Reducing the overall length of a vehicle, or the shorty concept, is one of the more radical options available for builders who want to make absolutely sure their finished product truly stands out from all the rest. It’s also one of those tricks that works wonders on all classes of vehicles, from beaters all the way up to show-quality machines. This 1972 Toyota Corolla here on Facebook Marketplace was a rather small car to begin with, so chopping more than a foot is a significant loss. Thankfully, there was also a substantial gain here, and that’s in the performance department. This unusual custom is located in Willow River, Minnesota, and the $6,250 cost sounds fairly reasonable. Rocco B., thanks for the fun tip here!
Short here also are the seller’s words in his description, but once you get into the photos, there’s quite a bit more text that sheds additional light on exactly what is going on here. Apparently, this build dates back over 40 years, with the paint being applied in 1985. The finish is now cracking, peeling, and falling off, so it’s probably time to perform another cosmetic redo on the exterior. The good news here is that there’s not much mass, so based solely on the size, it shouldn’t be a huge task to strip the finish off and start over. Besides having a 14-inch section of the body removed, there aren’t many other details provided regarding the actual chop.
For a build like this, choosing an aluminum 1962 Buick 215-cubic-inch V8 sounds like a wise decision, as it was a lightweight block to begin with. The seller reports that it was bored .030 over and produces 200 horsepower, and it’s paired with a 5-speed manual sourced from a 1976 Oldsmobile. There’s some sort of noise coming from the transmission, but it’s said to operate fine despite the sound. Outback, there’s a rear end from a 1959 Pontiac with 3.23 gears inside.
We only get to see one photo of the interior, but it’s enough to show that quite a few custom details went into the inside area as well. There’s nothing particularly elaborate, but it seems to work well with the rest of this build, and the condition remains pretty decent in here for the most part. One of the supplied photos shows text indicating the seller initially asked $10,000, and with the price already down to $6,250, I think he’s probably serious about his proclamation that cash talks. What are your thoughts on this shorty Corolla?
Wonder how fast it is over the 1/8 mile…
It needs some really long wheelie bars. It reminds me of a toy wind-up dog that does backflips. The next owner could go full gasser for some added danger.
Got to be squirrelly-definitely will gather a few car nuts..
An interesting project. I’ll bet it needs wheelie bars when you stand on the loud pedal.
Is that the fragile 5sp box from the Colonnade era ?
Did the guys get up the next day and ask each other ” How much did we drink last night while we were working on that Corolla?”
Much like the early abomination (the 1960 Ventura), just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should.
Nobody in their right mind would ever attempt this modification for any other reason than the fact that they could.