Here it is, the Toyota Corolla: the world's best-selling car. From the time of the Corolla's introduction in Japan back in 1966 it's been on a terrific tear, being produced in huge numbers at plants around the world. The Corolla has been sold in so many different versions and used in so many ways over the decades that it's become something more than merely a car: It's background noise. The Toyota Corolla is so ubiquitous that it fades into the background not like wallpaper, but like wallpaper paste.
America got its first taste of the Toyota Corolla back in 1968 when a scrawny rear-drive coupe, four-door sedan and three-door wagon bearing the name went on sale. Built on a 90-inch wheelbase and with only a 1.1-liter four making 60 horsepower aboard, not even Toyota could have imagined it had created a world-beater in the Corolla. But buyers recognized instantly that the Corolla's stalwart construction and modest thirst for fuel amounted to solid value among small cars. Of course the first Toyota Corolla was primitive, but all small cars back then were.
Toyota was methodical in how it developed the Toyota Corolla. The second-generation Corolla kept the basic mechanical layout of the first when it went on sale as a 1970 model. But by 1971 the engine had grown to 1.6 liters in size and made 102 hp. And soon after that, a five-speed manual transmission was added to the line to create the "SR5" model that added a touch of sport to the Toyota Corolla's ruggedness.
While other manufacturers turned to front-wheel drive for their small cars during the 1970s, Toyota stuck with rear drive for the Corolla. But Toyota did introduce other Corolla models, like a "Liftback" hatchback to expand the range. The Toyota Corolla got a new chassis with a coil-spring rear suspension for 1979, but that was a small evolutionary step forward.
Front-wheel drive eventually came to the Toyota Corolla sedan for 1984 and eventually spread across the line. By the late 1990s, the Corolla was pared down to a single four-door sedan body style as other Toyota products were introduced into the Corolla line's former niches.
