1972 Toyota Corolla: Creating a Daily Driver 

Toyota Should Build that again with a Modern Engine but all that old School. Low tech. Function and driver's car. Not what we have today.

This guy is a 100% Toyota guy. “I want a reliable car that’s quiet enough so I can listen to my music”

My very first car was a 72 Corolla, so your video got my attention. Thanks for including the interior shots, brought back nice memories - it was a great car. My second vehicle was exactly your truck - year, color, standard cab, and long bed! I'll be interested to see how your project progresses, good luck!

I actually love videos from people who aren't experts. I want to see how this journey unfolds!

if you can get the 2T-G back to stock cams they are a good street engine. I had a 2T-G swapped in my 78 Corolla Coupe back in the 1980s. With the EFI setup you should be able to tune it to run well for street use if the cams aren't too aggressive. Hope you have a good time with this one. They are fun small cars with a lot of character and fun to drive. My 2T-G had the stock Mikuni-Solex carbs and it was fine for street driving slow or fast

Truly a survivor classic. A total exotic you can’t, even if you had the money, buy cause there are not many around. Simple and easy to understand and fix. I don’t know about this Corrolla but for my old Audi parts are cheap cause there’s NOS that no one needs or they are expensive cause again there is little supply left. Sadly some of the newer enthusiast will not appreciate the connection you get driving an older car like this. Will be a great daily once you cover all the restoration mechanical points.

Wow. What a cool car. I hope you go through with your plans and turn her into a reliable daily. That would be pretty awesome IMO.

2:55 man's out here taking a right at a stop sign like it's a yield.😂 Corolla looks so good.

Looks epic. Definitely got that old school muscle car look.

The simplistic beauty and elegance of this particular car is just so mesmerizing ❤

Wow what a great car/project. I appreciate your reasonable (perhaps, responsible?) philosophy and mission statement for restoring it! Excited to see more progress

I like the direction you want to go with this build. Its going to be a fun little car to own and drive when you're done. I can't wait to watch the progress. Good luck.

Man thats a sharp little car. Always liked some of the old Japanese cars like these.

I'm a Toyota nerd, and I will be following this series very closely. I wish you luck on your Corolla adventure

Good luck on your journey man, I hope to see more of this in the future. In a world GT-Rs, Supras, RX-7s, and more, I love seeing old commuter cars like these revived. So much character in them.

My Dad had this exact car in Ireland. Think it was a '74. Orange. It got totalled not long after when some guy crash into him. Luckily he came out ok. Then he got the KE30. I learned to drive it in as a kid. 4 gear shift. Loved that car. We had 2 over the years. My Dad is almost 80 now and still will only drive a Corolla. I've been looking out for one of these though for years. I just love em. I live on continental Europe these days. Hard to come by. Good luck brother!

Super glad to see another first gen corolla owner. I have a 1971 corolla wagon that’s in much rougher shape than yours. Hope it sees the road again soon, it’s been off it and in a junkyard since 1987. Good luck on the project, and can’t wait to see more!

Love the look of the 70s Corollas. Also, the casual brisk drive straight past the stop sign and into the turn was hilarious for some reason 😂

That is neat how you made the 1972 Toyota Corolla look like brand new. I can't complain myself with what I did to my 2015 Toyota Corolla LE. Positive vibes and good luck to you on your customization

Because this video is so professional you automatically sound like you know what you're doing :) I cannot explain how much more I like the original looking wheels though.

Well, you just earned a subscriber. I really like your editing style right off the bat. Secondly, your driving experience description of this car is almost identical to a good friend's early 1970s BMW 2002 racer and I hear and see so many similarities, even in the interior. Thirdly, I've added you on Facebook because I might be able to give assistance in really a large portion of your builds or just things that will save you hours of pain. I would gladly offer any help I can provide. Cheers. Can't wait to see where this goes!

My wife & my mom had a Toyota corina years ago, they only made those cars 71 & 72, you couldn't get no parts to fix any problems so they pretty much Got junked ! Good little cars !

My guy that is one of the most beautiful cars I've ever seen! It looks so darn cool

“Just enough problems that I could fix and learn how to work on cars myself” is a super underrated quality for a daily driver, especially for someone’s first vehicle. A+ vehicle choice and video 👌🏼

Nice to see you're interested in bringing this car back. I've got a 72 TE27 that my Mom purchased brand new. It's in pretty decent shape, but the suspension is proving to be challenging to find springs. Good luck with your project

my dad use to daily drive a 1979 corolla SR5 sport coupe. he drove it up until 2008 when he had to sell it to move here to the U.S. this car you have here reminds me so much of it. such beautiful cars.

Such a timeless design, this car is beautiful especially with that choice of rims/tires to match.

Interesting. My 2nd car was a 1971 Corolla Coupe. First year of the 'big' 1600 engine (the original stock USA 1600) but still with a 4spd manual. The body was exactly like your '72 except that the bolt-on trim pieces like the grille (etc.) were slightly different. Brings back memories.

What a great looking Toyota, love it in black.

This man’s choices on cars is on point

Love this 😍 You've inspired me to also document a similar project I have with my 1972 MG B GT 🤩 Looking forward to follow along this project 👀

Congrats! That's a beautiful E20 coupe! Much cooler looking than the 2-door sedan (which this is often confused with). I have been the proud owner of an E30 2-door for more than 20 years now (the next gen after this) and it's been the best car I've ever owned. I love to hear you want to make it a grandpa car and you can achieve that but keep your expectations in check. I can give you some advice on where to focus your efforts and what's simply a waste of time. About sound proofing: It will never be Lexus-quiet, ever. Don't wrap the whole interior in soundproofing as these cars like to be kept light. Once you start adding weight (and sound proofing weights a lot) you will have issues with braking, chassis flexing, suspension, water leaking due to said flex, etc. Focus on the firewall and engine bay sound deadening more than the cabin. I would get rid of the ITBs and get an old "frying pan" air filter housing along with the stock intake manifold, you have no idea how much those things help with engine noise. It won't be as quick but still peppy. The alternative would be doing a Beams swap and keeping it mostly stock. Those engines are not as noisy as the one you've got. The transmission tunnel will get hot, uncomfortably so in long drives and it radiate on your legs (nice feature in winter, not so much in the hotter months). The problem with a car this small and the exhaust passing right through that tunnel. You need to cover the underside of the tunnel in some heat absorbing material. As you already saw, get ready to be best friends with rust. Even if it never sees snow or rain, it will rust, all the fricking time. It's just something you will have to live with. Protect with your life the glass, head and tail lights, those chromed JDM bumpers, the little chrome strips going around the windshield weathersealing, the plastic trim. Those things are unobtanium and even if they do pop up for sale every few millennia, they will cost you a kidney.

It's been a longtime since I have seen a 1970s corolla. In high-school and college, I drove a 1973 corolla with the 1600cc 4speed, topped out at around 60mph. No air or cruise conrol, got it from my mom when she finally bought a new corolla in late 1982. I had to work for it, so it meant something. All kinds of high-school and college stories in that toyota. Anyway, it lasted, and when I got another car a few years later, I sold it to a friend, then his dad used to drive it to the liquor store. It ran nearly half a million miles before I lost track. Great cheap dependable auto for its day. Just my corolla story....and good luck to you with this corolla as your daily driver.

My dad had one of those and sold it to my uncle which he still has to this day but hasn't driven it in a very long time, i've allways wanted to restore it and seeing this vid makes me want to do so even more. Driving one of these at my age will be really nice.

My first car was also a 72 corolla, but it was only a 1200 4 speed. Loved that car. Looking forward to watching the progress (binge watching the series so far).

This was my dad’s first car. My brother got to drive it, and then me. Somewhere along the way, it got really difficult to maintain because parts were scarce. Really looking forward to this build.

Leave it black thats why I clicked on the vid

I love the look of this car and look forward to seeing what all you (hopefully) do to it!

My 1st car was a 71 TE27 2T-C, 2 speed automatic WITH air conditioning. Years later I had a 77 K30 and transplanted the motor from the 71 into the 77. Built the engine, .030 over. Cannon Induction Sytems camshaft, Clifford Header, Weber Carburetor. T50 5 speed. Soooo much fun with that car. Both are long long gone now. I'm totally jealous of your car!!!!

My first car was a '74 Corolla with a 1980 engine. I learned to drive a 5-spd (by myself) and learned auto mechanics (by myself). I did a street restoration which turned out reasonably well on a limited budget and even less experience. BTW these look really good in white, especially if you black out all of the chrome.

