The Corolla is an icon and a living legend, thanks to the impeccable reputation it has been cultivating since…1968. Here’s where it all started, in the US, and R&T put it to the test. Their sub-title “Of admittedly limited utility for U.S. driving” is a bit odd, as it had at least as much utility for US driving as the VW Beetle did, in terms of coping with the generally higher speeds commonly driven here. And it did that at a lower price; a mere $1650 ($13k adjusted to 2021 dollars).
The reality was that there simply wasn’t a better car for the money, which explains why the Corolla was a hit almost immediately, becoming the key coffin nail in the two best selling imports of the time, the VW and the Opel Kadett. And of course, this generation was just a starting point; from small acorns grow mighty oaks.
Well yes, 1077 cc and 60 hp was a nit modest for US standards, although that was seven more hp than the VW, which made it quicker from 0-60 (17 sec.). The Corolla’s five-bearing four was smooth, although it did develop a boom above 4200 rpm, which translated to 63 mph in top gear. That was a common issue with just about all small cars back then, although the Beetle’s balance boxer four avoided that issue, but its blower did get noisy too.
The gearbox and clutch came in for praise, which was good since they needed to be used often. Handling was termed “fun”; neutral under virtually all cornering conditions. The ride was pretty good too, considering its conventional suspension (struts at front; leaf springs and live axle at rear) and its very light weight of 1640 lbs.
The Corolla left a very strong impression by virtue of its quality of finish and build. The paint was flawless, interior trim was “businesslike” but of good quality. And the list of standard items, including a locking gas cap, whitewall tires, full wheel covers, cigarette lighter and even a two-speed heater blower was deemed “impressive”. Times change…
R&T summarized the Corolla in these terms: “Straight-forward, well built and finished, fairly comfortable, very quiet, exceedingly goo-looking and great fun to drive hard…noisy above 63 mph.” Sounds like the makings of a winner.
Even as a die-hard vintage Toyota fan, it took me some time to gain respect for these first Corollas. Seemingly all utilitarian, and boring even by Japanese standards. No exposure to these either, because when I started acquiring an interest in cars, these were presumably long gone from the streets here in Minnesota, but I’m not so sure there were many around here to begin with; I’d imagine there was only a fraction of Toyota dealers relative to VW in the states around 1970, so if you think about that it really makes the Corolla’s rise to success seemingly overnight all the more respectable. These were refreshingly clean, simple designs (overtly quirky wasn’t a Japanese hallmark yet, shovel nose Corona aside) that I feel have aged with grace. (Un?)Ironically, the GM T-Car Opel Kadetts of 1973 suspiciously look a lot like this generation Corolla, particularly the Fastback coupe and four door sedan body styles. One of my favorite things I’ve learned about these cars over the years was the theme they ran with in naming the colors; Aphrodite and Pan white, Juno, Ares, and Athene gray, Pluto beige, Selene yellow, Helios and Apollo red, Diana olive and Tantalus green, Zeus and Dione blues, and finally, Neptune turquoise. Charming.
The interesting thing about the Corolla is that it was not initially a boring or conservative car for Japan. Its principal home market rival was the original Datsun Sunny 1000, but the Corolla had a bigger engine with a bit more power, more options, a little smidgen of sportiness (bucket seats! floor shifter!), the whole bit. It was aimed at people who were just starting to be able to afford a new car, and who couldn’t afford a Corona or Bluebird, but could be persuaded to want something more than a kei or a Publica.
Obviously, it wasn’t an aspirational product in the U.S. market in the same way, but it was conceived with the idea that it would be a little extra deluxe-y within the standards of its class.
Options include the 2-speed Toyoglide automatic transmission (which we will try later) and air conditioning, of all things.
Factory AC? If so that would have been very impressive for a subcompact import. Famous Toyota factory reliability instead of a kludge dealer install.
The test car did 0 to 60 in 17 seconds. I’d think it would have been very sluggish with automatic or AC, much less with both.
A ’68 Beetle with a manual transmissions did 0-to-60 in about twenty seconds. It was only available with dealer-installed AC which bogged it down considerably, made servicing the engine much more difficult, and its reliability was dependent on the skill level of the installing dealer tech. But in some parts of the US air conditioning is absolutely necessary. Factory air in a Corolla would have been an impressive selling point in Phoenix or Houston.
