(first posted 8/21/2013) No, this Corolla is not the first generation of that long line; this is the very first picture in my first series of many files I’ve shot of curbside classics. I did shoot a few individual cars that I’d run into before, but starting with this one, it became official: I was now a car stalker, and every old car I saw was now my prey. So perhaps it’s fitting that the very first one was an old Corolla, as that car certainly qualifies as one of the all-time Eugene-mobiles. And just how many old Toyotas have I shot since this one?
I’m not exactly sure, as my meticulous record-keeping went on extended vacation about six or eight months ago. My notebook shows 127 Toyotas, but there have probably been about 40-50 since. That still doesn’t top Chevys in my book, as I’ve got closer to 250 bowties in the can. Of course, the are a lot of Chevys from the sixties and earlier around, unlike Toyotas.
But once we get into the seventies, Toyotas quickly rival the number of Chevies, although I’m trying to turn this into either a scientific poll, or an editorial. But let’s just say that I know of at least four Corolla Liftbacks just like this one on the streets; I could take you to them. But I’d be harder pressed to find a comparable number of Nova Liftbacks of the same vintage; of course in another town that would be a different matter.
Facts: these were the E30, or third generation Corollas, and arrived for the 1975 MY (I’m calling this a ’76 arbitrarily). The big change, in addition to being just bigger, was the option of a substantially larger an much more powerful 1588 cc 2T-C engine, supplanting the rather week-chested 1200. The 1600 had an alloy hemi-head, was rated at 102 hp, and turned Corollas into just about the briskest car in its class. And the fact that the 2t-C engine went down in history as one of the best of its kind was icing on the cake. But it explains why so many of this vintage are still around.
I know that rust eliminated these in those evil salt-using states, but these were tough little numbers. And I say that from exposure to a number of them. My BIL had one that he kept going for a ridiculously long time; it was yellow–like so many of its kind–and we used to joke that that shade of Toyota yellow made the cars that wore it indestructible. This one looks like its been the beneficiary of someone’s paint sprayer, or maybe just a can of touch-up. Rust repair? Ha! Nobody around here would have a clue as to how to do that.
This one has obviously lived around here for a while, as the local flora is starting to grow on it. That lichen is even color-coordinated. Maybe this could be the start of a new trend in paint.
Of course, its been a couple of years since I shot this, and now I’m intrigued as to whether it’s still on the road. I’ll keep an eye out…it could then be my first and last.
A CC milestone of monumental importance. Excuse me while I pop a champagne cork. Oops, better not at work.
As noted, these have become extinct in the midwest, and I have not seen one in ages. These are the kind of cars I miss – basic, simple, high quality. The kind of car that, as it aged, became great cheap wheels (both to buy and to own) for the young and the broke.
And just for Kevin Martin, THIS is the color that makes me rolf. 🙂 But on a car like this, I could just about live with it.
Definitely one of the neat Toyotas. I seem to remember one or two of them showing up at the autocross course. They were definitely considering to have sporting pretensions back in the day.
I always believed that the hatch design was too long, heavy and big on this vehicle. While practical over the sedan – it was never a good look. It didn’t look sporty, it looked like it got hit by an iron, flattening out the rear.
For me they were more of a classic shooting brake than typical fastback. It was a fresh look and the car reminded me of the 1800ES.
You must have really hated the Honda Aerodeck.
No – that works. The roof was longer with the C pillar beginning behind the rear wheel well, like a station wagon. The Liftback’s C pillar begins over the wheel well, adding visual weight to the hatch.
The Honda looks neat and cleanly 80’s, while the Toyota looks sloppy and wierdly 70’s.
But this little car could hold full size sheets of plywood because of that long hatch (closed). A poor man’s pickup
These Corollas were really popular in my neck of the woods. When I see one now I think three things: Liftback, SR5 and Accord.
Liftback because everyone was hatchback crazy around this time. The GM X-bodies had just added the feature and it was interesting because the hatch and non-hatch versions looked identical. Usually the hatch was a little sportier looking, like on this Corolla and the Mustang II. Ford had just re-done the Capri to give it a hatch.
SR5 because I believe the ’76 Corolla was the first Toyota (may be wrong) to offer the SR5 trim.
Accord because of an article I remember reading in my Dad’s R&T. The first paragraph said something like… “this isn’t the original opening we wrote for the car. We moved that one over to the new Accord…” So I immediately went to that review which was best car in the world stuff. But the Corolla was very well liked.
Too bad about the luggage rack on the feature car.
Maybe someone can tell me something about “SR5” Somehow, I had come to the impression that an “SR5” Toyota was a 5 speed stick model. Today, it is clearly a trim level. Was there a change somewhere along the line, or was I mistaken about what an SR5 was? (which is entirely possible).
Unless I’m mistaken, the SR5 did indicate a 5 speed stick when Toyota first started using it. I have no idea when it became a trim level but it had to be several years after the first SR5. I came really close to buying one of these in 1977-78, and yes, it was yellow. I ended up buying a VW Rabbit instead, and at this point in time I have no idea what the deciding factors were. It certainly wasn’t price as the Rabbit was several hundred dollars more. I haven’t seen one of these around here (southern Indiana) for years; I suspect that the tin worm has had its way with them.
The first SR5 was in the second-generation Corolla (I’m guessing it stood for “sport rally 5”) and I believe was the only way you could get the cars with a five-speed stick. The package was also offered on the pickup (see an entertaining TV commercial for it here — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHQvdHBq_5Y), but the Corolla was particularly impressive-looking with the bolt-on fender flares it received.
These vehicles were all over California at the time, but I can’t remember when I saw one last. It’s a shame that Toyota stupidly debased “SR5” to a trim level, and a low-end one at that.
The “5” did mean 5-speed. I had a 1976 E-5, which had a 5-speed.
It was a “trim level” or package from the beginning and the central part of that package was the 5sp but there were some other minor items included.
jpc,
SR-5 WAS Toyota’s descriptor for anything bearing a 5-speed overdrive stick. My dad and I looked at a new Hilux Pickup back in the mid-70’s…’74 or ’75, with the 5-speed.
WAS is the operating term, as Toyota abandoned that association mid-90’s. Maybe before, but that’s what a Toyota dealer told me a dozen or so years ago as I was doing a live broadcast there.
Don’t know what other trinkets came with an SR-5 besides neat little badges and a 5-speed. Probably depends on year and model.
Well, no… SR-5 was not used for anything with a 5-speed overdrive. As I wrote above, my Corolla E-5 had a 5-speed.
As I tried to note earlier, SR-5 vehicles included other addenda like (originally at least), fender flares and tape stripe packages …
Sorry, I wasn’t as clear as I meant to be. I was trying to point out that while SR-5 meant it had a 5 speed, and perhaps other goodies, it’s not correct to say that SR-5 was Toyota’s descriptor for ANYTHING with a 5 speed. One could get this gen Corolla with a 5-speed that did not have a SR-5 designation, the E-5 being a case in point.
Department of Unnecessary Hair Splitting is now closing for the night.
As I mentioned in an earlier Corolla blog, I came across a ’75 Corolla SR5 fastback for $600. It’s already been sanded for paint, and it’s all there except for the transmission. I’m VERY tempted.
Buy it paint it and flog it off boy racers are paying stupid amounts of coin for SR 5 Corollas here Corona liftbacks were a favourite over here but the climate ate the early ones and the later galvanised cars will be here forever, jdm cars rust however but still live on as rebar I deliver wet rock to cover it daily.
My uncle drove one of these until about 1994, then had a 1986 Camry, but kept the lifty moldering in the driveway for another few years, till it just disappeared one day. I should have asked him to donate it to my auto shop…
There were some pretty horrible fonts used on cars in the 70’s and the one used for the Corolla badge on the grill is one of them.
my brother had a blue one, had an intermittent no start issue. I thought it it was a smooth ride, but loose steering and poor handling are my memories of it. granted it was 13 years old by the time he bought it. Not one of my favorites.
Did service in an 81 Datsun. Had to put the truck in the shop for work. Rented one like this (but blue) from a company called “rentawreck”. It replaced the truck very well.
I could be very happy with this car today. Ran like a scalded dog and wasn’t very thirsty.
I remember seeing lots of T18 Corolla liftbacks in Aussie very few of these and in some parts of oz rust is a myth. A mechanic at the local Peugeot shop has one I shot it and its on the cohort in orange later while raiding their axle parts knowledge I found where it lives, a rare survivor.
A woman friend of mine at work (about 1979) asked me what she should buy to replace her train-wreck Mustang II. I suggested one of these, which she bought and loved. Brown and bulletproof.
Okay, ladies (if there are any present) and gentlemen, here is where I make a full disclosure:
This is the Toyota I SHOULD have bought and WISH I had bought!
In fall, 1975, I happened to stop by our local Toyota dealer in Ferguson, MO to check out a little pickup, as my buddy’s brother bought one. On the showroom floor sat a very nice, yellow Corolla SR5 hatch, just like the one in the picture.
I was taken by the yellow… I wonder why?
Anyway, I sat in the car, kinda liked it, took a test drive and even test-drove a pickup, also yellow.
Well, compared to any domestic, they drove like sports cars by comparison, in other words, I could carve corners through the various neighborhoods like nothing I have ever driven before! This was after dark and I had a blast!
