WATCH: The million kilometre Toyota Corolla SR5

Boy racers do get older, but they never quite grow up. And Joe Lala is living, breathing proof of that reality. There is an almost childlike joy and excitement in the eyes of the 56-year-old as he offers my colleague, Shaun, a ride in his 1979 Toyota Corolla SR5.

Shaun wants to get video from the inside of the car, where the soundtrack of the hotted-up 1.8 engine is best savoured.

Joe dumps the clutch, the twin side-draught Weber carbs suck deeply and the race-tuned exhaust howls as he pulls away. As they disappear from view, I can hear Joe giving the car a serious work-out.

It’s music to my hears, sounding as it does pretty much like a 1980s race track… or illegal drag race night.
When he gets back, Joe is grinning from ear to ear, like a kid.

Shaun’s eyes are wide and he has a bit of a nervous chuckle. I check out the video on Shaun’s phone. I hear wheelspin and bouncing “axle tramp” as Joe floors it from standstill.

Even heading into old age, this car is not slow – that I can see from how fast the scenery is flashing by. Joe reckons it will stay with a modern “hot hatch”, like a Golf GTI, in first and second gear…

It’s incredible to think that not only has this special Corolla only been owned by Joe, from new – but that, despite its hard life (Joe’s lead right foot is, he says, “legendary” in the South of Joburg), the pushrod Corolla motor has just hit one million kilometres without ever failing or having to be overhauled.

What’s that they used to say? Everything keeps going right?

ALSO WATCH: Red Bull spinning: Introducing the top 12 spinners heading to Shay’ iMoto 2022

“I think that when you use a car the way it is supposed to be used, it’s good for the motor,” says Joe. To underline his point, he stops chatting, goes over to the car starts the engine and revs it clearly beyond the redline.

There is not a sign of blue-grey smoke from the exhaust, showing that, internally, the engine is still incredibly strong.

“I can’t really rev it much above 6 500 (rpm) because it still has pushrods – if I had solid lifters, I could go to 8 000 easy…”

Joe does concede that there is one of the pushrods which has been bent… possibly as a result of some over-enthusiasm. That’s on the “to do list”, though.

Joe’s SR5 was originally a 1.6 but it wasn’t long before he upgraded to a 1.8 for the extra power. Not satisfied with the “Stage 2” of the then TRD (Toyota Racing Developments) Corollas then on the market, Joe went to camshaft wizard Richie Jute, who produced a special, Stage 3, near-race profile.

Coupled with a special exhaust manifold, the mods gave the Corolla much better breathing ability. Joe doesn’t know what power it made but the SR5 has many, many scalps underneath its “robot racing” belt, you suspect.

The car still looks good although Joe says “maybe the paint needs a refresh soon” and it wears a few little scars here and there, because “this was a daily driver for many years”.

In his boy racer youth (he settled down to marriage and kids quite late in life, he admits, so his wild years were quite something), “we would sit around on a Friday and someone would say ‘Let go to Durban for a beer’…. And off we would go. Drive down, party a bit, sleep on the beach and drive back…”

He remembers the roadhouse days when the okes would gather of an evening (sometimes with girls, sometimes not) where it was all cars, car cars.

ALSO READ: Red Bull spinning: The history of the Shay’ iMoto competition

That, of course, was in the days when fuel was cheap and Joe got a good mileage rate from the company he worked for, but these days, “eish those things (he points at the Webers), they drink…”

Mind you, the cost of fun may have increased over the years, but you just know that for Joe, the enjoyment he gets out of the Corolla is cheap, priceless even.

“This car has been part of my life for most of my life. It’s part of me.”

Now that his 12-year-old son is showing an interest in things mechanical and Joe is gradually introducing him to a few of the basic service processes, like oil changes, it is clear that this is going to be one lucky kid when Dad finally lets go of the SR5 and passes it along.

We spend too long chatting and the chill starts coming up as the sun sinks… time to get going. But Joe’s enthusiasm is infectious.

“This car makes me feel young again,” he says, the pleasure in his face is plain to see.
I know what he means. The Corollas SR5 takes me back – to a simpler time. Simpler technology. Simpler life.

Sidedraught carbs, close-ratio gearboxes, howling exhausts. The sound, and smell of the freedom of a world of endless possibilities.

Thanks for the time travel, Joe.