1983 Toyota Tercel 4WD SR5 : Life in Pictures / Lost & Found: RESTORATION DOCUMENTED!

Post about yourself, your Tercel, or your Tercel projects in here, share pictures of your Tercel, or post trip threads!
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bryanthompson
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Posts: 263
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:38 pm
My tercel:: 1983 4WD SR5 Wagon : "The Brochure Car"
Location: West Hollywood, CA
Contact:

Re: 1983 Toyota Tercel 4WD SR5 : Life in Pictures / Lost & Found: RESTORATION DOCUMENTED!

Post by bryanthompson »

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Down to the design details for the The Tercel restoration. I’ve had this new old stock side mirror in storage for 15 years.
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Hteverow
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Posts: 48
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2018 3:35 pm
My tercel:: 1986 SR5
Location: Maine

Re: 1983 Toyota Tercel 4WD SR5 : Life in Pictures / Lost & Found: RESTORATION DOCUMENTED!

Post by Hteverow »

Hi Bryan--

I'm highly impressed with what you're doing here! I'm in the process of cleaning up (on a much smaller, less thorough scale) my own '86 SR5. It's got a brown interior, and while I've been thinking about having the whole thing reupholstered in a custom sort of plaid, I'm also thinking about going the cheaper route and just replacing some of the more needy bits. Would you be at all interested in shipping two front seats to Maine?

HT
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bryanthompson
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Posts: 263
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:38 pm
My tercel:: 1983 4WD SR5 Wagon : "The Brochure Car"
Location: West Hollywood, CA
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Re: 1983 Toyota Tercel 4WD SR5 : Life in Pictures / Lost & Found: RESTORATION DOCUMENTED!

Post by bryanthompson »

Hteverow wrote: Sat Aug 18, 2018 8:40 am Hi Bryan--

I'm highly impressed with what you're doing here! I'm in the process of cleaning up (on a much smaller, less thorough scale) my own '86 SR5. It's got a brown interior, and while I've been thinking about having the whole thing reupholstered in a custom sort of plaid, I'm also thinking about going the cheaper route and just replacing some of the more needy bits. Would you be at all interested in shipping two front seats to Maine?

HT
Hi there!

Email me at ilikebryan@gmail.com and we can discuss. Happy to help if I can!
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bryanthompson
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Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:38 pm
My tercel:: 1983 4WD SR5 Wagon : "The Brochure Car"
Location: West Hollywood, CA
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Re: 1983 Toyota Tercel 4WD SR5 : Life in Pictures / Lost & Found: RESTORATION DOCUMENTED!

Post by bryanthompson »

Does anyone have a nice set of grey front seatbelts?
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bryanthompson
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My tercel:: 1983 4WD SR5 Wagon : "The Brochure Car"
Location: West Hollywood, CA
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Re: 1983 Toyota Tercel 4WD SR5 : Life in Pictures / Lost & Found: RESTORATION DOCUMENTED!

Post by bryanthompson »

Well, folks, the Tercel restoration is complete. After ten years of updating this thread, twenty four years since locating the car in Idaho, a decade of storage and parts collecting, countless hours, dollars, memories, and learning, the car will debut at the Japanese Classic Car Show this Saturday, September 15 in Long Beach, California.

http://www.japaneseclassiccarshow.com/j ... -for-2018/

I’m grateful to everyone here who has been on this saga with me, contributes advice, offers opinion, or just quietly reads the discussions. A special bit of gratitude for Peter at Fix Auto in Paramount, CA. He understood the significance of the project and took it on when I was dealing with a shop that lacked enthusiasm for it was making a mockery of it (and subsequently lost out on a small fortune, frankly). It’s a feeling that defies description to see something I’ve imagined for so long finally come to fruition. This car inspired me to become a car designer myself as a little boy, and was the car that turned on the switch in my mind that made me realize cars were created by artistic and emotional decisions made by people, and that that’s what separates them from being merely appliances.

