Piston Slap: Beaucoup Patience for a Worthy Corolla?

Sajeev Mehta
by Sajeev Mehta

Jeff writes:

Hi Sajeev:

I enjoy your articles advising people on what cars to buy or avoid. I have a bit of a different problem.

My mother recently passed away, and I inherited her 1989 Corolla down in Florida. She bought it used down there, it has a little over 100,000 miles on it. The car is absolutely mint, as you could imagine for a Florida car. It runs great, the AC works well, and the body and paint are in excellent condition, as is the interior – it has been kept out of the sun. Even the engine is in great condition – all the anodized parts still look as new. Plus, it doesn’t even leak. It has had regular maintenance, belts, hoses and fluids changed.

My wife and I are both taller people, and don’t fit well into the car. Plus, it doesn’t have any safety equipment to speak of, besides seat belts. I always get nervous driving on US 19 with all those Panthers and old people. At some point we would like to sell it.

I really don’t want the car to go to a kid who won’t take care of it. I would rather see it go to someone who would preserve the car, maybe a collector of Japanese cars. It isn’t costing us much to hang onto the car, so it is not an urgent issue, but I would like it to go to a good home.

I’d appreciate your thoughts and comments.

Sajeev answers:

Oh my, that’s a sweet little runner! And if you think my exuberance for a time capsule grade Toyota Corolla is unfounded, you haven’t spent much time back-to-back between one of these and one of the new Tupperware nightmares sold at Toyota dealerships.

And we all should love mundane, respectable yet ultimately desirable vehicles. If this was a 1986 Mercury Sable LS, I’d beg for the keys!

If a Lincoln-Mercury fan like myself exists, I am sure a Toyota nerd does too. Fingers crossed on that one. But I digress…

I understand the car needs to go, and I am sorry for your loss. I am touched that you won’t let the Corolla just go to anyone, because it’s true: they will ruin it. Even if they don’t mean to, because that’s how it works when a car this old/pristine/unloved enters the used car market. It isn’t a new car and it sure as heck isn’t a Pontiac Trans Am with T-tops, a big block and a 4-speed.

My advice? Hit the forums and ask for advice, starting with Japanese Nostalgic Car. Any and all Toyota forum is a good idea too. Place classified ads in all these forums too, they are usually free and you might meet some nice people to boot.

Put an advertisement in Hemmings or any other classic car publication you like. Be prepared to spend a ton of time and money (relatively speaking) for not much reward in the end. But, you know the drill, it takes beaucoup patience to sell something as worthy as a honest and clean 1989 Toyota Corolla.

Send your queries to sajeev@thetruthaboutcars.com . Spare no details and ask for a speedy resolution if you’re in a hurry.

Sajeev Mehta
Sajeev Mehta

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  • Icemilkcoffee Icemilkcoffee on Feb 15, 2012

    Back in 1989, I believe the 5mph bumper rule was still in force. So this car is tougher than the letter writer assumes. The bumper regulation was relaxed to 2.5mph from 1990 and on (hence the 'euro' bumper on the E30 BMW's)

  • Monty Monty on Feb 15, 2012

    Sajeev: Please forward my email to the OP, or send his email to me, thanks. Very interested in this car. Very. We're building a garage this summer, so we will have beaucoup spot for storage and maintenance. A great little car, not yet a collector, yet obviously has sentimental value for a lot of people, judging by the above posts.

  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
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