Corolla became popular because of their Success in the 70's and 80's
Those Corollas were much better built than the ones being made today. They were much more sturdy and strong which drove through very difficult, limited and poor road conditions. Those roads were from the 70's to 80's
Only recently over the past 15 to 20 years the roads have expanded and improved enough that the cars of today can be driven on them. If we were to drive the cars built today on the roads of 30-40 years back they would not last more than one to two years.
So this Corolla of 86 and others of that era were much better cars which were simple but very strong and are still on the roads today. Probably because they were in those days, all built in Japan.
Excellent Trip.
Sulaiman