla and though not as nice as the Civic that she replaced it with, it was a far nicer drive than a ‘71 Corolla.
I have no doubt that my 2016 Tacoma will be as mechanically durable, perhaps more so, than an ‘85 pickup. But when the electronic instrument cluster or engine management unit fails, not to mention the fact that even a transmission fluid change or brake fluid flush requires Toyota diagnostic tools, the cost of repair may take it off the road. While the 1985 pickup gets fixed and keeps on going. Of course we worried about these things 40 years ago also, so perhaps the only thing keeping my truck off the road in 2056 will be finding the bootleg gasoline for less than $50/gallon.
A very good friend of mine had a blue Liftback when she started grad school in 1978 one year behind me. Either a 76 or 77 since they both look the same to me. John’s is nice although that big black bumper is not to my liking. Consequently I like the look of my friends Corolla with the round headlights, more attractive front grille and the big fact that hers was a manual. I believe David Skinner did a story on that year give or take.
While mechanically the E70 Corolla is virtually indestructible, road salt was its Kryptonite. While that is true for most cars from this era, Toyotas and Hondas seemed to succumb earlier than most.
I haven’t seen one of these in many years – I suspect few still exist in the northeast or midwest.
Living in Buffalo all my life, I found Datsuns/Nissans to be more susceptible to rust than Toyotas
Only reason road salt hasn’t been banned (despite it being awful for the environment) is because it helps the auto industry out by destroying old cars
It even still has its door panel, I know the inclusion of that picture was no accident…
What a great testimonial to the staying power of these cars and as a belated answer to the QOTD as to which will be the last car standing it’ll likely be the Corolla, somewhere in the world.
Build it right, price it right, and even if the original owner doesn’t have need for another one, undoubtedly quite a few more Toyotas have been sold due to John sharing his story with others over the years.
“Build it right, price it right”
The US companies do ok on the second part, but have never really mastered the first in modern times. Higher quality parts and components cost money and add weight – and don’t give people an immediate reason to buy a new car. And won’t improve financials for this quarter or this year.
But when an owner does buy one, they will buzz right back to the same company and the resale on the old ones will be sky high. Which sells a lot of new cars.
I’d be more inclined to say they “discount” it right rather than pricing it right from the get-go. And the discounts then serve to cheapen the products in the public’s mind, there’s likely a reason it has to be on sale, although at this point it has spread to almost everyone to some extent just due to competitive pressure. The inverse is also true to an extent, just look at Honda in the 1980’s, additional dealer markups galore, people were happy to pay, and likely took better care of their cars as a result. Many became repeat buyers, few feel that they were ripped off. Even fewer went back to Detroit, or at least not at MSRP.
I have a friend who had one of these that was absolutely indestructible – even after she got her first oil change at 42,000 miles!
A good example of my favorite Corolla, among the best of a very good breed. Yes, in California you could not get that car registered with that carburetor and air cleaner, such modifications would have to be California Air Resources Board Approved. That having been said, if the owner is environmentally responsible I would encourage him to at least try to locate the stock components if possible. I doubt that car’s evaporative emissions system is functioning and is probably venting unburned hydrocarbons into the atmosphere even when it isn’t running. Of course that doesn’t make it any worse than a pre-1971 (1970 in California) vehicle (or lawnmower for that matter!) but I like to try to make every vehicle I own as ‘clean’ as possible.
You know what’s nice about an 85mph speedometer? You can bury the needle semi-legally!
One thing I see that might have helped with the longevity and repair history is that it’s RWD. No CV joints or shift boots to replace. That makes for better accessibility to the motor too!
I don’t know about that, I”ve had dozens of FWD cars, various RWD ones, and a bunch of AWD ones, both RWD and FWD based. I’ve never had to replace a CV joint or a boot, however I have replaced several U-joints, a rear pinion seal, as well as issues with a driveshaft. All purely anecdotal of course but RWD doesn’t seem to me to be such a big repair saver assuming that the car is properly engineered with quality parts in the first place – this is the biggest differentiator in my opinion.
I have had to replace boots on three of four older FWD cars in my time. OTOH none of may five RWD cars needed anything to be done on the U-joint side. I simply replaced them once the cars hit 50 years old which means the Polara is coming due shortly.
I’m seeing a Toyota ‘sensible shoes’ take on the Scirocco in this – so I like it. 🙂
Her insurance company totaled my neighbor’s 67K Camry after it was rear ended too. I bought it from her and used a 2×10, a chain, and a telephone pole to pull it out, then slapped a a same-color eBay trunk lid on it. The trunk didn’t seal perfectly but we don’t get much rain anyway. It turned into a very nice daily driver.
Wouldn’t seem like there was much in the way of traction from the looks of the snow the tires are in.
A bit of a downhill grade helped. It took just a few slight tugs to get the trunk structure back to its original geometry.
Great car / find / story / etc. I absolutely could not imagine a 1981 Ford Escort doing the same thing.
It’s not just that they are durable, back then in the 70s and 80s, how cool that they sold a 2 & 4 door sedan, a lift back, a hatchback and a wagon. I’m probably missing something but man, that’s a lot of body styles. Now, what do we get?
The Liftback was my favorite Toyota for a long time. Great wheels, smart useability and for some blurry reason, it always reminded me a little of the Lotus Elite -and the Volvo 343 at the other end of the excitement range.
