Anybody fancy saving a FWD Corolla?

[garycox]

Hey, I'd like to see this saved from the scrapman, it's been in my family for years and I've grown quite attached to it. I don't have the space or skills to have it myself though, sadly.

 

It's a 1986 Toyota Corrolla GL Twenty (a rare limited edition to celebrate 20 years of Toyota Great Britain, it has a plaque on the dashboard to remind you of this when you're driving it).

 

The Twenty edition was similar to the GL, but with gold paint, funky stripes, alloys and an electric sunroof (manual windows though).

 

My nan bought it from the original supplying dealer (Sidcup Toyota) in 1989 after her Mk1 Escort was written off in a crash. It still has the original dealer plates and stuff. She used it until about 10 years ago when she had to give up driving due to poor eyesight. My uncle's had it since, first using it just when he needed a car larger than his Micra, but more recently after the Micra died as his only car. It's now started playing up a bit so he's bought a Nissan Note.

 

It's a 1.3 Automatic, and it's started to be pretty slow and use a load more fuel than normal. I've not really had a look at it but it's done about 111,000 miles now and although it's been well maintained I'd expect an engine rebuild/replacement might be needed.

 

The bodywork's pretty good, it's had at least one patch on the sills, one rear wheelarch has been treated and sprayed a slightly different colour, the sunroof panel's a darker gold and isn't great (but it still works fine and doesn't leak), and the top of the windscreen's been 'repaired' using some horrible bathroom sealant type stuff.

 

The interior (brown velour - pretty comfy) is in very good condition, the wheels haven't been kerbed a lot but there's a fair bit of surface corrsion. They used to look really good, but I dunno whether it's be worth refurbishing them... it'd be pretty impossibe to find another set though I expect.

 

If anybody's interested I'll get more details - there may be other faults I don't know about - nothing major though.

 

I hope it gets saved, it will be scrapped in a couple of weeks if not, and I don't really want that to happen. I really would have it myself if I had somewhere to put it. I do realise that these things are pretty worthless though, and not to everyone's taste... the price is whatever the scrapman's offering at the moment.

 

 

Anyway, a couple of pics:

 

 

 

 

It's in Welling, Kent. DA16 I think.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Thats class in a glass that. I would love it, unf however I have absloutey no place to store it. If you stick it on the bay with a BIN of £200 I bet it will wake up in Africa in a few weeks though.

[Spottedlaurel]

I've got the room, but I imagine me storing it in East Anglia won't be of much help to anybody. Regrettably I can't do anything about saving it myself right now so all I could do is provide somewhere for it to sit.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I cant get this outta my head, got visions of buying a rotten Corolla GT for a few quid and just swapping all the gubbins over.

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1986-TOYOTA-COROLLA-GT-16V-WHITE_W0QQitemZ140397239879

 

Any chance of a pic of the repairs to the sills?

[garycox]

Yeah I'll try to get one asap. From what I could see it was done a while ago and seems to be holding up OK. I'll give 'em a call and find out for sure when I get a minute.It's still MOTd at the moment - not sure how long for - and the tax runs out end of April.

[Jon]

Hey Mr Bol, that's a great idea!

 

There was a 5 door GT version but it was only sold in New Zealand and I think they only sold 200 or so, so they're really rare and quite collectable now. Here's what they looked like:

 

http://www.classiccar.co.nz/articles/classic-rice-burners-toyota-corolla-gt-154

 

I saw a tatty one last time I was there, being used by a surfer. I don't think they knew what they had but something so subtle would be right up my street. Go for it!

[Station]

I had one of these. They were great!

 

 

My OMG RWD DRIFTIN OMG ETC mate went berzerk as he thought it was one of those overvalued AE86 Corollas that go for 8k.

[Torsten2001]

pm'd!

[ifc63]

Did you find a good home for the Corolla 20 ?I was reminded of it today when looking through some old 'Toyota Today' magazines and it was announced in the Winter 1985 issue. Apparently there were only 500 done so it would be a shame to bin this one off.

[garycox]

Wow, I'd love to see that!It has, hopefully, been saved.

[ifc63]

Wow, I'd love to see that!

 

As shown at the 1985 Motorfair at Earl's Court.

 

It has, hopefully, been saved.

If not, let me know ASAP and I'll arrange to be it's saviour.

[garycox]

Thanks! Strange that it was only £6,800 new, my nan reckons she paid £6,500 for it when it was 3 years old!It was due to be collected last Monday by a certain well-known 'shiter, I've not heard anything since but I'll chuck him a PM and hopefully get an update.He may even come on here and 'make it public' if we're lucky

[Torsten2001]

Public, Public, Public!It was picked up by a mate and I'm hoping to see it and play with it this week, before it goes in for it's MOT!

[ifc63]

Public, Public, Public!It was picked up by a mate and I'm hoping to see it and play with it this week, before it goes in for it's MOT!

Well, look after it then, there's not many cars that can boast metallic beige paint (must be an upmarket pensioners special thing !)

[AnthonyG]

Excellent save! Worth it for that 'twenty' logo alone!

[Torsten2001]

It passed an MOT on the 5th but the tax has run out so it's time to go!

[garycox]

This has now appeared for sale on RR... unchanged, for £795!! Theres no way it's worth that IMO.

 

I still love this car though, I hope it doesn't get destroyed...

 

http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.c ... read=91160

[Lankytim]

id like to see one of these bozo'd

[Station]

Looks like it's been looked after so far! I don't know what bozo is, but I presume it's turning it into an absolute shed?

[Lankytim]

[Negative Creep]

Yeah but it's a JDM thing, therefore really cool

[Guest EccentricRichard]

Public, Public, Public!

 

It was picked up by a mate and I'm hoping to see it and play with it this week, before it goes in for it's MOT!

 

Well, look after it then, there's not many cars that can boast metallic beige paint (must be an upmarket pensioners special thing !)

 

Metallic beige?! I beg your pardon! It's Jewish Racing Gold! =D