Mustard Yellow Museum Piece – 1973 Toyota Corolla

Yesterday, we saw a freaking awesome black Corolla with insane flares and an even more insane V8 drivetrain. Over here, such builds are made even more complicated thanks to legislation that doesn’t necessarily see the virtues of a V8 ’70s Corolla; here, Corollas are also semi-revered as bone stock as well as hooned to the wire. This somewhat Dijon yellow 1973 Corolla is a historic-registered car, which means everything on it must be period correct – down to the wear on it.

Click for more photos.

Look at that front. Exceptionally good condition on a nearly 40-year-old car. The corner trim next to the round headlights always reminds me of eyelashes.

Side-on, it also looks good with the sideline hinting at a coke bottle shape. I’m sure there has been some restoration done as the fender’s just a shade lighter than the rest of the car, but I wouldn’t blame them for trying to bring it to as near perfect condition as possible.

Inside: black vinyl, thin-rimmed two-spoke steering wheel and a metal dashboard bottom. On the rear window, a bunch of passed inspection stickers. Surely it would also merit a Japanese Nostalgic Car sticker somewhere in there?

The side vent is a curiously shaped piece of chrome trim. It’s something between a harmonica and a flask.

The pert rear is flawless, while the rear wheels with their sunflower-resembling wheel trims are tucked very deep in the heavily rust-proofed arches. The black plates signify the historic registration.

The recipe of a small, light, basic, RWD Japanese car hasn’t met uniform applause here; it’s true that the driving experience must be more about pure 1200cc basicness than absolute RWD nirvana. But it’s the condition of the surviving examples that wins my heart over; when my dad bought one of these in the late ’70s, I don’t think all of the used Corollas were this nice back then.

By the way, he upgraded to a brown ’81 Tercel if memory serves. Those were the days.

[Images: Copyright 2012 Hooniverse/Antti Kautonen]

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