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Can-Am Racing
Florian Jenett Can-Am Corolla Goes Green With Recyclable Aero Aids
Back in the mid-90s, Florian Jenett wanted to go Can-Am racing. Never one to let obstacles dismay him, he ignored people that told him, “You can’t afford to go racing on a German artist’s salary” or “Can-Am racing died in 1974.” Instead, he put together the Corolla-based racecar you see here. Complete with a homemade K&N filter conversion (necessitating a hood bulge) and sans catalytic converter, it was capable of over 100mph — at which speed its handling became unpredictable.
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project car hell
Project Car Hell, Screamin' Corolla Edition: AE86 or FX16?
There was some grumbling over the choices in our last Choose Your Eternity challenge (which was won by the '77 Levis Edition AMC Hornet AMX by a healthy margin), ostensibly because they were too easy… but we know the real reason: being reminded of the Malaise Era brings up the uncomfortable parallels between the hard economic times then and those now. Of course, there are differences; sure, the current war is more expensive- in dollar terms- than was Vietnam, but inflation isn't the raging beast it was back then (though the bill for our 15-year debt binge looks to be just as painful as 20% inflation was). What we need is a flashback to Morning In America! The 80s, when the Evil Empire was crumbling and Toyota still built cars that didn't hit you like a triple Valium with cough syrup chaser; yes, it's Corolla Time!
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best road trip cars
Automobile Mag's Top List Of Road Trip Vehicles Gives Sprinter The Nod, Finds Way Into Our Hearts
Oh, boy: Another hot summer day, another list of top vehicles for a road trip. Whereas Kelley Blue Book's top road trip cars list — the last such list we had to endure — was one of the more strange groupings we've seen, today's list from Automobile is absolutely sexy. What, you don't think the Sprinter's sexy? You ever seen the Mercedes diesel it's got under the hood? We're not kidding when we say it's like butter. Really thick, viscous, black butter, but butter nonetheless. Hit the jump for the full list. More » -
industry news
Civic Pries Best-Seller Crown Away From Ford F-150's Cold, Dead Hands
After an eleventy-billion year reign as the nation's top seller, it looks as though the Ford F-150 has stumbled for at least one month.The month of May saw the Honda Civic overtake the F-150 in sales putting the Ford down in fourth place. Whaaa!? Indeed, 42,973 F-series trucks sold in May, against 52,826 Corollas, 51,291 Camrys and 53,299 Honda Civics. Since we know Toyota counts the Matrix towards Corolla sales, we'll discount that figure, but who cares? As we called (sorta) yesterday, Civic for the win. According to Jim Farley, Ford group vice president for marketing and communications, "That's just a sign of the times. I think May has been a watershed month." Do people care about gas prices? We think this means the answer is "yes." [Automotive News (Subscription required)] -
offbeat news
Put The Kid In The Trunk And The TV In The Backseat
People will do some pretty stupid things for a TV, or so we're learning today. First, it was the idiot burglar with the alligator in his Buick Regal and now we have the story of a trio of not-so-bright Tennesseans who really wanted to get a television home. But there were three of them and a television, and not all of them could fit in the passenger area of their Toyota Corolla. Their solution? Put the kid in the trunk and the television in the backseat. They'd have gotten away with it, too, but someone called the cops after seeing the kid, who apparently consented, get into the trunk. More » -
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classic ad watch
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spy photos
European Toyota Corolla Hatch Spotted In Phoenix
We love when readers send in their own spy photos, whether from a cameraphone, point-and-shoot or DSLR. OK, that's a lie — we absolutely prefer DSLR. But we digress. Automakers in the Phoenix, Arizona area better beware as Josh (who also grabbed the left-hand-drive Nissan GT-R) has spotted yet another out-of-place Japanese car wandering the streets. This time it's the Toyota Auris, which is the European five-door Toyota Corolla hatchback. A five-door Corolla testing in the desert, in winter, with Michigan manny plates, you say? More » -
custom cars
1980 Toyota Corolla Somewhat Repowered With BMW I6
It's a little known fact that one of us Jalops spent the better part of our youth traipsing around the country in the back of a 1980 Toyota Corolla without so much as a radio installed. That first parental Corolla turned out to be a gateway Toyota and was followed by an unbroken chain of Corollas extending to this very day. This is why there is an A4 in the driveway and a Continental in the garage. Things would have been different had the Corolla of our youth been powered by a turbocharged BMW inline six sporting 400 bhp and 370+ lb.ft. of torque. Ah yes, smoky power drifts though the state of Nebraska would have made cross country trips far more palatable. -
chicago auto show
Chicago Auto Show: Toyota Corolla, Meet Dave
We don't remember seeing this at SEMA, because if we had, we would have made fun of it there as well. Nonetheless, the placard claims this Toyota Corolla SE Prototype was first shown at the infamous tuner show, and we claim it was first seen somewhere in a Ford studio run by Dave "Big Balls" Horbury. Seriously — check out that grille, somebody falling in love with the Ford Fusion much? Perhaps this is a new salvo in a developing grille wars. Whatever. We feel like maybe we should be on the look out for a restyled Ford Taurus sporting a Klingon forehead grille.
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2009 toyota corolla
2009 Toyota Corolla Unveiled
The new 2009 Toyota Corolla and 2009 Toyota Matrix were just unveiled here at the SEMA show in Vegas. For some reason the folks from the super number one best awesome automaker from the land of the rising sun decided to show off one set of vehicles, un-pimped ones, to the press at the Hilton across the street. Fear not, the mighty Mike Bumbeck was covering those. But here at the convention center, we were "treated" to some heavily modded versions of the new Corolla and Matrix. That's what you see below. Press release below the jump.
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