3ke70

April 21, 201016 yr

Introducing...

My 1982 Corolla XX.

My 'rolla started life as a lovely little car. With a 4K-C, 5 speed manual, tacho dash, brown velour trim and AC, it was living the life.

From what I know, it then went on to become part of a learner fleet. and from there it passed into the hands of a bogan.

When I saw the ad on Gumtree for $750, the old familiar rolla itch came back to me. I went and sussed it out; the bogan lived in Ferny Hills, and had been flooded.

There was an EA parked on the street that would move no more, it had copped it up to the glass. Their electrics are suss enough at the best of times, without submerging to complicate the picture.

The rolla, however, had been parked next to the house, and had only flooded to just above the floor, and sunk 4 inches into the mud.

After much coercement, it started, with plumes of blue smoke, and ran like a mongrel. But at least it ran :dance:

And as my last rolla was a KE30, I was a little swayed by the 5 speed, and a rear end located by more than leaf springs.

But the rust was strong in this one, so I offered bogan $350, and settled on $400.

This bought me the car, and a shed full of bits and bobs. Panels, wheels, over 9000 pushrods, 3 sets of taillights all with crumbling plastic, etc...

I got all this home on the back of a truck.

Once on my driveway, I made all the lights work, and pounded all the rust I could see with a hammer.

I then smeared great globs of bog onto all the holes this made, and called a mobile mechanic to inspect the situation.

His response was something along the lines of, "You've got to be shitting me..."

Next, I asked for Christmas based clemency from Mr RWC.

He told me he would come back tomorrow. If it went, steered and stopped, and I gave him $200 (!), and I solemnly promised never to sell it as a going concern, he would write the "Safety" certificate...

One thing he stipulated was new pads, linings and wheels cylinders, which I wanted to do anyway.

The next day, with much muttering and shaking of the head, and some carb tweaks to turn the plume of oil smoke into a puff, at idle at least, the RWC was written! WIN.

Since then, my major goals for the Corolla have been to keep it as far away from any form of scrutiny as possible.

I drove it around for a while, before deciding that the engine was too much of a handicap. I parked it and bought my big pimpin Crown. After about 6 months of its devastating fuel consumption, auto, land-yacht handling, and catastophic suspension failures, I longed for the rolla again.

Being a clever troll, I had kept the rolla in rego.

The search for a replacement motor hadn't even started, when I saw a forlorn KE30 in Wavell Heights.

I used to drive forthe Dominos at Kedron, and had seen this car parked there for many moons. When I went past again months later, I realised it had been moved inside the fence. Curiousity got the better of me, and I went and asked what its story was.

Turns out the owner had had it for yonks, and loved it, but about a year ago had fallen off a building and broken his neck. Thankfully he was still able to get about, but his motor skills had been impaired enough to prevent him from driving, and his rolla had been laid up ever since.

Turns out about 10000 clicks before this, he had shelled out for a full rebuild for the 3K. He would sell the whole lot for a fraction of the rebuilds' cost...

I well and truly had my evil hat on now. A dash of fuel down the carby, and a lend of a battery, and the bloody thing started first go. As in literally 3rd revolution of the crank. After not having run for 4 years. I picked it up the next day...