Quite honestly, if you want to keep it peppy, but toyota-reliable, the best (and probably easiest) thing you can do is do the same thing the AE86 guys do with their 4AGE engines and go for a Megasquirt. The engine and amount of tech is probably very similar, and even for the 2T-B engine I also believe there are plenty of established go-to mods for EFI. That along with the standard cams will probably bring you down maybe 5 or 10 hp, but you will have a waaay more usable powerband for the driving you want. It will also help fuel economy and reliability. And lets face it: a properly tuned healthy motor in a TE27 doesn't need to be way over 100hp to be fun as hell! :D

Great looking car, I agree with the philosophy of making it quiet and comfy!

Very happy I got recommended this video out of nowhere. Excited to see what you do with the car, even if it’s “downgrading” still a great car!

My favorite part of the video is when you blew the stop sign.

Nice one! What’s your current wheel setup btw? Do they rub with the fender? (By the look of it, it looks like 14x8 +0?)

love the chrome trims, wheels, and the compactness. handsome classic car!

Awesome video, I never would have expected that to be a Corolla just based on its looks! Very cool!

You might want to consider putting in a 3T bottom end. The bore is the same but the stroke is longer by some amount. It might help your bucking issues by giving the cylinder more volume and more air to match the camshafts. 3T is an 1800cc btw. The camshafts also might still be good but have too much overlap / too tight of a lobe separation angle. You could look into timing the cams differently as well.

What a thing of beauty, and what a cool video I love the editing style.

Love this car, very clean build! Excited to follow along for this.

OMG....your channel is awesome. I love that you're not an expert but just learning as you go through it! Also, my aunt had that car and I remember it really well. It was a gold/sand colour. Good luck and great Canadian content!

My first car was a '74 Corolla. Dark blue with a white vinyl top. My parents bought it for me when I got my drivers license. I was originally disappointed that they didn't get me my dream car (Datsun 510), but quickly grew to love my Corolla. I had some great times in that car.

Ohhh this thing is beautiful... I don't know much about cars, but I love the idea of daily commuting on a classic car... just sounds like it would be fun.

Loved the way you shot a lot of this video while speaking clearly about the flaws of the car and what you hope to accomplish! I subbed and am looking forward to more of it! :)

You picked the perfect wheels. Good luck on this build!

I love it, I had a 210 Datsun 81' I bought for $500 bucks in 2011. Original everything, ran perfect after I did the ignition timing. Brakes always made this cluck sound I could never figure out. So sad these cars are mostly gone.

I came for that Corolla but that truck definitely has some personality! Love the color and the build! I'm a Toyota enthusiast as well.

you nailed the description, before i even opened the video i thought, "whoa that looks like a mini muscle car"! too cool

Bro you have to do it! Can’t wait to follow your progress 🙌🏼

I’m jealous! My wife bought a 4 door, same generation, 1 previous owner, in the late 70s. It was a great little car, like a miniature Chevy Nova! I loved it!

Absolutely love this video! Always so so happy to be watching corolla content especially amazing corolla content 😎

Never thought my dream car would be a restored 1972 Toyota Corolla, it looks beautiful in a simplistic way and sounds meaty as well, excellent work on restoring it, must have been a pain to get it in order again.

The algorithm drops another little goldmine right in my lap. Will be keeping tabs on this for sure! Good luck with it all Joel!

I high school in the late 1970s, I had a friend that owned a Saab, and I was amazed at how quiet it was when driving. no sounds of air getting past the closed windows and well insulated from the sounds outside the car. I've never owned one, but I've always admired them. At the time though, they seemed such an oddity not looking like any other cars.

good luck man.. looking forward to the results

Love this car, good luck with the project! Will be checking your other vids.

Such a beautiful and timeless car

This car is one of the classic cars that I hope I can get my hands on someday.

Beauty, good luck. My first car was a 76 - 2 door coupe Corolla. Loved it. If it didn't rot I'll bet it still wouldn't burn oil. Had 250,000 miles on engine before it's second body my friend bought later, sold it. Still running great.

Back when cars were works of art. Fucking gorgeous car. I agree with hearing your music over the engine/exhaust. This idea that you need open pipe exhaust to get power is nonsense. All you have to do is upsize the pipe/muffler to retain the power that smaller straight pipe/no muffler is. So if you run 3" straight pipe, just run 4" normal exhaust. Same power, but much quieter. My 05 stock STI oem exhaust is 2.38" internal diameter. People will generally do 3" exhaust + intake and tune as a starter upgrade. I simply did 3" stainless pipe to a cherry bomb vortex muffler (no, not the glasspack) and it made the same power as super loud ricer exhausts but was dead silent when cruising and only growled at full throttle. No loud screaming exhaust. It was heaven to drive. So i understand you 100%. You can still make power just upsize. My buddy had a honda he was racing at the drag. He ended up going from 3" straight pipe to 4" with muffler, it was more quiet and he made the exact same power. And now he runs all his drag cars like that. Sure you could argue "the muffler adds weight" but lets be honest here, its too little to notice a change on your 1/4 mile. People chasing pounds are assholes anyway, just get more power from the motor.... A 900hp d16z6 civic with 4" exhaust is pretty insane as is.... If I ever recover from my spinal cord injury, I want to find an older honda/toyota/mazda from the 70's or 80's to restore and build.... On the note of the engine, those cams are clearly setup for racing, staying in high rpm at all times. So yeah a cam swap would really help reign it in for daily driving. For EFI system, I would go with Haltec ECU's. They can do all that shit and you wire it right in. You said the wiring as is was pretty bad. Great reason to snag a haltec and make your own harness.... they even sell blank wireharness kits so you can just pin out what you need and make it yourself. Its pretty sweet.

Gorgeous car mate. Love it, love it, love it!

I had a 73 a Corolla way back in the late 70's. I bought it for $100, drove for years then sold it for $75. It was rusty and banged up, but it never left me stranded.

Your car is looking good ! I want to see it when you finish the project

Absolutely love those Corollas. At the end of the day do what you want with the car! GT is in the name and it wouldnt hurt to make it more liveable, especially if its gunna be daily. More power to yaa,

Really excited to see this build!!! I love the look of vintage corollas. New cars do have too much technology now.

This thing looks so beautiful. I like it.

I just read 72 Corolla and i was hooked! What a nailbiter this one is going to be!

The most beautiful car of all time to me, I growth up look at them. Corolla and Celica is the best looking ever build..

This car is beautiful already! I love the idea of restoring a corolla into a daily driver.

What you described about some gears wanting constant gas increase happens in my '82 fiesta, it's pretty common in those car's era

Djeez, had one those when I was a student. Loved it! Unfortunately the engine blew up (due to lack of maintenance….).

cool as hell dude, so clean

120+ bhp! Wow. My '79 had I think, 76 bhp stock. Quite a good jump up with those mods by the prev. owner.

Excited to follow your journey

What a beautiful example. I'd love to learn how to work on a car from the 70s, since it seems like a lot of work! Once all your work is done you'll have replaced almost every bolt!

Randomly came across your video.. I subscribed. 🤙🏼

As a GR Corolla owner, that's a beauty! Love that old school design!

what a massive rig great modification and collections

I look forward to seeing how this turns out, good luck to you!

that's a good car. and this project is a dream. this car is such a good car for every day driving; light, good visibility, responsive in the steering wheel. what you plan to do to it will make it such a gem. and you deserve the good driving that you'll get out of it. nothing modern can ever drive as good as this era of Japanese elegant simplicity. cars are just way too heavy nowadays. good luck!!

Stunning!

I always had good comments by owners of Toyotas never breaking down or just simply reliable... hope my Corolla Cross 2023 lasts as long as yours!!!

Cool car! I agree with you make it more mellow and quiet and I would say a nice Imron paint, Jade Green, it's a nice dark green metal flake. Can't wait to see what you do.

Solid channel man! Can’t wait to see it all done, that Stance at 3:51 is peak Japanese muscle

My first car was a 1979 Corolla, this is awesome to see!

Nice! I’m suppose to get my 90 Corolla back tomorrow with new clutch and I’m stoked

It looks cool in black, love the compact size and agressive style it has, i have a 1992 beetle and painted it black.

Ohhshiii... What a beautiful car! Tastefully built!

I love the retro style of this car!!!

I'm so jelly. I love it. What's too bad is they will never make cars like this again.