I don’t recall the price on the sticker, but left the dealer deep in thought. In the end, I stuck with a domestic, as I just couldn’t quite get past the (perceived lack of) interior quality, and feared the worst about the exterior holding up. With me, I don’t care how good it runs or how many K’s of miles the drivetrain will last, or even as much about mpgs if the vehicle doesn’t look good over the long haul, because I won’t buy something that looks like a rolling bomb after a year or two due to abundantly salted St. Louis roads in winter!
What did I buy? See photo below, my Anti-Toyota!
That, my friends, is my “woulda, coulda, shoulda” account.
Of course, you had no way of knowing that this generation of Chevy pickup rusted as bad as any Toyota from that era. 🙁
Ha ha ha, JP!
When the time is right, I’ll tell my story of my less-than “glorious” two years of ownership of that truck! You’ll get a kick out of it.
That’s why I closed my account above with “woulda, coulda, shoulda”!
One day not too long ago a beautiful yellow Liftback parked itself next to my driveway. It looked like new.
I owned a ’78 just like the feature car minus the roof rack. Five years (got it as a leftover in January of ’79…probably because of the orange color) and 70,000 trouble-free miles. Traded it only because I was bored and the then-new ’84 Honda Civic was so much better (got 14 years and 144,000 trouble-free miles out of that).
I only saw a few of these still in existence on the roads here in the upper Midwest growing up, always rusted into Swiss. They sure seemed sportier than most other Toyota’s of the time, judgeing from Grandma’s old National Geograpic magazines I’d go thru to find old auto ads..
A guy I knew way back when bought one.
Coz’it looked like a Lancia HPE in his opinon
Yes, it straddles the fine line between hatchback and shooting break
The next generation of these actually had two hatchbacks, one sorta shooting break-ish and one with a more typically rakish liftback, not to mention a notchback coupe, and those three were joined by the differently-shaped Corolla sedans which also offered a 2 door notchback.
Yes, indeed they did. I had the pleasure of a new 80 or 81 SR 5 hatchback…the rakish one in a maroon-ish brown. The shooting break one was called the Liftback. Enjoyed that car very much after our family had a horrible experience with a 76 Pontiac Sunbird with the 3.8…the end of our long relationship with GM. To your point…so many Corolla body styles…I believe eventually 6 of them (including a wagon) all available with the same powertrain choices:
Shades of Lamborghini Jarama in the side profile
I had a ’78 SR-5 Liftback for 13 years. Great in a straight line; not so great on a curvy road. Only significant problem I had was water pumps: went through 5 of them. Replaced the car at 135,000 miles with a ’91 Mazda Protege LX (with the DOHC engine) – much more enjoyable to drive. Sold the Corolla to my mechanic for $100. About two years later, I had a phone call from one of my past bosses. He asked me if I had owned a silver Corolla liftback. I said yes and “why do you ask?” He responded he had just bought it from my mechanic and found a receipt (for one of the water pumps) in the glove box. He drove it for another several years.
Not to mention the 3T engine….TRD even offered a over the counter turbo kit for Corollas so equipped. IIRC, it cost damn near as much as the whole car. Me? I would have just swapped in a 18R-G and called it good.
Dad was a WWII vet and always bought Detroit iron. However, he was sooo irritated with his ’74 Mercury Comet, he eventually replaced it with a Toyota Corolla identical to the above in the same color based on his experience with a Toyota Corolla he had received as a company car. With two Toyotas in the driveway, we knew Detroit had pissed off another diehard.
That was a popular “Corolla” color in those days!
My former SIL had this same ’76 liftback Corolla, in yellow, for a very long time. From new to about age 14. Complete with the requisite cargo cinder blocks for winter traction. Somehow, she kept the salt worms partially at bay in Pennsylvania for most of those years. I recall her relating that the driver’s seat broke partially through the floor as she pulled into the Ford dealers’ lot on Escort trade in day.
I have a funny story about the inside of this specific vehicle.
I was a transporter for Hertz in 1977 and 1978 when these were around, and Hertz had some (though Toyotas weren’t exactly common in our fleet back then, we did have some, along with a Datsun (510, the late 70’s version, not the early 70’s one). All of ours were automatic (though I have since rented a car, coincidently a Toyota Starlet with a manual domestically). I remember there being a green colored spotlight that shown down onto the automatic shift quadrant from the instrument panel on the car (not sure why but it stayed in my mind, I’m kind of odd like that).
Fast forward to 1983, completely different location (1900 miles away) I had a co-worker who had one of these, except his with a manual. I asked him if there was a light that beamed down from the dash onto his manual shift lever, and he said there was. Apparently Toyota didn’t delete the light for manuals (not sure how common manuals were but in 1977 they were more common in imports than they are now by far). A rare lack of attention to detail; they could have saved the cost of the light, plus the confusion by the driver of the manual as to why the light was there in the first place.
I’m still a big hatchback (liftbacks included) fan; wish Toyota made more of these (maybe I’d get around to owning one) though I do like they have a Corolla liftback (ex-Scion) in their lineup.