1968 Toyota Corolla User Reviews

Overall The Best Car Ever Built! — Thank you Mr Toyoda! It honestly has handled everything that has ever been thrown at it. And yes at times things have actually been thrown at it.. Some things have been bent and replaced, some fixed, some upgraded, most of the original parts lasted 21 years or longer, once I had to start using aftermarket parts, water pumps, starters, etc they go out a lot more often. I replaced the lights in the dashboard when they were about 40 years old, they were still working but getting dim, and I've just had to replace the original turn flashers last month...they almost made it 45 years! She's been through a lot in her 45 years. She handles snow...deep snow...over foot deep snow...never been stuck. She handles ice, sleet , rain, mud pits, sand, woods, dirt, gravel, traffic, tight alleyways, tight parking spaces and tight wallets. She's towed trailers, trailers with lawnmowers on 'em, trailers with Dodge Darts on 'em, trailers with full size long wheel base Chevy trucks on 'em, She's towed Dodge Darts with Boats on trailers behind 'em when they couldn't get up a boat ramp and yes...She's even towed....Tow trucks, ....that was the funniest of all, towing a huge roll bed wrecker across a parking lot that had broken down in a drive-thru. She's been frontways, sideways , backways and airborne. She's carried my best dog, my first wife and my first born. She's carried so much I had to squeeze in with a shoe horn...and let my dog do the shifting while i worked the clutch. It is not now the original engine...I tore the original down at about 250K, all I did was replace the timing chain and gears and new rings and bearings, no machine work. A few years later the nut on the bottom pulley comes loose while I'm way out somewhere and when I tighten it it breaks off..oops...I manage to get to the closet guy who can just weld it in place and it works for years. About 500K I figure I'll put rings and bearings in again but while shopping find a factory Long Block 1.2 3K still in the crate for $300. (original is 1.1 K-C) I can't find a 1.1 Crank so I go with the new 1.2 which was a later option in the Corolla. I use the 1.1 head which i later learn is responsible for how well it ran at that time...not just the 100cc difference but the 1.1 head on a 1.2 takes it from the stock 9-1 compression to 10-1 like in the Sprinter version. That coupled with two 2-1 headers and true dual exhaust and it could literally twist the rearend out from the leafsprings. After some beefing up and some traction bars, it could smoke first and second, burn third, and get a good chiirp on fourth. That block ended up developing cracks outside and seeping water and eventually spread so I found another and was able to bore it .20 and find all new stuff..the header is gone, back to original nearly everything. I try to take it easy on her nowadays, getting harder or impossible to find some vital parts. Suspension it seems will have to be modified, cannot get struts anymore to fit and i'm working now on a steering box ...she's getting a bit wobbly. Hopefully, with care...she'll hit that million mile mark. I paid $300 for her 25 years ago...like I said then...I'm just going to drive it until I find something better..........