Dairy Queen Car On eBay - '85 SR5 - Irvine CA

[ARCHINSTL]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Toyota-T ... sQ5fTrucks
Lots of photos - 62K miles. It is equipped with sunroof and AC - although the seller does not mention these items as being functional.
Bids slightly over $3K with reserve not met and 8 days to go. Will be interesting.
His prose is rather florid...

tercel4wdrules - did you see this car at one time?
Tom M.

[tercel4wdrules]

I was considering purchasing this car at one time before it was used for the Dairy Queen commercials. I never got to see it personally. I noticed that it mentions that it has had some of the items that the previous owner mentioned that needed replacement, among those the steering rack as well as shocks & struts. It has no mention of the 4WD working, as far as I know, the transmission was replaced with a junkyard unit with the 3.73 ratio and the rear diff was not replaced to match. Also, it's equipped with cruise control which is also not mentioned. The previous owner I talked to said the A/C and sunroof worked. The underside seems to have a tiny bit of surface rust, I don't know what the owner means "rust free" I have seen better. Last but not least, it's hard to tell, but it seems to be missing the engine undercover.

I liked the silver paint and alloy wheels before it was repainted...

[dlb]

looks very nice. i wonder what happened after they flooded the car in the commercial--if they didn't remove the carpet and seats, dry them, and replace the underlay it would surely reek of mold. i LOVE the rear hatch with the horizontal stripe!

[ARCHINSTL]

dlb - funny you should ask...
I sent him an enquiring email, mentioning this very thing. Following is his response:
Hello and thank you for your interest in my car! There was actually no water ever inside the vehicle - it's all special effects and anywhere that the interior would look kike it was getting wet (when the family was getting the car), it was completed covered and shielded from getting wet.
I did not identify myself or my location.
Wadda you guys think? I don't think my monitor (or steam-driven TV) is sharp enough to catch this - if it's true. Cynical moi is dubious.

tercel4wdrules - how about sending him an enquiry through the eBay system, asking about the 4WD feature and the trans question?
Tom M.

EDIT:
I note on the engine bay photos -
1. There is a black triangular box above the p-brake vac canister with hoses leading to it - any ideas?
2. There is a tube running alongside the DS valve cover that enters the firewall to the left of the above vac canister - I
....don't have it - ideas?
3. There is a goldish canister to the left of the PS pump and under the radiator tube & snorkel - ideas?
4. Is this a CA car - could it pass? The snorkel looks like a Federal one (don't CA cars have some doodad attached?).

[dlb]

special effects? BS. although i can't find the video anywhere now to confirm this.

[ARCHINSTL]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWxsa4Ox ... e=youtu.be
Here is the youtube link.
And, I would agree with dlb's assessment...now, given my monitor's limitations, I could be wrong, but it sure looked like real water and real suds pouring out of the car.
And, while I am a naif when it comes to CGI - it sure looked real to me.
Tom M.

[rer233]

triangulr black box and canister are most likely cruise control pieces (never seen a factory cc on a tercel, but judging from the cable placement, i'd say that's what they are.) car looks clean to me!

[Petros]

I could believe the special effects all done with CGI. Now that I think about it, a lot of the "action" seemed a bit far fetched. Consider how difficult it would be to get exactly the desired effect using real water and soap bubbles, it would be many hours of filming with a full crew on retake after retake. CGI is much cheaper and in fact faster than investing many film hours to get what you want.

The extra equipment is almost certainly cruise control, first factory one i have seen.

No mention in the ad that it is 4wd. Just says transmission: manual (that is usually where it would say AWD or 4wd).

[dlb]

i'd bet a dozen donuts that's not CGI. even the highest quality CGI is smoother than real life, more cartoon-y, and easily recognizable. even if DQ invested in top quality CGI it would still be obvious. as it is i doubt the car was filled with water, more likely they filled a storage tank with a quick release, maybe even attached the release to the front passenger door, so that as the car pulled out of the car wash and the woman opened the door, it opened the tank. that would be the easiest way to time it, i think.

oh well, this is all a moot point since i'm not buying the car.

[arbskynxnex]

http://youtu.be/uRuSTrm4TJU

Here's a higher res version. I'm with david on this, though it almost looks like they are pumping the water out from between the gal's legs and onto the door.

[tercel4wdrules]

I watched the video several times and I caught something when the car wash commercial first came out. If you look at the video with a keen eye, you will see that there's a spray of soapy water that bursts out from somewhere behind the front passenger seat, timed precisely of course, and it seems like it tapers off as the scene progresses. They must've rigged something up to have it burst water out to the door at precisely the right time, it also seems more of a spray of water as opposed to a more normal flow of water from when something is overflowing with water. I also just noticed the water flow that's spraying against the door has a triangular shape and only the water that's hit the door looks like it's rushing, the other water that appears to be coming from somewhere behind the seat seems to be a thinner jet spray. In my opinion, if that part would've been CGI, I think there would've been more water coming up higher than mid way down the door. I wonder how many shots this took to get it right...

That's indeed a factory cruise control with the associated vacuum gizmos and such. You can see the factory cruise switch right below the defroster switch and also the different combination switch on the right hand side.

This is not a CA spec car, it has the HAC valve and doesn't have the requisite AS valve on the air cleaner as it was mentioned in the ad that this car was originally purchased in NM. It did pass smog it looks like in April of '10, but it had failed twice previously in 12/07 & 01/10 respectively.

After Petros pointed out that the listing doesn't mention that it's 4WD I wonder whether that's because the seller is well aware of this and decided to omit this "detail" out of the listing. Instead of inquiring about whether the 4WD works or not, I would rather show up and drive it in a straight line and see if it just comes to a halt as the drivetrain binds up and proceed to say: "Ooooppss... I think it's broken" . Then for sure we would know whether it has mismatched differentials, but from what I gathered from the 3rd owner, he said the mechanic mentioned that when he put it in 4WD it felt "like the parking brake was hanging." I believe thanks to Jiffy Lube, the original trans was trashed since it was not filled up properly when it was "serviced."

[ARCHINSTL]

Further...
What I sent him, via eBay's Question facility:
Hello again -
The SR5 Wagon should be a 4WD (it has the lever for it in the console), but you did not show it to be in the ad or the title - does it work? Also, the SR5 has a 6-speed transmission (an XTRA Low gear) and you show the trans as a 5-speed; was it changed? You don't mention if the cruise control or AC or powered sunroof work - do they?
With only 62000 miles and it being a Toyota, it seems odd that the brakes, steering rack, struts and shocks and especially the clutch had to be replaced - any reasons why?
It sure is clean!
Thanks again!
Arch
What he sent me - interesting...
Hi Arch! Give me a call and we can talk about it. (949)533-2376
- socalmarkus
I may wait a day and do just that. It IS interesting that he did not reply in writing.
Tom M.

[toughtercel]

Look at the second from the very last picture on the E-Bay , took a picture at under neith front left corner that shows rusty front frame due from the "BATTERY TRAY" that I mention almost 2 year ago which Toyota's factory tray that has a hole at the bottom of the tray where it sit on top of the frame , Since I own 11 Tercels in the past , I had two of them are total went through the frame, and 5 of them are bad rust surface .

[ARCHINSTL]

Well, the auction ended.....$4350 was the last bid.....and it did not meet the seller's Reserve.
Interesting.
I never did get around to calling the seller about the items mentioned in my last post - did anyone else?
I wonder whether if it is 4WD - one would think that would be a selling point and, if not in the original ad, he would have added it. If it IS now a 2WD - I wonder if a purchaser would have a leg to stand on if refused (it does have all of the 4WD insignia).
I noticed that he was careful to mention that all of the interior items worked; I wonder if that includes the AC, cruise, and sunroof. Obviously the 4WD feature is not an "interior item," so I wonder... The propellor shaft is present, although its connection to a transmission is not visible.
I also wonder why, with only 62K miles, why it would need new brakes, clutch, steering rack, struts, and shocks. I'm too much of a cynic, I guess. Still...
It will be interesting if it's relisted.
Tom M.

[CathodeRayTube]

I forget where i read it...but this car has been floating around both Ebay and Craigslist for a while...and i believe i read that it just has a FWD 5speed trans in it...the original 4wd one had broken...again i forget where i herd this, it may have been from somebody else on this forum, but im fairly sure thats the case..