Between Bryan’s lifted Crown Vic and our 77 Monte Carlo “Survival Vehicle” build, I’d like to think that we here at GENHO were pretty active during the early days of the modern off road passenger car craze that seems to have taken over social media in the last few years. Living at the very edge of town in the Arizona desert, we grew up thrashing whatever vehicles we were able to afford on as many dirt roads as possible so it only makes sense to want to take that feeling to the next level, regardless of what the vehicles’ designers original intentions were for the car. Plus there’s just something oddly satisfying about using the “wrong” tool for the job sometimes. I think that mentality has really stuck with us over the years.

My first car was a 1988 Corolla SR5 that I purchased from a friend’s parents for $300 in late 2000. It was obviously neither an off road vehicle nor particularly desirable. The wrong tool for almost any job, you might say. To this day, any time I mention having owned an 80s Corolla 5 Speed coupe, I’m met with an excited “oh, an AE86?” which i’m forced to deflate via admission that it was in fact, just an utterly enervated front-wheel drive AE92 with a pretty mean trailer hitch-shaped dent on the hood and a bunch of Steve Vai tapes sliding around under the seats (they came with the car). Although it wasn’t particularly fast safe, or even that much fun to drive on the road at all, it did move under its own dog-tired power (sort of), which meant it was still a blast to throw around out in the desert where it spent much of its short life under my ownership. Feel free to put your imagination to use on how that went down.

I think it’s human nature to view the past with rose-colored glasses, and sometimes, when I recall the fun we used to have tearing up every expanse of dirt we could find our way into, the old Corolla doesn’t seem like such a POS in my head. It may as well had been a Raptor or a TRX as far as 17 year old me was concerned. It was more than enough to get me into (and out of) some pretty rough medium speed situations.

Fast forward over 20 years (has it really been that long?) and I’m at SEMA 2022 stumbling across a fully realized manifestation of what my memories of my first car meant to me, in all of its hazy, definitely colored-by-nostalgia, rosy-tinted glory. I didn’t see a whole lot of people paying much attention to it for any other reason than sheer novelty, which is fair. There is also the fact that this Corolla seems to be inspired by a similar concept for an AE86. But I just want you to know, owner of this legit off road-converted AE92 (yes, I looked under it and saw the solid rear axle, this thing is actually for real), I get it. It’s hard to catch my attention in a sea of high-power American classics which is what really gets me going these days, but this Corolla is just so far up my (dirt) alley (sorry) that I just had to give it some recognition.

Clearly, I’m just here to wax nostalgic on this one. If you’re looking for more information about this Corolla, head on over to the KC HiLites site where there is a full write up on the car which is owned by Randy Wimenta, who works for KC.