Another fine car shared with us courtesy of Triborough, this Corolla demonstrates both the changing of fashion and trends which just won’t die. We all know that the second generation Corolla was one of the famed cars of the Japanese invasion, and how it’s arrival coincided with buyers’ changing tastes; I’m not talking about that story. Rather, it seems that old Japanese cars are finally reaching the mainstream of automotive cool, outside of the tuner scene, and this sedan is an excellent example.
Unfortunately, as that vinyl wrap on right corner of the hood shows, that means an unfortunate crossover between this sort of appreciation and the hipster demographic. It wasn’t enough this car’s owner to put Sailor font on the hood, he also had to also plaster “Brooklyn” all over that section of the bodywork. Very corny.
Still, I’ll give its (likely) over-tattooed owner a free pass for keeping this car so presentable. Maybe there are even a few bonus points in order since, among E20 Corollas, it’s the coupes and wagons which get all the attention. Seeing as this car resides in that artificially created center of faddish convention, expect old Japanese tin to find its place alongside Volvo 240s in front of midwestern art galleries and coffee shops in coming years.
However this wider appreciation comes to pass, though, at least it’s happening. Japanese cars were my first automotive love and it’s time they move out of the shadow of Super Street and the Fast and Furious franchises. Even without the 1600 engine, there’s a lot of enjoy about this machine in its current unmodified state (although when it comes to an automatic-equipped slug like this, a conservative restomod wouldn’t go unappreciated).
There’s a lot of Coke-bottle detroit influence in the design, along with some then-typical Japanese filigree, but its shrunken proportions make it undeniably cute. Even the ’80s-vintage alloys fail to spoil the effect.
I don’t have an experience with any Corolla before the front-drive era, so it’s hard to think of much more to say about this one, but some more seasoned CC-ers have done it justice in the past. In a very odd sense, this E20 has come full circle, previewing the tastes of average motorists forty-ish years ago and of today’s upcoming vintage enthusiasts.
Related reading: 1971 Corolla coupe and 1971 Corolla wagon
First my middle son the advertising major, and now Perry – everyone in my life seems to be complaining about an inappropriate use of fonts. I feel so, well, old and practical.
This is one of those cars I wish I had paid more attention to when they were plentiful. Too late now. And the automatic would probably take it out of my consideration anyhow. So I will be a contrarian and give the owner my blessing to plaster the little thing with whatever font he likes for his next wrap-job. 🙂
I think the hood decal is a lot less offensive than the wheels – those just don’t look right from any angle, whereas the font could be mistaken for a period-correct quirk.
In any case, it’s a cute little car overall.
Ahhh, another Brooklynite who registers their vehicle with their friends or relatives in PA. Perhaps those rims are the only matching quartet that could be located in good condition? When I still lived in Central New York I noticed a number of older vehicles being imported from more car friendly places in the U.S. of A and I would say most of them were probably not hipsters.
For the record, this was found on the Lower East Side right off of Bowery.
I see!
I always see this car parked around that neighborhood, but I don’t think it lives there. 1970s Corollas have apparently become rare enough that when I first spotted it and was trying to pin down the year via Google, one of the first results was the owner’s blog (which has nothing to do with cars). He is apparently famous on the internet for owning lots of sneakers or something like that, and definitely not a hipster. More like a blipster or hiphopster, if anything.
Same car last August before it had vinyl graphics on the hood, probably with a trunk full of wavy ass limited edition Jordans, yo:
A hipster is a hipster. Care to share the blog?
I looked and couldn’t dig it up, think it may have vanished… or else it just doesn’t have the Corolla pictures on it anymore. I can’t remember anything else about it besides lots and lots of sneakers!
I met the owner briefly, he works at one of the sneaker or fashion shops within sight of the New Museum. Not the beardy hipster you might expect, seemed like he was up on his cars. I think he said the wheels were off a 1980.
To an Aussie it looks weird to see one of these as a four door sedan. We got every other bodystyle – and no 1600 engine either, worse luck. 🙁
Yes combine that with the 5mph bumpers and I didn’t immediately think Corolla when seeing the photo. It is quite rare now to see this generation of Corolla still on the road, until you compare their numbers to other types of 40 year old car that is! Keeping the same basic running gear for another 10 years helps immensely I expect.
That’s surprising given that Australia’s (in)famous for only getting four-door versions of everything.
Speaking of fonts, I’d keep the “Automatic” script badge even after the 4A-GE/5-speed swap…
Yikes! Good thing this one’s a lightweight (see next entry above).
My parents had one of these for one year from new. Simply put… a dog.
Back in the day, when my friends and I were graduating from our bicycles to cars (usually a loaner from the folks), this was one of the first cars me and my buddies cruised in. Troy turned 16 first, so we got to pile in his Dad’s red ’74 Corolla 2 door sedan, a strippo with a 4-speed. Troy literally thrashed that car within inches of it’s mechanical life, and our mortal lives as well. That car was bullet-proof!
1970s Toyota 1600cc engine + clutch = happiness.
1970s Toyota 1600cc engine + slushbox = misery.
The same rule applies with anything American with four cylinders from the 70s or 80s. Only the scale slides downward with the upper end being tolerable and the lower end being excruciating.
I second that. My first car was a ’74 Pinto had a stick and it was a ball to drive. The ’73 slushbox Pinto I bought after I destroyed the ’74 was a pig.
Did drive briefly (before my avatar arrive in Honolulu in March of 1980), a rented Corolla 2-door which was a four-speed, 1200cc model. Not bad . . . . no race car, but decent scoot which with the stick, gave you the ability to drive a slow car fast.
even with standard… still a dog.
The wheels are obviously not stock, but they’re not so big as to look out of place (especially with what look like 70- or 75-series tires). Considering the awful-looking wheelcovers that were standard on so many Japanese cars of this vintage, I’d call ’em a wash aesthetically.
It’s rare to see an early Corolla in such good shape that hasn’t been restomodded in some ostentatious way, so it’s too bad it has the odd wrap.
Unless it’s modified a lot, an E20 sedan is the sort of car that encourages you to drive like a little old person. The suspension is very soft (except on the SR5 coupes), the tires are skinny, and the steering is vague. Fortunately, the engine is sufficiently neutered by the automatic that there’s no particular risk of getting yourself in trouble. In general, the driving experience is in the same vein as the early Ford Falcon: a small car endeavoring to feel like a big car that shrank in the wash rather than a junior sports car.
I don’t know that that’s even a criticism; the Corolla was designed that way very much on purpose and it sold like mad, so it would be fair to call that a feature rather than a bug.
I agree about the wheels; I even kind of like them. I can’t place the car they came off of, oddly. They’re not from the E90s, but I can’t figure out what E80s they belong to and I don’t think they’re from a Tercel.
+1 on the wheels. Wouldn’t be my first choice, but I don’t think they look bad or especially out of place at all.
They look to be 5J-13 alloys from a 1986 or 1987 AE86 Levin or Trueno GT APEX, although this car’s tires look to me like 165 or 175/70R13; the GT APEX had fatter 185/70HR13s.
My impression is that at any given time, Toyota had an assortment of alloy wheel designs in various sizes and even if a particular style wasn’t standard fit, you could order it as a dealer option or pick it up from the parts counter. In any case, these do appear to be Corolla wheels, albeit from a later RWD car, and they probably have the correct offset.
At least on low-level Asian cars of the 70s/80s, those wheel covers were at least metal not the horrible, dollar-store-cheap Tupperware covers found on today’s low-priced cars . . . . ever see a new ’14 Honda Fit? Mitsubishi Mirage? Base Subaru Imprezza?
I generally assume that modern wheelcovers were designed to convince people to pop for alloy wheels…
Like I said up above, I see this car around all the time and it always brightens my day. It’s the only original(-ish) E20 Corolla I’ve seen in forever. All the others are tubbed out drag cars with huge slicks, yellow paint and Mazda rotaries under the hood. The automatic is kind of a bummer, but since this car apparently gets driven around the city in godawful traffic most of the time, the convenience is a worthy tradeoff for gutlessness. I’m sure it’s still a lot of fun to drive – plus it’s gotta be super easy to park and the massive bumpers provide excellent protection for when you need to ram a car out of your way to fit!
Like Perry, I’ve long wished that classic Japanese cars would develop a following beyond 2Fast2Furious dorks. I think it actually has happened, to some degree, but almost entirely limited to SoCal. For the rest of the country, most cars like this have been in rusty car heaven for three decades already 🙁
Quite familiar with these in the day. Growing up in Northern California, I believe it was around ’74 or so that the 1200 engine went hasta la vista in the Golden State as I fondly remember looking at and almost getting a brand-new 1977 bare-bones Corolla – rubber floor mats – vinyl seats – semi-gloss black battering ram bumpers and four speed – but – with only the 1600 engine since the 1200’s became “too dirty” for California.
Friend of a friends Mom had a ’74 1600 wagon with the JATCO three-speed automatic and we rode in it and it WAS a painfully slow slug. On the other hand, buddy of mine in auto shop took delivery of a deluxe Corolla with the 1600 and five speed and that thing was zippy and a real blast.
Moral of the story – the smogger small cars of the day when automatic equipped, was a real power-zapper.
Not a Toyota fan and I wouldn’t touch that car with a 10 meter cattleprod. Now if it was an early ’70s Corona or Crown, well…
Thanks for the comments on my car and the decal on the hood to cover the scratch and dent caused by some prick while my car was parked.
Far from a hipster guys. Native Brooklyn born and raised New Yorker.
Car should get a paint job and stuff this winter.
The rims are form a 86 levin known as the ” Siete Patas ” 7 stars basically. I have a set of steelies with the center caps but am waiting to get them painted with the car and put some 2″ coker white walls on her. ISO of the OEM hubcaps
Thanks again and say whats up if you see me.
Chris Vidal