Here is the write up I will display with the car, and a composite visual to tell the story:

In 1983, when my folks were shopping for a new family car,
I locked myself inside this Toyota Tercel 4WD Wagon on the
showroom floor of Scott Toyota in Scottsdale, Arizona. At nine
years old I knew this was the car for my family. It was the car
that inspired me to become a car designer, and was the one that
turned on the switch in my mind that made me realize cars were
created through artistic and emotional decisions made by people.

As I grew and my love for design and cars evolved, I realized
that the design elements of the Tercel were inspiring my design
sensibility. From the way light floods the cabin through tall and
expansive glass, to the whimsical blue plaid seats, to the
unexpected asymmetry of the tailgate and the arguably
frivolous clinometer, these design elements ignited a spark in
my young mind that grew into the kind of obsession it takes to
become an actual car designer designing everyday cars for the
roads we travel on.

I’ve always loved the working man’s cars, the teacher’s cars, the
daily drivers that fill the roads during rush hour, more so than the
exotics, and a lot of that affinity harkens back to this very car.

These are the cars that make up the fabric of every day life, taking
us to soccer practice or to ballet. We may have dreamed of
Maseratis and Bugattis, but these are the cars that were living with
us, making the memories that inform who we are. They’re the silent
witnesses to our highs and lows, our passions and disputes. As we sing
at full-voice into the headliner or smash out our frustrations to a
drum beat on the steering wheel.

By the time they leave our driveways one could say they know us as
only man’s other best friend knows us.

In 2000, I found the car again. Not one like it mind you, but this very car!
It was abandoned, left crashed in a ditch in Idaho, a snow covered home
for mice. That began a 20 year restoration project that culminates in its
unveiling at the 2018 Japanese Classic Car Show today.

I first thought I would keep this car as a pristine time capsule of its day,
but then I was encouraged by my partner Paolo with these words:
“It’s not going to live as a time capsule, it’s going continue on new
adventures with the new memories that we will make in it!”

Please enjoy this labor of Tercel love.
Bryan Thompson | BryanThompsonDesign.com
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ARCHINSTL
Goldie Forever
Posts: 6369
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
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: 1983 Toyota Tercel 4WD SR5 : Life in Pictures / Lost & Found: RESTORATION DOCUMENTED!

Post by ARCHINSTL »

Bryan -
Congratulations on the perseverance- and the investment!
I liked your article, and esp. this paragraph:
These are the cars that make up the fabric of every day life, taking
us to soccer practice or to ballet. We may have dreamed of
Maseratis and Bugattis, but these are the cars that were living with
us, making the memories that inform who we are. They’re the silent
witnesses to our highs and lows, our passions and disputes. As we sing
at full-voice into the headliner or smash out our frustrations to a
drum beat on the steering wheel.


You have captured the thoughts of many of us quite succinctly. Congratulations!
In a way, it reminds me of a looong ago article in Road & Track titled What is a Sports Car? It mentioned the biggies of the day (1950s) like Jags and Ferraris and 300SLs - but mentioned the real world cars like the humble Singer Roadster (I owned one for 40 years). *

My own first loves will always be Morris Minors, having owned five of them for nearly 20 years, but - Goldie has had my heart for some years.
Tom

* It wrote: "...never-say-die little Singer which you can out-run, out-jump, and out-gun - but never out-try."
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
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bryanthompson
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Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:38 pm
My tercel:: 1983 4WD SR5 Wagon : "The Brochure Car"
Location: West Hollywood, CA
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Re: 1983 Toyota Tercel 4WD SR5 : Life in Pictures / Lost & Found: RESTORATION DOCUMENTED!

Post by bryanthompson »

This is what you call a proud pappa. :: Tercel won first place!
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ARCHINSTL
Goldie Forever
Posts: 6369
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
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: 1983 Toyota Tercel 4WD SR5 : Life in Pictures / Lost & Found: RESTORATION DOCUMENTED!

