Stripped Tercel wagon

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Mark
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My tercel:: 1984 Automatic, 1981 sedan
Location: Victoria, B.C.

Stripped Tercel wagon

Post by Mark »

A co-worker was driving past a local Walmart yesterday and saw this in the parking lot:
IMG_7333.JPG
He knew I had one so he took a picture. Even the bumpers are gone. I'm tempted to drive over there and see what's left under the hood, but I don't think you can legally just start taking parts off a random car, even if it looks abandoned.
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4doorVIP
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Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2010 9:59 am
My tercel:: 1988 SR5 Wagon
Location: Vancouver Island

Re: Stripped Tercel wagon

Post by 4doorVIP »

awe man that is a shame, that is bartos old rig no?
2JZGTE-powered Tercel SR5
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Mark
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Joined: Mon Apr 22, 2013 9:49 pm
My tercel:: 1984 Automatic, 1981 sedan
Location: Victoria, B.C.

Re: Stripped Tercel wagon

Post by Mark »

I'm not sure. It looks familiar, with the non-OEM green paint.
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Gottolovem
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My tercel:: 1985 SR5 with snow plow,1987 auto 1984 parts car,1987 FX-16 GTS
Location: Reno

Re: Stripped Tercel wagon

Post by Gottolovem »

Go see if the gearbox in still in it!
Clearly no one cares
Is it theft if it's already abandoned?
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dlb
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My tercel:: '87 sr5, '83 dlx parts car
Location: bc, canada

Re: Stripped Tercel wagon

Post by dlb »

that's so weird. it does look like barto's, which might explain why the bumpers are gone. what a waste of the rest of the car though.
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ARCHINSTL
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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: Stripped Tercel wagon

Post by ARCHINSTL »

It certainly looks like his, esp. with the Yakima roof rack, but - he had a trailer hitch protruding from his bumper and I do not see one.
Tom M.
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splatterdog
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Location: Minnesota, USA

Re: Stripped Tercel wagon

Post by splatterdog »

Get it before a methhead scraps it out! Or moves in...
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4wdEconoBox
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My tercel:: 1985 Toyota Tercel SR5 4WD
Location: Talladega, Alabama

Re: Stripped Tercel wagon

Post by 4wdEconoBox »

I absolutely love that roof rack, I know archinstl said it was a Yakima one, but it reminds me alot of the nissan xterra suv racks. I've got to find one now!!
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lannvouivre
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My tercel:: 2006 Pontiac Vibe
Location: Odessa, TX

Re: Stripped Tercel wagon

Post by lannvouivre »

Claiming ownership of abandoned property depends on the state (or province). Contacting your local police about it would be a first step.
But...did you try hitting it with a hammer?
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Mark
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Joined: Mon Apr 22, 2013 9:49 pm
My tercel:: 1984 Automatic, 1981 sedan
Location: Victoria, B.C.

Re: Stripped Tercel wagon

Post by Mark »

I don't think it's there anymore. There would be many legal issues anyway with just showing up and taking parts off it. For one thing it's on private property (store parking lot). There are many possible scenarios that could explain why it's there and would get me in trouble for taking things from it:
- It belongs to a person who works at the adjacent oil change place and they were temporarily using the space to legally strip it before scrapping it. They live in an apartment/basement suite where the landlord won't let them take apart a car on their property.
- An employee of Walmart was leaving it there overnight because he temporarily wanted the tires/wheels for his other vehicle (Civic) since they were better tires for a racing meet that he wanted to drive his Civic in.
- It was a practical joke (influenced by alcohol) making fun of someone who lived in the neighborhood. The jokers claimed that the jokee lived in a ghetto and the jokee tried to claim that the neighborhood wasn't that bad since all the big box chain stores that moved into the neighborhood really improved it. The jokers temporarily left the "stripped" Tercel (borrowed from an uncle's backyard) at the jokees place of employment to reinforce the ghetto thesis.
- 2 local teenagers wanted to film a skate video that would take the world by storm (they even had a fisheye lens for their video camera). Their secret artistic weapon was to put a stripped old vehicle in the background to create a junkyard look to enhance their street cred. After the filming (they were a bit disappointed with the results and they are trying again next weekend in an old dried-up swimming pool), they weren't in any hurry to put the wheels back on the car and remove it. The mall management gave them until the next day to remove it and the teenagers are waiting for their mom to give them a ride.
- It was stolen and the thief was intellectually "creative". Instead of abandoning it/stripping it somewhere private and remote, they decided to strip/abandon it in a public place in the middle of town under a lighted area. They thought this would allow them to make a quick getaway since it's on a bus route. They at first thought they'd steal the wheels and then they decided to instead shove them under the car and lower the car on them. This provided them with significant satisfaction. The thief was then intrigued by the idea of bumpers and since modern cars don't have them, he decided to take them as keepsakes. Since it was late at night, there was plenty of room on the bus to carry the bumpers home. The original owner of the Tercel found out where it was abandoned and through a fog of emotional devastation decided to hide in the nearby bushes with a crossbow, ready to take revenge on the first person to show up and start taking more parts off it (obviously the thief).

I think those are the only 5 reasonable explanations to explain the stripped Tercel.
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