Back again, the undefeated champion from Turin.. the evergreen 128!
Coming from the land of the rising sun.. the progenitor of the ever popular Dorifto movement and the darling to lovers of hot engines in mundane looking cars
the Toyota Corolla
Limiting ourselves to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd generations here folks (because the corolla name is still in use)
the Corolla was in the first wave of the rising tide of Japanese cars in the US. One of the all time best selling nameplates. It was availible in 2 door coupe, 2 door sedan, 4 door sedan, and 5 door wagon. Engines ranged from an 1100cc pushrod 4 up to the vaunted twincams.
Can the euro economy/sporty car defeat this japanese upstart to it's crown?
FIGHT!
Gen 1,2,3,
Rolla
from 4 on fiat
so
A, B, C, easy as Gen 1, 2, 3,
Yota
SWMBO will also take the 'Rolla.
mndsm
UberDork
3/18/12 9:18 a.m.
I've owned an ae101 rolla and an ae102 rolla, and will pretty much always own one of some vintage. So- corolla.
This one is actually tough. It kinda depends on the body style.
If it is a second or third generation coupe then the Rolla, otherwise Fiat.
if i could have my '80 SR5 hatchback again, it would take one hell of a FIAT to trade me out of it.
Corolla all the way. I bought an ae110 new in 01 (still driving it!) and if the handling can be good enough for two regional auto x championships in fwd, Im way way in for gens 1,2 and 3.
Fiat, because imo italian cars > japanese cars almost always.
Whichever one has the least rust.
Not looking good for the Fiat.. it went from being Rocky Balboa to Rodney Dangerfield.
Ok.. the Rolla beat the fiat to a bloody pulp in no time flat... The Winner by Knockout.... Corolla!
I had a 71 2TC Rolla, I want it back.
I am changing my vote to the 128.
I've been a 128 supporter until now...I'm gonna have to drift to the darkside and say Corolla...
I feel like some people are forgetting the first three corolla gens were RWD.
The early Corollas are what earned Toyota their sterling reliability reputation. You can't kill those things even if you try. I had a 1978 that had been totaled twice but still drove fine despite looking like absolute hell. It went like a snail on the back of a turtle shot out of a leaking drainage pipe powered by wet toast lit by an extinguished candle but still drove no matter what. It was even a little fun, in its limited horsepower way.
Edit to say: I forgot that was the car that ended up bought by a friend down the road for $300, he drove it for a couple years doing absolutely nothing to it then it got totaled (again) while parked. The at-fault driver's insurance paid him $600 for it. The dang thing was bent in half around a light pole with both passenger side wheels angled in at the bottom from being pushed up over the curb. The tow truck driver couldn't get in to tow it since there were cars on both sides of its parking spot, so my friend got in and drove it out into the street. That thing was a beast.
^My old boss had a '94 like that. Twice totalled before he bought it off a doctor for $100. Drove it for a few years(150mi/day) with nothing but tires and fluid changes until, when parked on the street, it was taken out from the driver's rear by a drunk doing 40, who pushed it up over the curb until a foot of the passenger side B pillar was wrapped around a power pole. Still drove up the street to the scrapper, who gave $350 for it.
dculberson wrote:
It went like a snail on the back of a turtle shot out of a leaking drainage pipe powered by wet toast lit by an extinguished candle but still drove no matter what.
If that doesn't make the magazine, I don't know what will!!!!
