Being the former owner of two Toyota Corolla’s (a 1977 and a 1991), I can attest to their reliability and toughness. Sure, they weren’t sexy, but if you needed a no-nonsense second car that never left you stranded, you couldn’t beat them. I put a lot of miles on both and sold the ’91 Corolla to my nephew as his first car. He took it to college with him and drove it for several more years. You just couldn’t kill “Yoda” as he called it. This one got my attention since I’ve never seen a 1988 Corolla that you could put in the time capsule category. It’s in great shape for a 38-year-old car with only 19,983 original miles on the clock. It’s located in the rock ‘n roll city of Cleveland, Ohio and is for sale here on Facebook Marketplace for $13,500 or best offer. A special thanks to JDC for sending this Toyota Time Capsule our way.
As is fairly common on Marketplace ads, the information and description of this Toyota by the seller is, shall we say, “skimpy.” All that is shared in the listing is:“1988 Corolla FX 1.6L Less than 20k original miles. AC and heater works perfectly. $13,500 obo.” The Corolla was redesigned for 1988 and front-wheel drive or four-wheel drive replaced the previous generation’s rear-wheel drive. The Corolla came in a range of body styles and trim levels and this is a well preserved example of an FX hatchback coupe. The Metallic Blue paint is shiny and very presentable and the rubber bumpers, trim, glass, and lenses appear to be in great shape. This little coupe has spent a lot of time indoors based on its condition.
The blue cloth interior on this FX looks very similar to my ’91 Corolla. Nothing fancy, but long-lasting and, like its drivetrain, pretty indestructible. Photos are limited, but the seats and door panels appear to be in very good condition for their age. The seller shares that the car’s AC and heater work perfectly and I’m spotting a floor mounted shifter for the Corolla’s automatic transmission.
For some unknown reason, there are no photos of the Corolla’s engine bay. The seller says it has a 1.6-liter, inline 4-cylinder engine. I’d like to know the story behind its low mileage since this Corolla’s only been driven 19,983 miles in 38 years. One might expect low mileage from a 4-door sedan, but not a 2-door hatchback. So, what do you think? Sure, the $13,500 asking price is up there, so the seller may have to settle for a best offer, depending on how anxious they are to get the Corolla time capsule off of their driveway.
Listed a year ago!
Length of time on market highlight a lack of interest and/or an unrealistic price. Unfortunately, cars without a strong following are price dependent, potential buyers will just wait for another inexpensive car to come along. This may be nice, but there are a lot of options at or below the asking price.
Steve R
Imported from Fremont,California.
That’s a lot of money for that.Maybe if it were an FX 16 GTS.
Definitely, if you wanted a car to get you there and back, the Corolla did it in spades. The things will dissolve in rust before they die, rust is the only reason you don’t see them any more.. About this car, it is overpriced and it’s pretty obvious that odo has been fiddled with.
Tell me more about the odometer please.
The numbers don’t line up. Look at the leading zero.
That’s absolutely untrue and, no, I am not the seller nor do I know them. That is the oldest BS in the world about “numbers lining up”. If you can’t tell that this is a 20K mile car then you really don’t have any business being in the old car hobby.
Just curious since you obviously know much more about the old car hobby than I do, how can you tell this is definitely a 20k mile car based on those few pictures? I’m genuinely asking because I don’t see the engine,pedals, steering wheel, dash, seats. I only see some shiny paint and clean wheels. I see a long distance shot of the interior, but can’t make out anything in detail.
Been a while since seeing one of these in Michigan. Looks to have belonged to a more mature driver.
i don’t get where people think that these plain old drivers are worth a mint because of the miles. this is the 2nd 1 today. 4k tops regardless. it’s a 28yr old hooptie nobody drove.
This the type of car that manufactures should be making today.
I agree 👍
Agree completely. The industry was heading the right way in the 80s. What happened? Suddenly the roads are full of bloated pickup trucks and SUVs sucking down 4 dollar gas.
Probably a combination of regulatory overreach and a changing buyer. The push for ever more aerodynamic efficiency created a jellybean car that was lower to the ground and harder to load and enter/exit. When people saw the small SUV it resonated with them. But now with stricter safely requirements, all vehicles are larger than ever. Add to that the technical advancements that would have made the 80s cars quicker and more fuel efficient just became a new horsepower race. It was like blood in shark infested water. Unless we’re willing to accept another malaise era that produced this car you’ll never put the genie back in the bottle.
That change took decades, consumers drove most of that change. In that time station wagons were replaced by minivans, which were later replaced by small SUV’s, which have grown larger than midsized SUV’s of 15 years ago. The same has happened with “compact” cars and trucks, they have done nothing but get bigger over time. There have been economical cars and trucks, but sales didn’t support further production and updated models.
You can say the same about houses, I grew up in a 1,200 square foot house with a good sized back yard, nowadays houses start around 1,700 square feet with little to no yard. You can keep going, TV’s, computers, phones, waistlines, everything is getting bigger, consumers aren’t happy with stripped down “entry level” products anymore.
Steve R
I just knew that this would be an automatic. Always seems that the nicest ones are autos.
If mileage is a concern, a CarFax could go a long way to answering that questions, rather than arguing about it.
Grandma special! Seller overpaid and wants the buyer to cover shipping costs too. This is maybe $6500 on its best day at a Toyota enthusiast convention.