So, I came across two sites with some slick Corolla mods -- both performance-related mechanical and aesthetic.
http://www.ToyotaCorollaModifications.com and http://www.toymods.org.au.  On the first site, there is a history of the Corolla and its variations in other regions; in particular, Japanese, North American, European, and Oceanic (Australian and New Zealand) versions.  Also, it seems that in  Australia, the slang nickname for Corollas is the abbreviation Rolla as in http://www.RollaClub.com.