1977 Toyota Corolla “Rock n Rolla”

By: Jared Govender

About 40 years ago Shaiur Matadins grandfather asked his father Ron to choose numbers and play the weekend lottery for him. As fate would have it, he those 5 lucky numbers which resulted in Shauirs grandfather winning the jackpot. Which in those days was R3500-00. While that sum of money may be just about enough to buy yourself a set of second-hand rims these days, back then it could buy you an entire car. In this case a 1977 Toyota Corolla. And it has remained in their family ever since. Being passed down from grandfather to his dad Ron and eventually to Shaiur himself.

When he inherited the Rolla it was completely stock standard and in need of some urgent pimping. It had the factory fitted 1600cc lump with a lazy automatic transmission. And that was ultimately the reason for the impending transformation that lay ahead for the modest baby blue Toyota. Shaiur began to cotton on to the fact that a retro cruiser done correctly would give him way more street-cred than a Velociti with a cone filter. Which was the order of the day at the campus parking lot.

So Shaiur began researching and trolling scrapyards for donor cars and eventually found an original Toyota SR5 that was being stripped for spares. He pounced on it and salvaged everything he needed to convert his car to manual. This included the gearbox, clutch, pressure plate, flywheel and even the clutch pedal. After the conversion was done, he was well and truly bitten by the modifying bug and he continued searching for go faster bits. Deciding that he wanted a 1800cc 3T powerplant to replace the underwhelming 2T motor. Once he sourced an engine, he sent it off to FullRace for some fettling.

The bottom end was balanced using new KS pistons and a knife-edge crank. While the original 2T head was ported and flowed with a set or TRD dual valve springs being added into the mix as well. A brace of 40mm Weber side drafts ensures that this Rolla now performs in a way that the stock car never could. While a 100mm Jap box at the rear gives off a raspy growl when the loud pedal is mashed into the floor by Shaiur.

With the performance of the Rolla now sorted, he turned his attention to the exterior and styling. He figured that all the car really needed was some subtle things to freshen it up. But instead of using JDM parts, he opted for Golf Mk1 bits like a duckbill spoiler, crosshair headlamps and wheel arches. They suit the car perfectly, annoying some old school VW fanatics in the process.

The final piece of the puzzle was the sound installation. Shaiur and Ron tackled this task in-house opting for a Kenwood head unit up front and a pair of RF Punch 10-inch subs at the rear. Everything in between like the amps and splits is from the XTC Hooka series. The combination of these components makes this car a rockin Rolla.