Small Project: 1974 Toyota Corolla

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“Small Project” relates to the size of the car itself, this restoration may not be a small project, work-wise. The photos of this 1974 Toyota Corolla two-door sedan are a little unusual in that a lot of them are verticals, including the only two showing a front-3/4 view and they’re both cut off on the front for some reason. My apologies for how they look here. The seller has this rare little number listed here on eBay in Dallas, Texas and the current bid price is $1,575 but the reserve isn’t met yet.

Sigh, here’s another one, sorry. I don’t understand a lot of things – the Kardashians, putting ketchup on a hot dog, or putting a “Buy American” sticker on your foreign car. Most of all, why anyone would take vertical photos of a vehicle unless it’s a slightly used pogo stick. ALMOST ALL VEHICLES ARE HORIZONTAL! Henceforth, it shall be illegal for anyone to take a vertical photo of a vehicle again under severe penalty of law. I just made that up but if I ruled the world… (wringing hands, eyes shifting back and forth)

Hey, here we go! This is a two-door sedan and there was also a two-door coupe which had more of a sloping rear window for a sportier look – and also a wagon. The E20 Corolla sedan was made between 1970 and 1974 and it was my first car, a 1971 Corolla 2-door wagon that was already rusty in 1980 when I got it for $400. It may have been rustier than this car for sale here and it was only nine years old compared to almost fifty years old as this one is. The seller provided a couple of underside photos and there is work to do here.

The steering wheel is toast as is the dash, unfortunately, or parts of the dash. This is a factory AC car which is mind-blowing for me given how little power my car had. Although, I had the smaller 1.2L engine, this one is the 1.6 “hemi”. The back seat looks surprisingly good but the trunk is a bit scary. Still, these cars are super rare and hopefully the buyer will restore it, there just aren’t many around anymore.

This engine is what I wish I would have had in mine, it’s Toyota’s 1.6L inline four with just over 100 horsepower. That’s a reasonable amount of power for a 1,600-pound car. The seller says that it runs well but needs a new battery and brakes, and you can see the rest of the work. Have any of you owned an E20 Corolla?

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Comments

  1. angliagt angliagtMember

    I got one just like this as a loaner at the local Toyota dealer.
    It was a nice little car,with decent power.
    If the price doesn’t go crazy,this could be a good buy.The trunk
    could possibly be cleaned up.

    Like 3
  2. Jim

    Love the early Corollas, but this one is a mess. I don’t see any way of getting this back to being even a trustworthy driver without being in the red.

    Like 2
  3. Bob C.

    Amazing how far Toyota has gone since those days. They were good reliable cars, but considered very cheap compacts back then. This one probably went for about $2400.00 new.

    Like 1
  4. S

    Toyotas and all Japanese cars were rust buckets in the 1970s. We had one. It was cheap, and rusty. My dad had to get the fenders patched on our 72, then they rusted through again. ugh.

    Like 1
  5. BigcatMember

    I had a 75 E5 Coupe 5-speed no A/C same as the original color (Yellow) on this one. Great little car only issue was ignition problem, left on side of road and part was hard to get, took dealer 3 days. This was in Chicago, had Rusty Jones rustproofing (they still around?) Sold it when rust started to show up in rear fenders. Would like to find another, on my wanted list on this site for a while, no responses.

    Like 4
  6. BigCatMember

    Oops, my bad, this car was not originally yellow, yellow painted parts under hood, appear to be from accident repair.

    Like 3
  7. Jim Trook

    I worked on those at the time they were current & they were for the most part really good little cars. Simple & reliable. No electronics to mess up & get expensive. This must have been about the time that Toyota was using the advertising slogan of “Cheap to Keep”.

    Like 3
  8. Michael Yount

    The one pictured would be a TE21; the TE27 would be the “coupe” with the 2TC hemi. I raced a ’74 TE27 in SCCA in class ITC back in the late 80’s/early 90’s. Won two Division Championships in it. Created a soft spot in my heart for these — won the B.A.T. auction in Nov. ’19 and picked up a nice, restored TE21. Have been having a blast with it. To the author of the piece — they weigh more than 1600 lbs…..the minimum race weight was 1950 lbs. and that was pretty well stripped down with the roll cage adding back a few pounds. With full interior, carpets and mine is air conditioned — I’m guessing that 2050-2100 is a better number.

    Like 0
  9. 370zpp 370zpp

    Buy it for the custom “ZZ Top” steering wheel.

    Like 3
  10. Troy

    My first car was a 74 Toyota Corona it was a fun little car for what it was, it had a tire pressure monitor in a console on the headliner and the car wouldn’t start unless you’re seatbelt was fastened

    Like 0
  11. Howard A Howard AMember

    I believe Toyota turned a vital corner with these and made the name a household word. While Toyota always did offer bigger cars than say Honda or Subarus 1st offerings. Nobody took them serious until these 3rd gen (?) Corollas hit the scene. Suddenly, the guy next door ( aka Red Foreman) had one, while the Vista Cruiser sat in the garage. Everybody either owned one or knew someone that did. They weren’t the best cars, Americans got a quick lesson in what Asians drove, but as dependable as a washing machine, as with most, it was rust that took many. I too had a Corolla like this, IDK, forget the year, one of many $50-$100 beaters, it was a good little car until one of the front shock towers caved in. This one? Forget about it, with as many that were sold, got to be a nicer one than this.

    Like 1
  12. Gary Rhodes

    I had a NICE four door that hit a deer in 93. The guy gave it to me for towing it in. Bought a hood, radiator, timing belt cover and cam gear for $100.00 the same day at the local yard and had it running in a couple of hours. Grand total less than $200.00. It had a hole in the battery covering two cells. My Dad asked me if I was going to put one in and I said I want to see how long it would last. I drove it from November to late April, came out one day and the battery had died. Called my father in law and told him to bring a battery as he had bugged me about it and made $300.00 on it. He destroyed it in a year, wish I had kept it, it was like new.

    Like 0
  13. larry

    this has the 2tc eng in it you could not blow it up. sweet cars

    Like 0
  14. Scotty GilbertsonAuthor

    Auction update: this Corolla sold for $3,250.

    Like 0

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