With only 19,332 miles, this 1974 Toyota Corolla 1600 Deluxe is one pampered peanut. It can be found on Craigslist, or here on the CL archive, with an asking price of $12,500 or best offer. It seems to be located in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area due to the area code on the phone number listed, but it’s listed on the Puerto Rico Craigslist. Thanks to Michael for sending in this tip!
1974 was the last year for the E20 Corolla, having come out in 1970. I can’t help but notice how huge those bumpers look compared to my former 1971 Corolla 2-door wagon. Mine wasn’t in this mind-blowing condition, though. This car has been for sale in the last few years, I ran across a listing from 2014 where it sold for $13,100!
This bodystyle is the TE21, a variation of the E20 which was the second-generation Corolla line. In the late-summer of 1974, the E30 Corollas came out and the early 1974 E20s get confused with the E30s. You can see where this car got its nickname: Peanut. This is a two-door sedan body and it’s unusual enough to be awkwardly “cool”, but personally I prefer the coupe bodystyle.
The seller says that this car “is in mint condition all original” and it sure looks perfect. Well, other than having an automatic transmission. Mint is mint is mint, but that automatic hurts this car in so many ways, in my opinion. Apparently it didn’t hurt for this seller who is, I’m assuming, the one who paid $13,100 for it four years ago. The interior is seriously nice, what I wouldn’t have given to have my car look this nice.
This is Toyota’s 2T-C 1.6L inline-four with around 102 hp. It has to be one of the nicest and most original engines left in an E20. I had the 1.2L with 73 hp and it did not have enough power for me. This engine would have been great in a 1,600-pound car. Or, let’s say that it would have been better, maybe not great! I’m assuming that this car runs and works as perfectly as it looks. With some detailing this engine could look as museum-quality as the rest of this car does. The asking price will no doubt cause quite a stir among the Barn Finds family of readers, or most of you anyway. Have any of you owned an E20 Corolla?
I had a rusty one with a four speed that ran like a top! to bad this one has an automatic otherwise in beautiful condition, the 2T-c is a great running engine! bought for a hundred dollars drove it for two years then sold it for a twenty dollar profit!
Looks like the rear end was designed by a SAAB employee. Terrible!
Scotty, thanks for the “pampered peanut” phrase. I laughed.
Really interesting hub cap design, like nothing else I’ve ever seen.
It’s known as ‘Traditional Japanese Bizarre’, Rex…
This model looks a lot nicer sans the US-spec 5 mph bumpers.
One of my high school teachers bought a used 75 Corolla and drove it for years until it could no longer pass the Massachusetts state safety inspection due to the body rusting out but the engine kept plugging away. He told me about it after recently running into him by chance. He’s long since retired and he misses “Rumble Guts” as he called it.
I learned to drive stick on an 80 Corolla SR-5 hatchback, fun little cars! I’m shocked at the asking price, but I guess that’s the direction things are going.
I learned to drive stick in a Datsun F10, if anybody remembers those.
I do! The battery was in the back compartment, right?
Nice little car, but yikes! This probably went for about 2400.00 brand new.
Nice little car. I did some checking and in this case it looks like the price of peanuts would’ve been around 2800 dollars in 1974. That’s 14,900 in today’s money.
If that’s the case and the seller gets his price, he would have owned this little jewel for around 2400 dollars all these years.. a mere 5 bucks a month!
Of course there would’ve been other expenses involved during that time; but, as for purchasing the car itself, this amounts to a very small investment. Interesting to consider.
In my early 20’s (around 1980) I was buying and flipping cars, and I flipped one like this but yellow and with small bumpers. The body was OK except for the doors, which were completely rusted through on the lower part. Back then you could get a pair of doors from the local yard for peanuts, so I got ’em, painted it , fixed a carb issue and made a profit.
They may have been boring, but they sure were slow…
Very nice car but If it gets totaled Insurance will only give you what the car was valued at in 74′. I had a 72 corona with 34000 on it and a lady on the phone turned. Right in front of me. At 45mph they. Gave me 2600.00 on eBay they sold for 6000.00 in 2011
We couldn’t kill these in the mid 70’s….my buddies tried….tough car right there….
Just think of all the actually cool cars you could get for this money…
Given its condition and its originality, I’d say it’s well worth the asking price. As long as parts are still available.
I owned a 74 1600 2TC motor 4 speed zero rust white with the blue striping on the side. I was 16 and that car was radical. Back in the 80s drifting was called fishtailing and power slides or E-Braking. That car would do it, do not recommend it fully loaded though, we derimmed one of the rear 13″ tires. Miss that little thing.
I own one that is in close to mint condition with only 40k miles. It gets a lot attention when I take it out for a drive during the summer months. Bought it 5 years ago from the original owners
Given its condition and originality, assuming parts are still available, I’d be willing to pay the asking price. However well built a car may be, you have to take it for service if you want to keep it running safely.