Road Trip! Anyone on the way?

General discussion about our beloved Tercel 4WD cars
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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Road Trip! Anyone on the way?

Post by Petros »

I am going to be driving the length of Interstate 90 from Seattle to Boston (coast to coast in one trip!) starting next week. Anyone along the way would like a quick hello as we drive through?

We expect to be on the road from April 19 through 23. Driving through Eastern WA, ID, Montana, N. Dakota, Wisconsin, Illinois, norther Ohio, up state NY, than to MA. We expect to make 4 overnight stops, and will spend a few days in the Boston area.

It is fun to meet other forum members, even better if you have a place for us to spend the night (my wife and I), otherwise we will likely use airbnb. Will try to post trip pictures after our return.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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ARCHINSTL
Goldie Forever
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My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis

Re: Road Trip! Anyone on the way?

Post by ARCHINSTL »

Peter - out of curiosity - have you had any contact with Ron Blauchut's widow in the last few years? As I recall, they lived in Lake George NY - near the VT border, quite a ways North of NYC.
Did she ever say what happened to the Econoline or the T4WD?
Tom
T4WD augury?
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oldfaithful
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My tercel:: 1984 Tercel 4WD

Re: Road Trip! Anyone on the way?

Post by oldfaithful »

Good luck on your trip to you and your wife Petros. Guess you wont be swinging by Nova Scotia LOL. Your taking the Terc I trust are you?
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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
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Re: Road Trip! Anyone on the way?

Post by Petros »

No contact with Ron's widow since about six to ten weeks after he passed away. Yes, they lived in upstate New York, I thought about emailing her to see what is happening with her, perhaps drop by on my way to Boston.

I will be delivering an '85 T4wd I got from one forum member in NV, and after some clean up and a number of repairs and improvements, deliver it to an other forum member in Boston. His last one rusted away and will not pass the safety inspection, so I am bringing a rust free one from the west coast. Otherwise I can get a good price for it here locally without the trip, but I thought a cross country road trip would be fun.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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irowiki
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Location: Farmington, NM

Re: Road Trip! Anyone on the way?

Post by irowiki »

Flying back or buying another car?
Former Tercel Enthusiast (not a practical family car anymore but they still have a place in my heart)

Site administrator, if something is broken, PM me!

87 Corolla FX16, 105k
94 Jamboree RV (Ford E-350), 90k
95 Camry Wagon, 170k
97 4runner, 275k
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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Road Trip! Anyone on the way?

Post by Petros »

actually I checked my old emails, she contacted me with an update about 2 years after Ron passed, she had sold the Econoline to one of Ron's buddy in the Econoline club, as of 2013 the Tercel4wd was still on jack stands with the interior out of it (down to the metal), and much of the mechanical parts in various stages of disassembly/reassembly.

I had offered to fly out there and get it back on the road for her at just my transportation costs, but I had not heard from her since. At the time she was contemplating selling their home with the fancy work shop Ron had built, real estate had not rebounded yet and it was a heavy burned to carry the mortgage by herself.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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Petros
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Posts: 11930
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Road Trip! Anyone on the way?

Post by Petros »

irowiki wrote:Flying back or buying another car?
flying back, I do not have time to drive both ways. and it is actually cheaper than driving.

Also, not sure anything used there is worth bringing back because of the use of salt on the roads. Though I have notices that on the east coast, import cars tend to lose their value faster (not as popular used I guess), further south where they do not use salt would be a good place to look. You can buy good used Hondas, Subarus, Toyotas, etc (not fixers) for several thousand less than the equivalent cars on the west coast. I even discovered that about a ten year old Mercedes 2 seat convertible in good condition will sell for about $5000 less in say south Carolina than they sell for on the west coast cities. That alone would pay for a really nice vacation, and leave you with some cash for your trouble. These are not fixers, just normal used car prices, for cars in good condition with low miles, east and west coast differance for import cars.

The problem with the Mercedes is you would have a lot of cash tied up in it, and if you hit a dear, or have a major break down, you would have to have it fixed since it is too much money to abandon to a wrecking yard. Though I have not had to do it yet, if I have only $600 into a fixer Tercel and it gets totaled, it would not be such a hard ship to sell it to a wrecking yard for $200 and just fly home. You would not do that if you have $7000 into it. though my wife really likes the idea of driving across the county in a late model Mercedes convertible, I am not that brave. I think the 35 year old Tercel is more reliable and much easier to fix if necessary, and easier to sell in the Seattle area too.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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