Small Survivor: 1978 Toyota Corolla Wagon
We’ve only seen two 1978 Toyota Corolla Wagons here on Barn Finds over the years, maybe because they’ve all rusted away by now or had some other issue. They made quite a few of them so that would be my guess. This one can be found listed here on eBay in the Emerald City: Seattle, Washington. The current bid price is $3,150 but the reserve isn’t met.
I’ve mentioned far too many times that my first car was a 1971 Toyota Corolla E20 two-door wagon, and that it was rusty and I had to rebuild the engine in the first few months, but I loved that car. You always love your first car, don’t you? I can’t find another one, they’ve all gone to the big graveyard in the sky by now, sadly. It was $400 and that seemed cheap even in 1980, but that’s about $1,500 now.
This generation of Corolla (an E38) was made for North America from 1974 for the 1975 model year, until the end of the 1979 model year. The third-generation Corolla put Toyota on the map in the U.S. and was their first really big foot-in-the-door here. They seemed to be everywhere until the 1990s and then they all but disappeared. It’s nice to see a seemingly solid example again. The seller includes some partial underside photos but it’s hard to tell the condition from those images.
The interior looks pretty nice, much nicer than mine was. My interior was black and this tan color would have been nice instead. Thankfully, there’s a T50 five-speed manual transmission in this car. My car had a four-speed and it really needed another gear. The seller has included many great photos, including detailed shots of the pedals and all sorts of closeup images, please check them out in the listing. They even folded the perfect-looking back seat down to show the rear cargo area with the rear seat up and with it folded down. Not many sellers take the time to do those things. You can see rust in the cracks and crevices so this isn’t a jewel by any means, but compared to most, it looks like a good example.
The engine is Toyota’s 2T-C, a 1.6-liter OHV inline-four with around 75 horsepower and 83 lb-ft of torque when new. It sends power to the rear wheels and depending on what the seller’s reserve is, this could be an interesting car to own, at least for car shows if not for around-town commuting. Have any of you owned a third-generation Corolla?
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Comments
Nice write up Scotty. My mate way back had a 2 door “roller” wagon, with a factory wind back fabric sunroof. And a mattress permanently in the back,lol.
Ah the HiCam roller, as it was badged over here. Indestructible little engines.
Glad it’s a 5 speed, but wish it wasn’t a 5 door.
Thank you, sir! What I wouldn’t give to find another ’71 two-door wagon again, they’ve all disappeared.
I know, but I have to ask, did yours also have a mattress in the back? Lol. I had a Volvo 145 at the time, with the prerequisite mattress in the back.
Wagons where cheaper than panel vans, lol.
What the?! You are a mind-reader, my friend. Actually, I just had some shag carpet back there. I wish I had better photos, this is another camera phone pic of a Kodachrome slide so it’s pretty bad quality, but you can see the carpet over the folded-up back seat.
My daughter bought one of those little wagons from a neighbor who had taken great care of it. Her first car. She drove it till it had 190,000 on it. I then drove it to work for a couple of years and then sold it to a friend with around 275,000 on the clock. He drove it till one day he jacked it up to fix a tire and only the body came up and but the subframe didn’t. He scrapped it with well over 300,000. Engine was still running strong. It was a 5 speed and great on gas.
What i would give to find a 2024 2 door NEW car that aint a “Corvette?” or other sports car. They’ve all disappeared too!
All US-market Corolla wagons starting with this generation were 5-doors. It wasn’t until the internet era that I even learned the 30- and 70-series 3 door wagons even existed anywhere in the world.
Looks like this car was recently on BaT with reserve not met at $10k. Lots of good comments and info from the seller.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1978-toyota-corolla-5/
Oh shoot, I didn’t see that when I searched for this car! Thanks for that link, Matt!
Very cool and nowadays rare find. It’s amazing with as many Japanese cars there were in the US in the 70s and 80s that we don’t see more survivors. This one looks pretty good, though I’d try to find a set of original wheels to replace those awful aftermarket things.
No surprise here, and I knew the author had personal experience with one. So did I. WHAAAA? Yep, I had a ’72 sedan, $50, and like the authors, it was a bit crude. Corollas were changing fast from our humble beginnings. As mentioned, it was the car that changed many folks opinions, yep, even Red Foreman( types) about Toyotas, and never looked back. 5 speeds were rare early on, as 4 speeds did handle 55 okay, but was soon evident, people drove a lot faster, and at 65 or 70, a 4 speed didn’t cut it. Toyota sold an amazing 1.2 million Corollas around this time, so where are they all? That fridge a hummin’ away in the corner, could very well have been a Corolla,,, nobody, and I mean NOBODY, saved a rusty Corolla, and you can’t tell me that wasn’t Toyotas plan all along. Amazing find.
Me too. My first and only new car ever was a 1972 Corolla 2 door coupe with the 1600 2TC engine (a hemi if I recall correctly). I paid $1800 and needed a 2 year loan to do so. It was white with a black interior. I eventually painted it…wait for it….Cadillac Red Siena (sort of a maroon). Put 172,000 miles on it and only had to replace a head gasket. Sold it to a neighbor for $50 (he would have paid $100). Drove the heck out of that car. Even with the 4 speed it did 70-75 with ease. My only real regret is that I didn’t buy a sportier car (MGB, TR6, Fiat 124 Spyder) like my buddy did. He paid $3K for a Spyder but his maintenance bill exceeded that over time.
