Unlikely Hero: 2000 Toyota Corolla
At first glance this next car might seem out of place on these pages dedicated to automotive ebullience. But believe me, when I assure you it does belong between a Fiberfab Aztec and a Double-Double-Ranchero-Ranchero. A vast plurality of the eighth generation E110 (1995-2000) Toyota Corollas were sold with a penalty box autotragic transmission and subsequently ridden hard and put away bloody by their owners…but not this one. This one has a 5 speed shift-it-yourself manual gearbox, decent cloth seats, a not-too-shabby exterior, and roll-it-yourself manual windows. It shockingly meets 8 of the 10 things i need in a car in 2020, and a Canadian spec speedo/odometer in kilometers. I love it. Find this 2000 Toyota Corolla offered for $2800 in Campbell, CA via craigslist.
From the seller:
2000 Toyota Corolla
VIN: 2T1BR12E1YC814253
condition: excellent
drive: fwd
fuel: gas
odometer: 145000
size: full-size
title status: clean
transmission: manual
type: sedan
Up for sale our corolla. It is 5sp manual transmission. Original owner. It holds clean title. Mileage is 145.000 freeway miles. It is Canadian model so odometer is with km. Maintenance done always on time and needs nothing. Mechanic wise it is in great shape. Also tires are brand new. We have both keys, manuals, smog certificate. Clutch replaced couple years ago. Registration is paid. No emails. Low offers will be ignored
Sorry, I wouldn’t care if it had a plasma-ion transmission that folded time and space, I still loathe the anodyne shape of any Corolla built after 1990. And yes, the cartoon linked below has a lot to do with my ptsd & bias.
https://pics.me.me/the-new-corolla-its-not-just-for-cat-owners-with-54161197.png
So what are the other two things?
Oh, rear wheel drive and what’s the other one?
Trunk full of cash?
Glove box full of bearer bonds?
Sabine Schmitz as your chauffeur?
Deed to a NYC parking spot?
Non metallic paint?
Yeah that last one is sort of a stretch.
It is only lacking rear-wheel-drive and limited-shrimp-diff. But the trunk full-o-cash is the 11th item I need in 2020.
BTW hope Sabine Schmitz has a full recovery.
This IS rare. The well preserved econoboxes are always, and I mean ALWAYS, slushbox driven. Speaking of the transmission, I wonder why a new clutch was needed? Little old grandperson who drove it like to do peel outs?
The new clutch is very likely a result of the torture inflicted by Bay Area stop-and-go freeway traffic. This car has been shifted between 1st and 2nd (and back again) nearly 2.86 billion times and each one of those shifts was accompanied by an angry exclamation of, “F***, why didn’t I get an automatic for commuting?!” Ask me how I know…