Ooh, I don’t know about that. Good odds it was a POE (port-of-entry) system made in America by the likes of Frigi-King or one of the others; that’s how A/C tended to get installed on a giant range of imported cars at that time.
The POE/dealer installation of A/C may or may not be true because it was a separate under dash unit, but it most certainly was a factory-fit option in Japan from jump specifically designed for the car by then known as Nippondenso, who started off as a fully owned subsidy of Toyota. At minimum it wasn’t a random “this’ll do” outsourced tack-on job if your dealer wasn’t sleazy and pulling a bait and switch with the real thing.
Interesting to see the comments about engine life based on a projection from experience with European cars. I’d assume it didn’t pan out, although not least because the body would rust out long before the engine needed a rebuild as was my experience with a beater ’80 Corolla in the ’90s.
@Roader; My first guess would be port-installed AC; most likely bought-in components from a US supplier but tested, standardized and checked by Toyota USA to avoid complications from different dealer kludges.
I bought a used ’75 Corolla with the 1600 engine. Noisy as hell, but well built, reliable, got me thru college and first few years of my career. By this time, the reputation of Toyota as solid, reliable cars was spreading and I sold it in 1984 for more than I paid for it in 1977.
A few of observations. My first car was a 1974 E20 Corolla, so a little bigger than the E10. It had exactly the same booming drone at exactly 100 km/h. That is the speed limit on Japanese expressways, which may have something to do with it.
I have never seen a smog pump attached to a Toyota K or T series motor and it dwarfs it.
Toyota has been using the Corolla brand since 1966. When a car buyer wants a good, reliable, the Corolla is a go-to safe bet. Contrast that with GM. There is zero continuity in its model names. Ford and Chrysler do the same.
Thank you for posting this. I had the version of this test from the 1969 Annual. They condensed it a little and left out all of the 3rd page pictures. probably to fit the print layout.
Around 1970 a friend had access to a Corolla as part of his summer job, and he put on a fair amount of mileage though New Brunswick & Nova Scotia.
Of course he was made fun of, but I remember his adamance that it was a great little car. Most of us didn’t really believe him – the ‘toy’ in Toyota was hard to get past in those years.
More than a little anti – Japanese sentiment in the U.S.A. back then, the VW Beetle got a pass more often than not but so many Veterans hated anything Japanese .
Those were indeed great little cars if very rust prone .
-Nate
That triggered a childhood memory for me from the 1950’s, when it was still common to see cheap metal toys stamped ‘Made in Occupied Japan’. 🙂
I never saw anything with this printed on it, but during this time and for a while afterwards it was common for cheap tin toys from Japan to be made out of recycled tin cans. The outside of the toy would be what had previously been the inside of the can and the inside of the toy would still have the printing from the original can on it. Usually the printing was in Japanese, but when I was kid in the 1960s I had a cheap tin toy car and when the bottom was pried off, we could see that it had been made out of a Hamm’s Beer can.
Oh yes ~ the occupation .
Many younger folks do not grasp how important it was for the U.S.A. to occupy and rebuild Japan and Europe after WWII .
I have a nice set of binoculars with leather case that are marked “MADE IN OCCUPIED JAPAN” .
I also remember in the late 1950’s taking apart those cheap tin toy cars (lithographed IIRC) and seeing American brand names painted on them .
I remember these very well : https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=1968+toyota+corona ~ super cheap and small but extremely well screwed together, not really sturdy enough for the average American driver who thrashed them mercilessly and they had close to zero rust protection but they were indeed great little cars, I still find them good looking .
-Nate
The larger, although still small, slant-front Toyota Corona had been available since 1965 and had established a reputation as a good solid reliable little car when I was growing up.
I didn’t really see the point of the Corolla when it came along for 1968, being even smaller than the already small Corona. Of course, they would both grow into larger, arguably more practical, cars. The Corona was replaced by the Camry in the U.S. market.
Very cool! I sold my 1973 Corolla Levin coupe earlier this year which I regret a lot. It was a 4 speed manual with a pair of twin carbs. Atleast I drive a nice third gen Firebird now, a pretty cool car in Europe.
This brings back memories! My first car was a 1969 Corolla, which I bought slightly used in 1971. $1100, a dollar per CC. I was 17 at the time. It really was a good car; Road and Track described it well. I did get rather bored of it though after a while. My next car was a 1968 Cougar XR7. A bit more fun!