Chrysler Valiant 1968 News

How can they not, when the Japanese hero is now the world's all-time favourite with a production total that has just topped 40 million cars. Based on those numbers, the Corolla is nearly twice as popular as the Volkswagen Beetle with 21.5 million sales and even further ahead of the T-Model Ford at 16.5 million, although it has had the advantage of selling at a time when far more people everywhere in the world own and drive cars.My first experience of the Corolla was in the 1960s, soon after the original cars landed in Australia. By the standard of the times, and we're talking here about Falcons and Kingswoods and Valiants, it was tiny and tinny but also solid, sensible and smartly priced. I was only a rider and not a driver at the time, but it also had a fun factor that was missing from other cars of my acquaintance - and you have to remember that an Austin Freeway cringed in our suburban Sydney driveway.The original Corolla helped ignite a small-car revolution and laid the firm foundation that now sees Toyota rampaging along as Australia's favourite carmaker, with annual sales that trump the combined efforts of Holden and Mazda in the other podium places.In America, the Corolla - along with the Honda Civic - is credited with the relatively recent bankruptcy of General Motors and Chrysler. Looking back to the USA in the sixties, it became the 'second' car in many American households and won over women and youngsters driving for the first time. They went Japanese and never came back. Does that sound familiar?Since the late 1970s I've driven every new Corolla model and had some fantastic fun on the side, including flat-out track laps in pursuit of an Australian racing championship and several forest fights in the Australian Rally Championship. And a Corolla has never let me down.And that gets me thinking about the Honda 750 four. You see, the Honda stalwart from the seventies was tagged as the Universal Japanese Motorcycle because it could do anything, from high-speed pursuit duties with the Highway Patrol police to daily commutes to touring the world in the days before long-distance motorcyclists switched to BMWs.In the same way, the Corolla should be known as the Universal Japanese Car. It's as sensible as an accountant, as dependable as a bullet train, and as predictable as a new tech toy from Apple.  It's also a bankable investment on the secondhand scene and will never offend or annoy. It doesn't have the attitude of an Alfa, or the performance of a Porsche, but a UJC is just fine and we have 40 million signatures to prove it.This reporter is on Twitter: @PaulWardGover 

Driving the auction fever were record prices achieved for a pair of classic Australian muscle cars of the 1960s and '70s.A genuine one-owner Bathurst race specification 1967 Holden Monaro GTS 327 was sold for an Australian record $220,000, accompanied by cheers from a crowd of more than a thousand people.The auctioneers, Shannons, had expected a price between $100,000 and $130,000."Australian muscle cars of the early Bathurst era have been the hottest segment of the classic car market over the last year or two, but the extent to which the result exceeded our expectations just shows the passion these cars arouse," said Shannons' national auction manager Christophe Boribon."The auction showed there is continuing strong demand for muscle cars, particularly amongst baby boomers, and the market shows no sign of weakening."Minutes later, a painstakingly restored one-owner 1971 Valiant Charger R/T E38 "Bathurst" coupe, which had been expected to attract a price between $70-100,000, sold for an Australian record $128,000.The car will go into a private Victorian collection, much to the relief of the man who had owned it since new, 69-year-old Charles Edwards of Hay in western New South Wales."It's sad to see it sold. I would have liked to have seen it passed in, but I know it's going to a good home," said Mr Edwards.The former owner says the credit for the record price should go to David Norris from West Wyalong who spent nine years returning the car to showroom condition.Another immaculately restored lot, a 1963 150cc Vespa scooter, sold for $8,300 - more than $2,000 above predictions.A 1940s children's pedal car sold for $5,500 - roughly double the expected price.Two antique petrol bowsers - from the 1940s and '50s - were both bought by the same bidder for prices as much as 50 per cent above predictions.The chief executive of the Australian International Motor Show, Peter Sturrock, said the auction results were paralleled by strong orders for new cars at the motor show."Automotive brands exhibiting at the show are extremely happy with the quality and quantity of sales interest the motor show has generated," said Mr Sturrock."The message from this year's Australian International Motor Show is that consumer confidence remains very high.""Regardless of rising interest rates the collectable motor vehicle market is still going very strong," said Mr Boribon.