then this one showed up in the listings. it was only $300, only a 20 minute drive away, and it was ready to be driven away. so i bought it as the new designated parts car and will use it to finish off reggie. i've named it ted. ted is an anomaly because he is indeed an '84 SR5 but he did NOT come with an inclinometer and the radio antenna is located on the passenger side fender. i'm bummed he doesn't have an inclinometer but i will live. weird though.
anyway, the PO said the car was only good for parts or off-roading due to extreme rust. how bad was it, you ask? so bad that the rear driver side shock was attached to nothing:
he said he didn't even realize it was so bad until after he'd been driving it for a week or so. he's not a car guy, obv. he also said that the rear sway bar was busted. i said fine, that happens to lots of these cars. not a big deal. turned out it wasn't the sway bar though, it was the panhard bar/lateral control arm/whatever you want to call it!
i didn't take a look at it until i got home, after driving at 100km/h on the highway! i honestly didn't notice much until i hit some potholes on a rough dirt road that i took to have fun though, and then the rear end felt like it was sliding but it definitely wasn't uncontrollable.
besides that, everything is pretty good. the interior is really dirty but in very good shape. there is a small tear on the seam of the driver's seat which my friend can fix for me.
the engine and carb ran great! the exhaust is good, and the front end feels really solid.
ted does not have power steering and i didn't even notice until i was in a parking lot, and even then i only thought for a second that it might not have it because it felt so normal otherwise. i'm really impressed, and like it. i also actually really prefer the lower gearing because it made highway cruising far more enjoyable not being wound out at 3000 rpm. i didn't notice it being much more sluggish at all either. the trans is pretty good though 4th gear requires a soft touch to get it in without a chirp. the syncros for 1st and 2nd are done but that's not a problem. if ron ever needs a new trans, i won't hesitate to swap it all over with ted's.
ted also came with a box of misc 4WD tercel parts in the back. bonus! i'd like to put the folding side mirrors on ron but would like to disable the spring mechanism--i want to fold them in when in tight parking on ferries and the like. anyone ever done this? can they withstand the winds of highway driving without folding in without the spring?
i'll wind up swapping the carb, exhaust and muffler, rear sway bar and links, and rear bumper onto reggie, as well as some small trim pieces too. the rest will sit and wait.
the pics from the ad:
