Junkyard Find: 1978 Toyota Corolla
I don’t know where all these Malaise Era Japanese econoboxes have been hiding prior to showing up in Denver-area junkyards, but they sure haven’t been on the street. Under tarps, forgotten in back yards and driveways? A ’74 Datsun B210 fastback the other day, and now I find this ’78 Corolla at a yard about five miles away.
These things were once among the most common motor vehicles on American streets; they were cheap, simple, and weren’t very thirsty for go-go juice. Toyota’s reputation for build quality hadn’t really taken firm hold as of the late 70s, and the Corollas of this era were much flakier than those built in subsequent decades, but they were pretty decent little cars by the low standards of the time.
The Malaise Corollas were underpowered, cramped, and noisy, but keep in mind that they were competing with the likes of the Chevy Chevette, Dodge Colt, Fiat 128, and Mazda GLC.
Were I sent back to 1978 with enough money to buy a new subcompact, I’d skip the Corolla and head right to the Honda showroom for a Civic. Still, I hope at least a few of these Corollas manage to evade The Crusher’s jaws.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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where i can buy the hood !!! i really need it !! thx !!
need a 78 corolla (te31) hood , if somebody have one for sell contact me asap ! thx !! islandtouge@hotmail.com