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HI Tom!
I love the old Avanti. Was and still is a beautiful and modern design.
Here is the story I wrote for Bravo about my Tercel along with the photos. You are welcome to repost it on the Tercel site.
Nice to hear from you. I hope to restore this Tercel soon; I just need to find the right restoration shop that "gets it." They need to be able to handle the Tercel with the same love they would for a Maserati or Deusenberg.
BT
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When I've had a tough week at work and I finally get a day to relax and unwind there is one place I love to go. The old car junkyard. Call me weird but I love the rusted metal, the dried out fabrics and the smells of motor oil dirt and plastics. After I pay my dollar to get in I head straight for the area for old 1970's Japanese cars. I poke around and I get excited if I see a rare Datsun Honey Bee or an F-10. Then I go home, euphoric and ready to take on the challenges of a new work week.
My love of old Japanese cars began with a neighbor's Datsun Honey Bee. It had tiny wheels, awkward styling and a giant decal of a Bee plastered on the side. At three years old, I was in love.
Later, when my parents went looking for a new car I knew exactly what they should get. I was only 8 years old but I pitched a fit until they purchased a Tercel Wagon 4WD with blue plaid seats and gigantic windows everywhere. To say I loved that car is an understatement.
Many years later I was done with college and I had money from my first real job. So I spared no expense searching for my old Tercel. Not one like it, mind you. I wanted THAT specific one. I had the VIN number, searched the Internet and miraculously I found it. The guy who owned it said it was in a ditch. So I went all the way from San Diego to Idaho in the dead of winter to get it pulled out. I spent $600 for a car that some people might pay double the price to get rid of.
70's and 80's Japanese cars are the best. They are horrendously ugly, gorgeous and cool at the same time. If you don't believe me rent "Cannonball Run," "Smokey and the Bandit," or episodes of the old "Rockford Files" TV show. There's something strangely sexy about a chrome bumper, all that metal and glass and not a single air bag. The radios and steering wheels are works of art. I lust after them. The day a neighbor I didn't know rolled up in a 1978 Subaru was the day I became a stalker. I walked my dog Lou two blocks out of our way to see it. I took photos of it in the middle of the night and I searched until I found one just like it.
I may be crazy, but I am not alone. There is a growing trend and these once disposable second-choice cars are becoming desirable. So many of them have been put to pasture over the years that they've become quite rare. All over the Internet, sites are popping up for these cars, and the traffic on the sites is higher than you might think. Who would have thought that there would be a sight devoted to the preservation of "vintage" Subarus? Apparently 17,000 members thought about it, according to (1) http://www.ultimatesubaru.net moderator Todd Peters. Or even better still; check out this site devoted to micro cars of all Japanese makes and models, (2) http://www.thelittlecartrader.com.
It goes to show how meaningful things from our childhood are. They can grab a hold of us forever. I love rolling down the boulevard in my junky Subaru. The windows are down and the cassette tape deck is blasting Eddie Rabbitt's "I Love a Rainy Night," Crystal Gayle's "Half the Way" or that one they sang together "Just You and I." People stare and I don't care.
I challenge you to try it sometime. Go to a junkyard and find that old car from your youth. I promise that even though it's no longer going anywhere it will move you.
Bryan Thompson
Bryan and his Dad camping in the early '80s - T4WD in the background.
Towing it from the ditch.
First step to CA.