I’ve mentioned my ’71 too many times for sure, but I didn’t know you had one, HoA! There was a weird design issue, I think related to being converted to left-hand drive for North America. My car used to have a problem with the arm-and-pulley system for the clutch cable bending or breaking every once in a while. With the controls being moved to the left side for the US, there was a cable from the clutch pedal that ran across the bottom of the dash to the right side and then there was a pulley on a triangular metal arm thing and it went through the firewall on that side since that’s where it was designed to go. Every now and then, that arm would bend and the clutch wouldn’t work so I’d have to take it off, reweld it, and put it back on again. I got it down to about a half-hour to do that and thankfully it never happened bad enough to leave me stranded.
I can’t say, mine was an automatic. It did have an unusual feature, the choke was manually set with a lever, but as it warmed up, the choke released itself.
I had a ’77 Corolla wagon, which I bought for $50 in 1992 from a friend. Needed a clutch job. Mine had the 4 speed and it was such a practical car. Tough, too. My friend had spent many many evenings beating the tar out of it on back roads and it just kept going. That 1.6 “hemi” engine was near-indestructible. Easy to work on, too. The downside was that it was easy to steal. I had it stolen twice, sold it, and then it got stolen from the next owner. That time, it was found on its roof on a back road, and that was that.
Nice car! The Latino crowd will jump on this if they see it. I had several old Toyota’s like this back in the day, very reliable and easy to work on. You would be surprised at how many are still around, they only come out for a car show.
I came home from the hospital as a newborn in a 1979 Corolla station wagon with the 1.8 l 4 cylinder engine in it so yeah this is a great example of a 3rd gen Corolla
I had the exact same car except mine was automatic. Great car. This one’s on the wrong coast for me, unfortunately.
Holy Moses….Ten large on “another web site” for this soup can on wheels! Money aint worth much anymore is it! To Toyotas’ credit the past forty five years have brought their offerings into the 21st century. I too was afflicted with the Corolla but a ’77 Liftback my best goil drove back then.
I’d much rather drive this than many new cars. For one, very easy to maintain, and two, it has a manual transmission and manual windows. I prefer both. EVERYTHING has those damn power windows, and it’s pretty tough to find a manual now.
Still looks good for its age. Interior looks crisp and clean. The stick would make it more flexible and enjoyable. A friend of mine had a ’74 Corona wagon that we commuted in. Automatic. Tough little car.
Bought the wife a Corolla wagon for a daily driver back in 1975. It was a 73 model. Ran great with no problems for almost two years. Eventually sold it as the rust was devouring it quickly. in DRY West Texas! Can’t imagine how very many lasted in the northern states.
Much nicer than my 1979 Corolla
Yes, I owned a 77 Corolla 4dr, puppypoop yellow, no a/c, 4spd manual and a 1.2L engine that I bought in 1992. I’m not sure how much it weighed but it must have been very light because it was fun to drive. It felt like I was driving a huge beer can (very thin doors!). I’m pretty sure it got great gas mileage but neither the speedo or odo worked so . . . ? I drove it back and forth to work while I was working on a 67 Skylark GS. About 30k miles. Took it on long drives to Dallas, Corpus and San Antonio, all from Houston. No problems. Gave it to my brother who gave it to his wife, who gave it to their son who eventually sold it for a couple hundred in 1999-ish.
I’d gladly pay that kind of money for an old Toyota. The only problem is, where would I keep it? I had a 1982 Tercel, Toyota’s first front wheel drive car and I must say that it was one of the best cars I’ve ever owned. Unfortunately here in the Midwest salt is an issue and one day when the car was 14 years old I noticed that the rear wheels were tipped in at the top. I put it on a lift and the unibody structure was badly rusted. I actually had a lump in my throat when it got towed away. It started right up in below zero weather and with the 145/R13 tires, it would traverse deep snow easily.
This killed the Beetle more than emissions requirements or anything else. Out performed it in every way.
“Sure. But when it breaks down..?”
That was not an issue for Toyota.
A friend of mine had a 75 Corolla 2 door with a 4 speed. Good, dependable little car, but it didn’t like going much over 60 mph. I began liking Toyota Corollas working as a lot attendant at a dealership in 1981. New and older, I found that they were pretty decent cars.
They could reach 100 mph, given enough runway. My friend got the speeding ticket to prove it, back in the day, in his ’77 burnt-orange wagon (1.6L, 4 speed) – the same one he sold to me! We were younger and dumber back then.
& cops patrolled back then like they were supposed to. Where are they today?
Now up to $7000, reserve still not met.
For that money they should un-tint the turn signals, sidemarkers and taillights.
Bidding ended on Sun, May 26 at 12:00 AM.
US $7,100.00
30 bids
Reserve not met
The seller has relisted this item or one like this.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266830883521