The Little Corolla That Could

After Testing Several Toyota Engines in His Te27 Corolla, “BIG MIKE” Muniz Goes With a Rotary and Never Looks Back
 

- Rocky Pacifico

While we’re all familiar with four-stroke and maybe even two-stroke engines, a Wankel rotary bridges the gap between three. 

Three strokes for a complete power cycle consisting of an eccentric shaft and a trio of pointed rotors. The result? “Brap, brap, brap!” We know it’s the most overused term to describe the noise from a rotary, and we all know exactly what it sounds like. But it’s one of the last things you’d expect to see when you open the hood of “Big Mike” Muniz’s ’73 Toyota Corolla.

The story behind Big Mike’s Corolla is certainly one to admire, considering most enthusiasts tend to switch the make and model of project cars they build all the time and without warning. Big Mike grew up in the Philippines. He tells us about the day when he was walking to school and heard the wail of twin side drafts. Completely mesmerized, he waited for the vehicle to come into view. Low and behold, it was the first TE27 he had been subjected to, bright red in color. It was his first love, and it wasn’t until he had finished school and moved to California that he would think about purchasing his very own TE27.