Post by ARCHINSTL »

AS WELL IT SHOULD HAVE !
Tom
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
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Mattel
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Posts: 1788
Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2004 12:11 am
My tercel:: 1988 Corolla 4wd Wagon (AKA Corolla All-trac) 5speed, AC, Power Sunroof, Windows, Mirrors, Steering, Locking, Diff Lock, 14" Corolla SX Alloys with Silica Hankook Tyres, 4afe, King Springs, Upgraded Headlights, Full Synth oils, 210,000kms
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: 1983 Toyota Tercel 4WD SR5 : Life in Pictures / Lost & Found: RESTORATION DOCUMENTED!

Post by Mattel »

congratulation bryan! I look forward to your adventures with this car in the future. Has your story with it been written up in any of the autoblogs?
Previous: 83 Tercel SR5 4wd, 84 Tercel SR5 4wd
88 Corolla 4wd Wagon 5speed, All power options, Fact Sunroof, Diff Lock, 14" SX Alloys, Hankook Tyres, 4afe, King Springs, Upgraded Headlights, Full Synth oils, Tow Bar, 210,000kms
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Mark
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Posts: 883
Joined: Mon Apr 22, 2013 9:49 pm
My tercel:: 1984 Automatic, 1981 sedan
Location: Victoria, B.C.

Re: 1983 Toyota Tercel 4WD SR5 : Life in Pictures / Lost & Found: RESTORATION DOCUMENTED!

Post by Mark »

Congratulations! -Probably the best condition Tercel wagon in the world right now, and probably the one with the best story behind it too.
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splatterdog
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Posts: 1623
Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:26 am
Location: Minnesota, USA

Re: 1983 Toyota Tercel 4WD SR5 : Life in Pictures / Lost & Found: RESTORATION DOCUMENTED!

Post by splatterdog »

Nice! The only time mine takes first is when the snow is flying. Your car would deserve living room privilege during a chloride soaked Minnesota winter!
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Petros
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Posts: 11930
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: 1983 Toyota Tercel 4WD SR5 : Life in Pictures / Lost & Found: RESTORATION DOCUMENTED!

Post by Petros »

congratulations, well earned.

What? No pictures of the blond airhead model with big tits standing next to your car?!?! what a rip-off, I always see that at car shows.

Well, I guess we all know the Tercel is not exactly a chick-magnate. At least yours is an award magnet.
'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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splatterdog
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Location: Minnesota, USA

Re: 1983 Toyota Tercel 4WD SR5 : Life in Pictures / Lost & Found: RESTORATION DOCUMENTED!

Post by splatterdog »

While not a chick magnet, if there is no protest over a T4, they just might be a keeper!
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bryanthompson
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Posts: 263
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:38 pm
My tercel:: 1983 4WD SR5 Wagon : "The Brochure Car"
Location: West Hollywood, CA
Contact:

Re: 1983 Toyota Tercel 4WD SR5 : Life in Pictures / Lost & Found: RESTORATION DOCUMENTED!

Post by bryanthompson »

Thank you guys!! It’s so neat to see it compete. It just sits there so proud now. I think about how it must’ve felt for those three years it was lost in the ravine in the Idaho woods: Quiet and still, full of memories and mice, while pine needles and snow accumulated and then dissipated over the seasons. Really, it’s life had come to an end, for all foreseeable circumstances. And yet, now, that very same interior will be filled with laughter, road noise and music once again as new memories are made and miles traveled.

Here’s to adventures in plaid!!
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bryanthompson
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Posts: 263
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:38 pm
My tercel:: 1983 4WD SR5 Wagon : "The Brochure Car"
Location: West Hollywood, CA
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Re: 1983 Toyota Tercel 4WD SR5 : Life in Pictures / Lost & Found: RESTORATION DOCUMENTED!

Post by bryanthompson »

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Happy New Year, folks!

First bath since the restoration, and she's sporting her new Cali license plate!
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