1980 Toyota Corolla t-18 liftback from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

The car is as tough as nails and won't die unless it cops serious driver abuse as mine does. As a result I have been through one gearbox as the selector arms for 1st 2nd 3rd and 4th sheared off from being forced into 1st without a clutch as the slave was leaking badly and I didn't have a clutch. The clutch also went from trying to dive home using fifth. Apart from that it has taken a huge thrashing for nearly a year without a complaint.

Mine has been lowered 5 inches rear three front that's two coils off each spring. I also welded the diff so it's a drift beast. It did full street burnouts like 100meters, but not now because the diffs welded and it slows down. Its fun to drive and will take continual 7000 rpm clutch dumps without breaking. I even drifted into a curb at about a 100kph and it only bent the lower contol arm. I also painted it GMH black so it dosn't look too bad exept 4 all the rust and bog holes. The motor won't die. I even ran it dry on oil and its still going. Go the corollas. It is very thirsty though and only gets 7.1 km to the liter, but that's with it being thrashed. The motor loves high revs too.

I had the same model T18, and the way you explained yours is the same as how mine worked. It just wouldn't die. I hade mine for 7 months and the car had done 450,000 km by the time it broke down. I was running it dry and I snaped a pisten arm going to hard. but that was OK because I had a spare 3t model engine which only took a day to put in. I am looking for a new one to do up. I never replaced a cluch or diff. But I hade to buy new (recap) back tires every second or third day.

Cheers.

I have a T-18 aswel

I have had it a year and just replaced the gear box, its on 112000km and I'm the second owner. does awesome burnouts and drifts, very comfy cruisy car.

No rust and great condition for a 24 yr old car!

My 1980 Liftback Corolla 1600cc 2T engine is still very good after 25 years. Could 8 valves, and rear drive, with no electronic computer gave it the awesome durability? The old reliable simple design.

I have a 1980 t18 SE lift back the only thing I have replaced on it is the clutch. I race it at my local car club the only modifications being stripping out the interior and putting springs out of a 1992 Eb falcon xr8 in the front and cutting one coil off. The rear of the car is still pretty soft which gives it good power down, but very over steery out of corners, which is fast and also very fun haha. Despite the thrashing it gets at each round once a month it has proved to be almost totally reliable and id like to find one as a road car as my current one cannot be road registered.

I have a 1980 t18 SE lift back the only thing I have replaced on it is the clutch. I race it at my local car club the only modifications being stripping out the interior and putting springs out of a 1992 Eb falcon xr8 in the front and cutting one coil off. The rear of the car is still pretty soft which gives it good power down, but very over steery out of corners, which is fast and also very fun haha. Despite the thrashing it gets at each round once a month it has proved to be almost totally reliable and id like to find one as a road car as my current one cannot be road registered.

I'm from the U.S. and I have a 1980 corolla liftback with 349,000 miles on it. I just replaced the water pump and

starter with the clutch master cylinder and brake master cylinder to go. It had sat for a little over a month and started right up after putting on a new starter. My friend gave it to me, I'm the third or fourth owner at least! I love it and I'm gonna turn it into a shaggin wagon! BUNG!!!

All hail the mighty T18!!! These babies rock! The 3T motors are tough as heck. Regularly used to trek a 30k trip on local expressway @ 150-160Ks & purring. Slapped half a tube of liquid nails around my welsh plugs when they were starting to leak. A local whippersnapper cop wanted to stamp his authoritah! (LOL) & blindly defected it into oblivion when he caught me out a week overdue rego 500m from my house!!!

I just bought mine, I love its style, it's old but still the looks are simply great. Mine is two tone black and silver.

The best thing about the car is that its condition is still excellent, and while driving I get the reassurance from the car that it will keep on running for many years to come; maybe even after that :)