I've recently come into a new project - I pulled this 1982 Corolla out of a field in a small town near Memphis, TN. The owner said he hadn't really thought about selling it, didn't know if it ran... and it had been sitting for several years. After he finally came out with a price of $500, I counter offered with what was in my wallet and bought it for $200. It's got 113k original miles, bought it from the original owner.

I put a little clean gas in the carb, hooked up some jumper cables and she fired right up. I replaced the water pump, new tires, and a few odds and ends and have since put about 10,000 miles on it. 38mpg, RWD, and the 3TC motor is bullet proof. It's the perfect car.

When I first bought it:





So far all I've done is cleaned the stock carb, removed all the emissions crap (PCV, EGR, Smog pump, and cleaned her up. I also carved a shift knob and sewed a plaid shift boot for it! Ha. I'm thinking I don't even want to paint it, keep it with the survivor look and throw so Watanabe Falcon Turbo's or Hoshino Impul G5's on it. I've got a pair of Makuni Sidedraft carbs I'm going to put on after the holidays when I have a project budget to work with again. If anybody knows where I can find some trim pieces for the outside that would be great too.




Engine bay is a little cleaner than this now, I'll try to get some new pictures: