TOYOTA COROLLA LEVIN TE27

The Corolla TE27 presented at the 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed has been built by Midgley Motor Sport as a tribute to Ove Andersson, the late founder and president of Team Toyota Europe, who championed the car’s potential in the 1970s. It would no doubt have been one of the most successfulToyotarally cars, had it not been for the fact that its 180bhp 1,588cc engine couldn’t match the power of rivals with much larger capacities.

The TE27 still achieved some fantastic results, driven by Andersson, Björn Waldergård and Hannu Mikkola, who won the 1000 lakes rally in the car.  It made its debut on the 1973 RAC Rally in eight-valve form with only 150bhp. It returned in 1974 as a full Toyota works car, with the addition of a Yamaha 16-valve cylinder head giving a very respectable 180bhp from the small engine. Waldergård finished fourth overall and won the 1600 class by a very large margin.

By 1976 Andersson had further improved the specification, introducing a four-link rear axle and ventilated disc brakes all round.  It was popularly known as the Group 4 Corolla, but in fact was a Group 2 car.

Although horsepower was lacking, Andersson wanted to stick with the Corolla and planned to assemble the next-generation model with a two-litre engine. However, this never went ahead due to the arrival of Celica asToyota’s performance model.

The Midgley Motorsport car has been built as close to the Group 4 Corolla specification as possible, with authentic parts that are still available.

TOYOTA COROLLA LEVIN TE27 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS