my other wagon

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rabalc
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My tercel:: 1985 SR5 4WD

my other wagon

Post by rabalc »

As I was loading the picture of my score today I stumbled across the album of my other wagon. It was a 96 Roadmaster that I did a few mods to.
They never came from the factory with buckets and floor shift, nor as a GS option. I sold my wagon 2 years ago to help fund the restoration on my wifes old ford seen in the background of a few pics


http://s144.photobucket.com/user/rabalc ... roadmaster
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dlb
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My tercel:: '87 sr5, '83 dlx parts car
Location: bc, canada

Re: my other wagon

Post by dlb »

the guy who owns the local auto parts shop has a love affair with these things too. i can't remember seeing one besides his though. i always wondered what it was. it looks like a modern version of the old land yacht station wagons from way back when, they're so huge. what kind of engine do they have? i won't be surprised if they were available with a v8.
rabalc
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Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2015 9:09 pm
My tercel:: 1985 SR5 4WD

Re: my other wagon

Post by rabalc »

dlb,
Yes, they have a cult like following also, the 94-96 models came standard with a slightly detuned (only 260 hp) version of the LT1 Corvette engine(300 hp), only difference being we got steel heads vs aluminum. Some..ok most... people would laugh at stoplights until you stood on the gas and left them in a cloud of tire smoke. Quite the difference to our underpowered Tercels. I have always had a great love for all wagons, I learned to drive in a 78 Olds custom cruiser, one of the land yachts you speak of, took it to prom twice.
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irowiki
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Re: my other wagon

Post by irowiki »

If it wasn't for the fact you don't see those in CO/NM anymore, I'd want one!

What kind of MPG does it get?
Former Tercel Enthusiast (not a practical family car anymore but they still have a place in my heart)

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87 Corolla FX16, 105k
94 Jamboree RV (Ford E-350), 90k
95 Camry Wagon, 170k
97 4runner, 275k
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splatterdog
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Re: my other wagon

Post by splatterdog »

What a tank! I still like it though. Probably my favorite car was my 72 country squire with a 429. Rusted, faded woodgrain, and old when I got it. Except it still only had 57k on it and that big block was still very fresh. Blew the doors off of most competitors. Really got to hurt getting beat by a turd grocery getter! One time I had 5 passengers to a Camaro's driver. The engine ended up finishing off two more vehicles over the course of fifteen abusive years. Did most of my go to jail speeds with it and not one speeding ticket too. The final one was a 77 f150 supercab with 32 inch tires and 2.75 gears. Could break 60 in first, 100 in second.

Over 100mph, you could almost watch the gas gauge drop...

Drove my first T4 when I had it. It was snowing heavy that day. At the time I never thought a s***box could impress me. My old wagon(with posi traction) couldn't compare..
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Petros
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Re: my other wagon

Post by Petros »

there was a time when large family station wagons were very popular, you could put a trailer hitch on them and haul a big boat, or a travel trailer, and still carry all your camping gear, and six children plus mom and dad. I remember going on hiking trips in these kind of big family wagons when I was in the Boy Scouts, it seemed whole troop and the scout master could fit in two of these land yachts. I also remember the other parents praising the newest and largest one.

When idiotic government regulations made them difficult to include in the line up, everyone switched to SUVs, as if that was an improvement. One of the reasons I resent the government "social engineering" consumer desires. the results are always worse.
'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)
rabalc
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My tercel:: 1985 SR5 4WD

Re: my other wagon

Post by rabalc »

irowiki wrote:If it wasn't for the fact you don't see those in CO/NM anymore, I'd want one!

What kind of MPG does it get?
That is the area you need search for, like the Tercels, they also were very prone to rust.
If you were to drive them nice you would easily get 25 mpg, but tough to do with that kind of hp.
They came with true dual exhaust, so a quick muffler change there was a great old muscle car sound
and enough power to back it
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dlb
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Re: my other wagon

Post by dlb »

looks like the average fuel economy according to users on fuelly is about 17 mpg. ouch!

http://www.fuelly.com/car/buick/roadmaster
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ARCHINSTL
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Re: my other wagon

Post by ARCHINSTL »

One of those old Buick wagontanks (I think early '80s) saved my middle daughter's life in 1986.
Her BGF and she were on their way to HS when they were hit from behind and from both sides in a highway collision here in STL.
The LEO said that, had they not been in such a boat, that they would have at least been seriously injured. The collision was not the fault of the driver (not my daughter).
That was the car the BGF's father insisted on her driving and Boy!, was he correct!
He promptly bought another one for her and this time, she recognized his wisdom and did not kvetch!
Tom M.
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Petros
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Re: my other wagon

Post by Petros »

my dad drove a large Oldmobile Delta 88 in the sixties, it got 8 mpg. Of course gasoline was only about $0.28 a gallon, and he only drove about 2 miles to work.

talk about tanks! he was hit by another driver, it bent the front fender (but was still driveable), and totaled the other car. I remember the body shop complaining it was too hard to beat out to shape after he took it back to have them fix it properly (they had tried to sculpt a new fender out of body filler). I guess in those days it was cheaper to pound out the fender rather than replace it.
'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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lannvouivre
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Re: my other wagon

Post by lannvouivre »

It's funny, because modern SUVs can weigh more, have more horsepower, and get like twice that number MPG. On GM products you can even swap in a more modern drivetrain most of the time on their older cars. It's sickening, really, because not only do they almost bolt right in for many engines, but there's aftermarket swap support as well, and it's pretty cheap.
But...did you try hitting it with a hammer?
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Petros
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Re: my other wagon

Post by Petros »

actually I doubt modern SUV weigh more, that Delta 88 was a real tank, and a land yacht (my siblings and I, four of us, could sit on the back seat side by side and not be crowded). It had a very large engine too 455 cubic inches, bigger than most trucks today. though modern engines are clearly way more efficient, more power and better economy. Consider the old engines had carburetors with rather poor mixture control compared to EFI, points ignition systems, poor intake and exhaust design, poor head designs,

typical modern production engines are all aluminum and put out almost 2 hp per cubic inch, meets emission standards and uses modern crap pump gas. You used to only see that kind of output from pure racing engines using special high octane racing fuel, and would never pass emissions standards. These are very remarkable achievements for modern cars.
'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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dlb
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Re: my other wagon

Post by dlb »

lannvouivre wrote:It's funny, because modern SUVs can weigh more, have more horsepower, and get like twice that number MPG.
Petros wrote:modern engines are clearly way more efficient, more power and better economy.
i have to disagree in terms of fuel economy. while engines have obviously increased in terms of even small engines returning greater performance, fuel economy has not changed at all since the early 90's -- unless you believe the bogus EPA estimates on the stickers of new cars. there are plenty of exposes on misleading EPA estimates, like this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpisWMtZ6mE

if you look at real fuel logs of people actually driving SUVs and modern trucks that claim to get 40 mpg, you will see that those vehicles actually get nowhere near that. i had an argument with a friend about the VW touareg a few weeks ago about this very topic, and sure enough, it averaged in the range of 16-23 mpg, depending on the size of engine.

also consider that the most fuel efficient gas engine cars that were ever widely available were the late 80's and early 90's honda civic hatchbacks. even the new honda fits, toyota yaris, mazda 2, etc all average slightly less than the old civics in terms of fuel economy. of course the newer cars are much more responsive and fun to drive, and much safer, but they are less fuel efficient.
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lannvouivre
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My tercel:: 2006 Pontiac Vibe
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Re: my other wagon

Post by lannvouivre »

I'm not talking about EPA estimates, I'm talking numbers people observe. Keep in mind that my Vibe is over 300 lbs heavier than a Tercel despite not being a whole lot larger and can get 33 mpg (as long as I'm in NM or CO). I can only guess at what I'd get in a Mazda. Heck, even the Yaris weighs in at 2300 lbs. It's not the engines that are gas-guzzlers, it's the shear weight of the car with the safety designs.
But...did you try hitting it with a hammer?
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dlb
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Re: my other wagon

Post by dlb »

33 mpg in a FWD car is no better, and in many cases it's actually worse, than what FWD cars have been getting for the last 25 years. it doesn't matter if the engine is getting 33 mpg despite greater vehicle weight or any other factors -- the end result is still a car that still gets the same, or worse, fuel economy as old vehicles of the same class.
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