Toyota has been selling Corollassince 1966, and the E70 generation of Corolla proved to be one of the most successful in the United States. They rusted into nothingness in the oxide-prone parts of the country, but held on for decade after decade in California; here’s a used-up ’80 two-door sedan in a Northern California self-service wrecking yard.
Corolla aficionados refer to these cars as TE72s, from the first four characters on the cowl tag, and they remain popular in the drifting and drag-racing worlds.
The US-market TE72s got the rugged 3T-C pushrod four-cylinder engine, which made 73 horsepower in 1980. This one probably still worked fine when the car got discarded.
With air conditioning and an automatic transmission, this car had luxury options that few penny-pinching Corolla buyers chose. My junkyard-parts homemade boombox uses one of these Toyota A/C buttons as its main power switch.
It would have been miserably slow with the 3T-C and slushbox, but it got the job done. There’s no rust to speak of, but the cosmetic condition had deteriorated to Fully Depreciated levels.
The car’s California emissions-test history shows that it last passed a smog check in 2008. There’s plenty of moss growing on the drip rails, which indicates a long period parked and forgotten prior to the final tow-truck ride to the wrecking yard.
I can say this car spent its entire life in California because it has the correct 1980 license plate: seven yellow characters on a blue background. The famous “sunrise” license plate appeared in 1982, and the 1969-1979 yellow-on-blue plates had six characters.
Slipstream styling, more room inside, and a peppier 1.8-liter engine!
