Toyota Corolla Lift Back SR5 TE51

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One of the most successful cars ever made, the Toyota Corolla was launched way back in 1966 and by 1974 had become the best-selling car in the world, going on to supplant the VW Beetle as the best-selling car of all time by 1997 with an incredible 40 million examples sold by 2013.

Still in production to this day, it has gone through 11 generations of development with factories not only in Japan but also in 18 other countries including Brazil, China, India and South Africa, not to mention at the Toyota plant in Derbyshire.

The third generation was the longest lived and ran from 1974 until 1981, being known internally as the E30. Available in saloon, coupe, estate, lift back and van formats, it had a range of four-cylinder petrol engines from a 55bhp 1.2-litre to a 124bhp 1.6-litre DOHC driving the rear wheels through a 4- or 5-speed manual gearbox or a 3-speed automatic.

Famously durable and dependable, the Corolla could clock up vast mileages with minimal maintenance and was especially popular in countries like Australia where reliability while traversing the vast open spaces could sometimes be a matter of life or death.

Supplied new by Wickford Park Service Station in August 1978 (their sticker being still in the back window), this Corolla Lift Back has the 1.6-litre engine mated to a 5-speed manual ‘box and has had six registered keepers to date, the vendor acquiring it in 2011 from a lady who had owned it since 2009 although it has never been put into his name as it has been kept in storage as part of a private Toyota collection for the past six years.

The 63,300 miles on the clock is said to be genuine (although there is insufficient documentary evidence to warrant this), and is certainly borne out by the general condition of the car. An online check shows that the last MOT expired in November 2011 and that the car has only covered some 9,000 miles in the last nine years.

Said to be in good running order and certainly starting promptly and running nicely as we moved it around for these photos, it was driven over 200 miles to its new home when acquired by the vendor in 2011. In generally good order throughout and riding on a matching set of Yokohama tyres, it is in highly original condition with just a few minor blemishes to the bodywork here and there.

Now a very rare model on these shores, this sporting and practical coupe is sure to be of interest to any Japanese car collector.