Faults:

Clutch cable clip fell off in the middle of a intersection (great place, huh?) The clip that held it on the firewall was just a thin U shaped piece of metal, however it is pretty damned important, and could not put the car into gear.

Lots of rust around the rear wheel arches, and this spread alarmingly quickly. This began when the car was about 8 years old.

Seats and dash cheap looking, badly faded and cracked.

In door speakers cutting in and out due to worn speaker cables (poor design).

Rear tail lights are very faded.

General Comments:

A very reliable car, but not terribly comfortable. Didn't do anything well, cornering was pretty bad, suspension crude, and the chassis felt loose (you felt the car flex on a bad pot hole for instance).

Honestly, although this car was awful in many ways, it was honest and reliable. It only broke down once, which is not bad.

The car shook quite a bit when driving over 90 kph, not that we drove on the highway often. Not sure if this was due to the car being rear ended previously, but some have suggested the chassis may have gone out of alignment due to that.

Let's be honest, back in 1980, all cars rusted like hell, and had faded interiors after a few years. Although the little Corolla was a good car for the era, it is a pretty bad car when compared to cars made today in almost every way!