I’m half-way to where he is with my current car…he seems like my alter-ego.
I’ve been driving for 47 years and am on my 5th car in that time. Probably not unusual but have been keeping cars longer with each purchase…not only do cars seem to last longer but I no longer live in the rust belt, so that makes a big difference, plus materials…used to have to replace aluminized exhaust system every other year up there (also short mileage driving causes condensation not to evaporate so water constantly present to aid deterioration)…my current ’00 VW Golf (only one bought new) has stainless steel exhaust and has never been replaced (despite mostly short distance driving….doubt I put 4000 miles/year on my car…what is unusual about that? It’s my only car (with low mileage like that you might wonder why I’m a car enthusiast at all..lack of driving, so why give it undue attention (but what I like doesn’t have to make sense).
I’ve owned 3 VWs since 1981, and have had pretty good luck with them, they undoubtedly aren’t quite like owning a Toyota (never owned one though I drove in them multiple times working as transporter for Hertz back in the 70’s). My sister had a Tercel back in the late 80’s that seemed OK (but catalytic converter missing heat shield caused carpet to burn leading for her to eventually get rid of it, as it also affected wiring).but mostly we were a Datsun (Nissan) family, my first car was a ’74 I had up till ’81 my entire undergraduate time in Vermont, it was slow, crude, light, RWD and terrible in snow (probably because it was light and RWD, also my last automatic with high idle when cold so it would fishtail at stoplights with low traction as the rear wheels tried to creep so had to shift into neutral till it warmed up)..but it was perfect car to keep me out of trouble and be easy to fix (but requiring old-style tuneups, points, plugs, condensor), parked outside only refused to start 1 week during blizzard of ’78 (had to bum ride from father, I was commuter student)..my 2 youngest sisters had qty-4 200 or 240 SX models between them, youngest sister died, but surviving (middle) sister still owns ’97 240SX she bought new.
Prior to last March when COVID restrictions instituted, I was frequent bus rider, great forced exercise (at least walking) though I live in sunbelt, and frankly can look pretty bad when I arrive at my destination after walking aways in the heat….so that’s kept off a number of miles from my car. I do lots of work on my current ’00 Golf, it hasn’t been trouble free (but it is 21 years old, half of his Toyota) with major problem having steering rack replaced due to sudden leak, and shift cables/mechanism (undoubtedly due to being plastic which degrades quickly in sunbelt). It has left me stranded once at grocery store when ignition cylinder went and didn’t have tools to take steering column apart to bypass it..avoided being stranded when shift mechanism died by manually moving selector shaft on transaxle to 2nd gear and driving back home slowly, clutch worked fine of course just couldn’t change gears from passenger compartment. Yes, also so anal that I have spreadsheet showing every gas fill-up, oil change, tire/battery replacement, insurance, parts cost (when did it myself) and service cost (when I had someone else do it, including mounting tires on rims and even replacing my unused spare tire with a new one when the valve leaked in such a way that it had to be replaced, couldn’t fix by removing valve core and replacing) due to age of spare, even though it never touched pavement) and state inspection, and estimated depreciation (pretty much total after 21 years).
Despite having been driven from my home in central US to both Pacific (LA, albeit not too far north) and Atlantic (Marblehead, Ma, where my parents lived in apartment after getting married, though they are both from NE Pennsylvania, to/from which I also made a few trips), my Golf has remarkably low mileage due to mostly local trips and short commute to work/friends/parents (not much friends during COVID so only 4k miles/year)..often think I have one of the oddest patterns of building mileage on my car, wonder what the insurance company might say (don’t have one of those insurance monitors installed in my car). In retirement almost 5 years I’ve reformed my prior manic driving habits and am a true geezer, even on the highway, I’m the chump everyone is passing while I’m around 55 maybe 60 or a bit more going downhill.
Forgot to mention that I’m confirmed hatchback owner, only car without was my ’74 Datsun…all 3 VWs (starting with ’78 Scirocco) also have only manual transmission ..wish my Golf didn’t have power windows/locks but couldn’t get without them, also a problem (with typical front window falling into door due to known plastic window regulator failure) and insufficient solder on power lock module causing 2/4 to stop working; just live with it not wanting to disturb window to take it apart to get to power lock module to reflow solder. So other than the automatic, that’s me (in spirit if not acually)….though I did scratch my head about lack of ABS on a 1980 Toyota….did any of them offer it back then? (even the luxury models?)
My dad is a owner of a 1980 Corolla SR5 silver just like this one. He bought it used in 1990 to make a trip from Denver to Cincinnati. The body and color is just like this but with a 5speed , ac and ps. The miles we think are about the same as this 250-260k miles the speedometer is not accurate. He had the engine rebuilt in 1995 but the guy who did the machining sis not do a good job. The oil pan gasket leaked and just ran rough. But the carb was not rebuilt or the fuel system was not redone, so that maybe a some of the problem. One good thing about the car the car has been garaged do it’s body is in good shape, but the interior needs some serious work. When my dad did work on it he used nothing but genuine Toyota parts and the transmission was replaced in the same time period, the input shaft bearing went kaput. He did have a tough time finding it but he still lepti the old one to hopefully get it rebuilt. I would like to restore it to factory condition and just show it from time to time. These cars are rare anymore so I think it’s a survivor car that disserves the attention.