My '84's Storied Past.....and Present!

[terceldude]

Very nice Tercel indeed!! I wonder how far Mr. Paladin has driven the Tercel, i.e. how many states he visited using that car, if he did, and if his last name is German because it sounds it! Also Lake George is Georgensee in German!

[ARCHINSTL]

...Mr. Paladin... and if his last name is German because it sounds it!

Paladin is derived from French through Italian and ultimately Latin from the name for the Palatine Hill...

...Also Lake George is Georgensee in German!

And Sehenundsee in English is the Look and Sea.
Tom M.

[Ron B.]

Very nice Tercel indeed!! I wonder how far Mr. Paladin has driven the Tercel, i.e. how many states he visited using that car, if he did, and if his last name is German because it sounds it! Also Lake George is Georgensee in German!

Thanks for the compliment regarding the car.

David Paladin was born in the bottom of Canyon de Chelly, Arizona in 1926. His father was a Catholic missionary priest and his mother a Navajo. He was given the name "Chethlahe" (pronounced Chet-lá-hay) which is Navajo for "Little-Turtle-Who-Cries-in-the-Night." The name "Paladin" comes from the Paladin Mesa on the reservation. Navajo are a matriarchy, so children are born into the mother's clan. His mother's clan name was "Bitter Water" but that was not specific enough for school authorities so they gave Navajo children names based upon a landmark like a trading post or geographical area. Since he lived near Paladin Mesa that is the name the school gave him!

Before he became a shaman and an artist, he was a runaway adventurer at 14 years old, a soldier, an OSS spy, a POW in Dachau and a decorated hero before he turned 20.

The car was bought in March 1984 and David Paladin died in December 1984 so he didn't have much time to drive the car. His widow, Lynda became the sole driver of the car for the next 24 years.

He used the wagon to deliver his art to various sales and exhibitions but I don't know how far he traveled before he died. His art is displayed in Washington D.C at the State Dept., Dept of the Interior, the White House, the United Nations and many museums.

We have been in contact with Lynda and she seems to be a very sweet and gentle person. She is grateful that David's car is in good hands. The next time we speak with her I will ask about their travels in the car.

Cheers!

Ron B. in Lake George, NY

[Ace]

This is an interesting story which I happened to see while researching a problem. I notice it is an old post.

I can't help but wonder if it was really practical to "restore" an old Tercel with a quarter-million miles on it. How many more miles could you expect to get out of it?

[dcn]

A quarter million mile Terc might not even be halfway through its life yet!

[Ace]

A quarter million mile Terc might not even be halfway through its life yet!

That's not a realistic expectation in the real world. Most Tercels are scrapped after 200,000+ miles, which is still good life for an econo-car. Mechanically competent people can keep them going longer but the economics of "free" labor distorts the equation.

[Petros]

I am coming up on 400,000 miles on mine, many very hard miles or steep gravel roads (I use the 4wd daily). of course almost all of the normal "wear" items have been replace several times (I will be installing its fourth clutch soon), but each repair is a small price compared to replacing it. I expect to get at least another 100k out of it once I fix the brake cable, clutch, a front suspension bushing, among a few other minor issues. likely much longer as long as it is not wrecked, I can still get parts, and I can keep the rust at bay.

[ARCHINSTL]

Cheers!Ron B. in Lake George, NY

Ron B- I live in CA now but I am from upstate NY! My sister lives in Lake George, and owns Fire and Ice bar and grill on Canada st

Ron passed away in 2012. While "quite opinionated" about various, his work on his T4WD and his Econoline van was nothing short of remarkable; he had a fantastic devotion to detail.
Tom M.

[ARCHINSTL]

Petros might be able to comment further on Ron's T4WD; he stayed in touch with Ron's widow for at least a while.
The last I recall him saying as that she was doing nothing on the car or truck; of course, that was a few years ago.
Tom M.

[Petros]

She had contacted me a number of weeks after his passing, going through his things. I think we had traded perhaps 600 emails off forum, he was a very intersting guy, we shared a lot of stories about cars, careers, politics, imagrant family, etc. I traded a few emails with her as well, she was going to wait a bit to decided what to do with Ron's car collection. He had a nice big shop, all set up a like one of those TV show mod shops, shinny and clean, all tools neatly inventoried on wall racks or roll aways. He won awards for his many car projects at car shows because he was very much a picky perfectionist (he even joked about it), and he kept the shop the same way. He was restoring a Tercel he bought from the orginal owner in Arizona or New Mexico as I recall, no rust, but all the plastic parts had turned to dust. In the PNW, I could find "like new" plastic parts because we do not see much sun, so I became his supplier of trim and hard to find body parts. I sent a number of boxes of parts to him, there were not even any Tercels in any NY wrecking yards, so if he could not buy it new, I was his sourse since at the time there were usually two or three (or more) Tercel4wd in local wrecking yards here (not true now).

I had offered to his widow, once she was ready, that my wife and I could go there and I would put the Tercel back together and get it on the road, only as a favor to her and in Ron's memory. We had become "on-line" friends, and had talked on the phone several times too. If I could complete what Ron had started, she could get a decent price for it. AS it was all taken apart, it would be hauled away as scrap since there was not a big market for Tercel4wd in NY. I told her that would be a shame, since nice clean examples of these cars were pretty rare. I also told her how to get the best price for the other collectable classics that he owned.

She said when she was ready she would contact me. Not sure of the status of the cars or his shop, likely they are still in the same state they were 5 years ago. His death came as a shock to everyone, he was in his 70's, but very active and full of energy. Though he did have some health issues, particularly with his heart, which is what failed right after they had breakfast together. He was a great guy, spent his career as a broadcast engineer at the major News studios in NY city (he had lots of interesting stories about that too, run-ins with many of the big ego news personalities you might know). His patience and determination to make the car "like new" was a marvel, he would go to way more trouble than most would ever think of doing. For example, he took the instrument cluster and inclinometer apart to detail clean it, refresh the numbers and markings...he thought they looked faded.. and reassemble. They looked shinny and new when he was done. He inspired me to take better care of my own car, and keep it clean (hard to do when I drive miles of gravel roads daily), and fix all the little comedic problems that I usually ignore. Alas, my Tercel has fallen back into its more natural "wild" state without him to motivate me to keep up with every nick, and scratch.

[Petros]

Abra-Cadaver,

those all sound like fun interesting odd cars, and good for you, saving a Tercel from the crusher! happens too often, people just think it is an old car and do not want to fix it, and too often just send it to the wreckers.