The comedic comeback line “how long is a piece of string” has been around at least since the mid-19th century. StackExchange says string was a way of explaining something unknown or variable in the world we could see, long before string theory tackled what we couldn’t see.

Pieces of string are also the yardstick for determining when a car is considered ‘classic’. In the UK, it might have to be 40 years old for tax exemption, while in America the collecting community sees 20 years as a starting point. In Australia, insurers might say a classic car has to be at least 15 years old, and recognised as a classic vehicle.

By that standard, even the last of the Hyundai Tiburons sold in Australia would qualify by age – but would they be “recognised”? Plus, is an early 90s more mundane car (albeit rare these days) a “classic”?

That’s the question I was pondering, when I looked at car-sharing (renting out) a piece of Australian automotive history: an Aussie-made 1991 Toyota Corolla sedan.

I’d found this low-kilometre example on Facebook Marketplace, at a car dealer just outside a regional town. On arrival, it was out the back of a shed full of cars, situated among cane fields. It was priced quite low, and the dealer said it was a trade-in he didn’t want.

A solo test drive revealed a Toyota that was clean, had obviously been owned by an older person who added a weather shield and headlight protectors, and a car that had seen more mechanical maintenance than models much younger. On my return, I bought it and arranged to pick it up. It became car 52 in my personal automotive history.

The 1.6 litre carburettor-engined Corolla did still need some maintenance, with an exhaust leak plus new tyres and rear shocks on the list. While that work was done, I made arrangements to list it as a “classic” on a car-sharing website. It has a category for cars over 25 years old. The site asked me all sorts of questions about the Corolla, and didn’t raise a red flag on its listing until the very end, when I’d already arranged car-sharing insurance.

Before the listing would go live, the site told me to talk to support. Now they wanted to know more about the car. They asked why I was listing a 33-year-old Toyota for car-sharing – I said it was to appeal to nostalgic renters, who grew up with the AE92 Corolla. The Dandenong-built 4A-F engine model is quickly becoming rare on the roads.

However, they refused to list it, saying the car was not rare or unique enough – but are those qualities what defines a “classic”? I checked on their website, and the only east coast listing for a car older than 25 was a 70s MGB sports car. Is that all a classic is: British-made, with Lucas electrics straight out of the Dark Ages?

With no rental use for the Corolla, I sold it to a first-time driver who loved the early 90s style and wanted a clean example of it. He sure got it – with no strings attached.