Postby smokey1275 » May 9th, 2007, 11:46 am
The Corolla was launched in Japan in October 1966. Eiji Toyoda, chairman of the company, said it worked hard to create popular demand, and disputes that Toyota rode a wave of private car ownership that was taking off in the mid-1960s. Its major competitor was the Datsun 1000, released a few months before the Corolla.
The initial car, the KE1x series was tiny, with a 90 in (2286 mm) wheelbase.
Transmission was by a 4-speed floor shift manual gearbox or a 2-speed floor or column shift automatic transmission, supporting rear wheel drive. At the time, floor shift transmissions were considered only for trucks and 4 speeds implied that the engine didn't have enough torque to drive through only 3 gears (more torque allows each gear to have a wider spread of engine revolutions, thus requiring less gears as governs). This was a risk, but the effectiveness of the new system gained in popularity.
The suspension in front was MacPherson struts supported by a transverse leaf spring beneath the engine cross-member, with leaf springs connected to a solid axle in back.
The engine was originally meant to be for the under 1000cc tax class but was changed late in the design process to be 1077cc in order to beat the forthcoming Datsun 1000. This put it into a higher tax class but this gave it some prestige over the Datsun 1000 - helped by its "100cc advantage" advertising campaign. In August 1969 the engine was upgraded to 1166cc. Special twin carburetter K-B (1077cc) and 3K-B (1166cc) engines were used in the SL grade models for an extra 13HP.
following technology at that time of its inherent development , the next generation would see moderate changes plus some new addtions
