Understated, Underrated

1988 Toyota Corolla LE Sedan

(This listing is from Cars & Bids.)

There are used cars and there are used cars.

Well this isn’t either.

It’s a museum piece. It’s a time capsule. It’s a slice of history that’s been kicking around for damn near forty years, which seems like a long time until you realize that if this car were a person it would have been old enough to vote for Barack Obama the second time around, but not the first. (Don’t chirp me on the politics. Toyotas are famously left-leaning and this one is basically wearing a tan suit. Its goddaughter is a Prius.)

Time is weird, is all I’m trying to say.

As of this writing, the bidding is sitting at $7,500 with a day left for someone to pump this thing up to where it belongs—which, economically speaking, should be at the exact median between “old Corolla” and “current Corolla.” Because it’s way more than an old Corolla and way cooler than a new one, GR excluded (maybe).

It’s a fashion statement.

It’s a lifestyle choice.

It’s a cars & coffee head-tuner.

But most importantly, it’s a stock Toyota with 25,000 miles on the clock that’ll do another 75,000 without changing the oil if you really need it to. Or, alternatively, you could probably actually take care of it and sell it to some other weirdo after driving it for a couple of years for free, even after you account for the costs of period-correct air freshener trees and like $9 a month for insurance.

Somebody reading this, please help get this thing to the price point it deserves.

Hell, this is the model that inspired the spinoff project that would become the Geo Prism.

So, you know…provenance.

(That aftermarket sunroof for sure leaks, though, right?)