Mint '76 Toyota Corolla KE30

Silvera

I went to the Shamrock Car Club show today (near Enfield) and spotted a mint Corolla K30.

It is a white automatic saloon, 76-KE reg and has only 30k miles on the clock! As you can imagine, it is in unbelievably good condition (original paintwork) and must be the best K30 in the country!

I spoke with the owner (friendly guy) and he told me that it was originally owned by an elderly gentleman in the UK and had been in storage for 14 years after his demise.

It was put up for sale in the Autotrader c.2 years ago and a Toyota collector from Donegal, a Toyota main dealer (with c.30 classic Toyota's in his collection!) dropped everything and dashed over to the UK to buy it.
Apparently the tyres were rotten on it so the dealer had four tyres fitted - plus a new battery - and drove it home to Donegal with no problems encountered along the way!

The current owner also has two KE20's, a hatchback Celica and a 1976 Carina awaiting restoration - so another few toyota's should be appearing on the show circuit over the coming years.

Incidentially, he also mentioned that the Donegal dealer I is selling off some of his collection, so any toyota fans out there should check it out (He didn't tell me the name of the dealer - but there can't be that many main toyota dealers in Donegal).

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The show itself was a small affair with c.80 cars and c.20 tractors. Cars that caught my attention were the K30, a 1980 Starlet, a 1980 Starlet and a 1981 Fiesta - cars of my youth

Blue850

It was good little show, I was there with a friend who had a yellow 1972 Mini 850. only 33k from new with one owner in England, he's only done about 300 miles in it in 2 years, his usual show car is a Mk3 Zodiac.

BrianD3

Good to hear of another KE30 survivor! Also good story about it making a trip to Donegal after 14 years storage

I don't recall ever seeing a KE30 automatic or one in white. Yellow, red and cream seemed to be the most popular colours in my area. It is strange to think of KE30s being imported from the UK to here as I reckon it wasn't that good a seller over there. Whereas in 1970s/80s Ireland it sometimes seemed like every 2nd car was a K30.

Silvera

Update to my first post - the owner of the KE30 also owns two KE20's (not two Starlets as I first posted).

Yes, BrianD3, it's great to know of another survivor......and what a survivor it is !!

I recall seeing one or two white K30's in my youth - a saloon and a two-door estate. But I agree, most were red, yellow or cream....with the occassional green, brown/bronze or (as in the case of my brother's '76 estate) dark blue models about.