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What we have here is my Great Uncle's 1980 Toyota Corolla Liftback SR5, he passed away and left the car to me. I was excited to get started on this project until I realized two things: Minus a few details the car is basically perfect and it's not a project and I'm 6'4" and I just don't comfortably fit in this car without doing more modification than I would like.

The car is as complete as can be, the driver's seat just needs a good cleaning and then the interior is perfect. All interior lights work, the headliner is almost perfect, the dash isn't cracked, the radio works, and even that awful door ajar buzz works. Even the little passenger windows roll down. I'll even let you keep the Jennifer Lawrence issue of Vanity Fair in the backseat. The spare tire is there, the jack is there, to the best of my knowledge, everything is there including the manual.

Just to be sure, we took it to DTAutomotive in Santa Monica, they replaced a handful of things including: radiator, water pump, hoses, seals, clutch, flywheel service etc. etc. We spent just shy of $1,400 to make sure it was road worthy and ready to be driven anywhere. The shop said it wasn't even necessary, but, if we wanted it to be in tip top shape this is what they would do.

As far as mileage goes, to the absolute best of my knowledge it has just shy of 32,000 miles. He was a recluse, working at MGM up until the early 80's when he really stopped going out. I calculated out based off of where his apartment was to work, and, if had driven to work every day from when he bought the car new, it would just have 32,000 miles. His windshield service sticker backs this information up.

He was the original owner.

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Auto blog

Land Rover, Toyota big winners in ALG top resale value awards

Tue, 18 Nov 2014

"Residual value is important for automakers and consumers because it's a complete indicator of the vehicle's future value." - Larry Dominique
Toyota and Land Rover took home the top brand honors in ALG's 2015 Residual Value Awards, which will be presented this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

8 automakers, 15 utilities collaborate on open smart-charging for EVs

Thu, Jul 31 2014

We're going to lead with General Motors here. GM is one of eight automakers working with 15 utilities and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) at developing a "smart" plug-in vehicle charging system. Why did we start with GM? Because it's the first automaker whose press release we read that mentioned the other seven automakers. Points for sharing. For the record, the collaboration also includes BMW, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Chrysler, Mitsubishi and Ford. The utilities include DTE Energy, Duke Energy, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric. The idea is to develop a so-called "demand charging" system in which an integrated system lets the plug-ins and utilities communicate with each other so that vehicle charging is cut back at peak hours, when energy is most expensive, and ramped up when the rates drop. Such entities say there's a sense of urgency to develop such a system because the number of plug-in vehicles on US roads totals more than 225,000 today and is climbing steadily. There's a lot of technology involved, obviously, but the goal is to have an open platform that's compatible with virtually any automaker's plug-in vehicle. No timeframe was disclosed for when such a system could go live but you can find a press release from EPRI below. EPRI, Utilities, Auto Manufacturers to Create an Open Grid Integration Platform for Plug-in Electric Vehicles PALO ALTO, Calif. (July 29, 2014) – The Electric Power Research Institute, 8 automakers and 15 utilities are working to develop and demonstrate an open platform that would integrate plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) with smart grid technologies enabling utilities to support PEV charging regardless of location. The platform will allow manufacturers to offer a customer-friendly interface through which PEV drivers can more easily participate in utility PEV programs, such as rates for off-peak or nighttime charging. The portal for the system would be a utility's communications system and an electric vehicle's telematics system. As the electric grid evolves with smarter functionality, electric vehicles can serve as a distributed energy resource to support grid reliability, stability and efficiency. With more than 225,000 plug-in vehicles on U.S. roads -- and their numbers growing -- they are likely to play a significant role in electricity demand side management.

Jay Leno gets behind the curtain on the design of the Toyota FT-1 concept

Mon, 07 Apr 2014

Hinting at the future of Toyota performance vehicles, the FT-1 concept was one of the stars of the Detroit Auto Show this year. It even nabbed fourth place in our Editors' Choice list. While he's a few months behind the car's official reveal, Jay Leno managed to get the only existing concept of the sports coupe wheeled into his garage to take a closer look, and he's pretty impressed.
Leno speaks with Alex Shen and William Chergosky, the exterior and interior chief designers of the FT-1 respectively, to get a better idea of the inspirations behind the concept. Jay heaps high praise on it for mixing Italian and Japanese design and says he likes the look even more than the Lexus LFA. The coupe isn't a product of either country, though. It was penned at Toyota's CALTY Design Research center in Newport Beach, CA.
The designers go into the entire history of the FT-1, and Shen even admits that Toyota design lacks an emotional factor at the moment. It's a fascinating interview behind some of the little touches you might miss at first glance. Unfortunately, the model doesn't have the green light for production yet and may never get made. In any case, scroll down to watch Leno swoon over the coupe.

1980 Toyota Corolla Sr5 Hatchback 3-door 1.8l on 2040-cars

Toyota Corolla for Sale