Toyota Corolla 1300 GL four-door sedan
Toyota placed the fully redesigned fourth-generation Corolla on sale in Japan on March 23, 1979. This page follows the four-door 1300 GL sedan shown in Toyota's launch archive as E-KE70-EEKNS, with the 1,290 cc 4K-U engine and rear-wheel drive—not an export-market Deluxe, later facelift, wagon, van or 1600 GT.
1979 Toyota Corolla 1.3 E70 sedan front three-quarter · Rutger van der Maar · CC BY 2.0
Research pending
A matching completed auction sale has not been verified for this exact year, body, trim, engine, transmission and market.
Joyride shows this gap instead of substituting an asking price, unsold bid or mismatched special vehicle.
More than a set of wheels.
The E70 Corolla arrived as Toyota answered late-1970s pressure for fuel economy, comfort, quietness and emissions control. It kept the engine in front and the driven wheels at the rear, but stretched the wheelbase and replaced the previous leaf-sprung rear layout with a coil-sprung four-link axle. Toyota offered many bodies and engines, so Joyride keeps the exact Japanese four-door 1300 GL identity separate from similar-looking export cars.
Look a little closer.
Toyota's fourth Corolla was the only Corolla generation described by the company as using four round headlights in Japan. The representative cover is a 1979 export-market 1.3 sedan with rectangular lamps, a visible reminder that a matching year and body do not prove the same market specification.
Photos show an example of the model or generation. The pictured vehicle’s year, equipment, or modifications can differ from the specification described here.
Comfort changed underneath the car
Toyota replaced the earlier semi-elliptic leaf-spring rear arrangement with a lateral-rod four-link axle and coil springs. That let the engineers manage axle location and springing separately, supporting the launch goal of a smoother ride and better stability while retaining rear-wheel drive.
Source: Toyota 75 Years · fourth-generation Corolla ↗A model code beats a familiar badge
Toyota's launch archive identifies the pictured Japanese car as the four-door 1300 GL E-KE70-EEKNS. The earlier queue label said Deluxe, but no reviewed Japanese source supported that grade. Correcting the badge prevents an export-market name from being blended into the domestic launch car.
Source: Toyota launch release · 1979 Corolla and Sprinter ↗Where these facts come from
- Toyota launch release · 1979 Corolla and Sprinter
- Toyota Corolla generations · fourth generation
- Toyota 75 Years · fourth-generation Corolla
Selected facts checked for this edition. Some source pages link to broader model families. Last reviewed 2026-10-06.