how did you first meet/start digging tercs?

[dlb]

WARNING: this is one of those lame self-congratulatory "let's talk about how rad our cars are" threads, similar to every thread you'll find on all the VW forums. the only difference here is that the terc deserves it.

i'll start. when i was a kid, my bud's mom had a 4WD terc and she drove us to work and over to other friends' houses in it. i thought it was an ugly, stupid car. once we started playing in bands though we always borrowed it to move gear to shows. i liked all the cargo space, but that was it. since then (about 20 years) i always thought it was a hideous car...until i saw board member homeskool's yellow terc in victoria one day.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4860&p=35993 - third post down

i couldn't believe that someone took such an ugly turd of a vehicle and made it into such a hot ride. i had been driving a '91 VW passat wagon that was on its last legs and was keeping my eyes peeled for an all-trac wagon or 4WD terc (preferably the all-trac at the time) because we get about 3 weeks of traffic-stopping snow each winter. i put an ad up looking for an all-trac or terc and got a response from a local woman who was ron's owner at the time. i was disappointed it was a terc and that it was such a hideous burgundy colour and that the interior looked so stupid...but it drove well and was only $600. i went for it and quickly learned to embrace ron, and even owned an all-trac recently that i sold because it just wasn't as cool as the terc.

[danzo]

I'll go next, but I don't have much of a story as far as my history of Terc love. When I was a teenager in the '80's I had a great affinity for Jap cars in general. They looked cool IMO, were really space-efficient, light, and just simply worked well. In comparison American cars seemed so wasteful and had so much unneccesary baggage that it made sense for me to gravitate towards Jap cars. "Why do you need 4000lbs. of machinery to transport one person?". So I owned a slew of Jap cars as I had a tendency to get another one every year or so. Variety is the spice. One of the best was an '84 Sentra wagon - loads of carrying space and 35mpg to boot.

Then I knew a friend in college who had a T4wd. He took a trip from Dallas to the west coast and up into the PNW never staying in a motel and carrying everything he needed in his Terc (including but not limited to his 9mm). He had tales of sloughing through the rough in his car, and though I knew I may never need to do so, I loved hearing about his fantastic trip. In fact a few years later I tried to plan "Fandango 2000", which would have taken my friends and I along the same path, perhaps also in a T4wd. It never happened, but maybe one day it will.

So a coupla years ago I moved back to Dallas after living out of state for 7 years and found myself owning just one car. Unacceptable since I knew I would do a drivetrain swap which would keep that car out of service for at least a few weeks (which turned into 6 weeks). I spied a T4wd on craigslist which happened to be on the way home from work and stopped by to check it out. Typical neglected 3rd car, but it was a solid rust-free car that needed a tranny and was thus only 4 Ben Franks. I drove away without it but quickly called back and told the seller I would take it without even haggling over the price. These cars are very rare down south and I knew I would likely never find one like this anytime soon.

So the car has really grown on me the last 2.5 years, perhaps fueled by friend's/family's jabbing, but mostly because I love a car designed the way our Tercs are designed. It's really taking me back to those '80's days esp since even Jap cars now are getting so big and heavy. Who would have thought?

[hberdan]

I got hooked on these cars right from the start, when a buddy and his wife bought a brand new 1983 2wd wagon. I'd never seen a small car with so much room in it. We could thrown in both camping gear and climbing gear for 3-4 people and still have room to sit and drive, unusual for 1980s economy cars, when your only real other choices were pickups with camper shells, VW buses, or the remaining 1960s and 70s Chevy/Ford station wagons...
I was finally able to afford a used one some time later, and by then, I had at least three other friends that were already driving Tercel wagons. Got a 1986 SR54x4 wagon from a mechanic, after he did an engine rebuild. Drove that for a long time, several years, I put on over 150k miles in it, until the engine finally died in early 2002. By then, I'd already acquired a 1984 SR5 4x4 wagon I'd been using as a backup, occaisional driver. The 86 began it's long second life as a parts donor, and I drove that 84 exclusively for a few years until I picked up a 1987 Deluxe 4x4 wagon in 2004. The 84 went back to reserve status, with just a trip into town once in a while.
There was a point in time where 3 little Tercel wagons sat in my driveway, as I know they do in other member driveways today.
Both the 86 and the 84 are gone--the 86 finally was exhausted as a parts car after giving up it's tranny, and the 84 rusted so badly I was afraid the frame was toast, and got rid of it. Once more I'm down to only one Tercel, as it was in the beginning.
I think I've racked up over 300,000 miles of Tercel wagon driving by now.

[autofix4u]

I have had a Tercel addiction for 25 years, way back in 1985 my mom picked up a 2 door hatch as a replacement for her '79 Malibu wagon. Mom put about 100k on that one befor she decided we needed a wagon again. Dad found a used T4 wagon for mom and he drove the hatch for another 175k. When my oldest sis turned 16 she got the hatch. When I turned 16 I got the T4. I drove it most of the way through high school and handed it down to my brother with 285k. Sis drove the hatch till she was 27 and gave it to our youngest sister when she turned 16.
The T4 dided of a blown head gasket 10 miles shy of 500k, and my brother sold it for scrap. The hatch is still going strong and my youngest sister is giving it to my oldest sisters daughter for her 16th next month. ( long running family tradition). It know has 450k. My dad bought my son a 2wd wagon for his 16th. I hope it last a while.......
After I gave the wagon to my brother I went Turkless for a while. That sucks, I found a 2wd wagon and ran that for a while. In '96 I bought a '93 2door and it wasent the same but worked.
I know have 2 wagons and 2 hatches, along with a 95 camry, 85 F250 diesel, 05 V10 Excursion, 77 300d, a couple of MR2s and some Fireos. But I always come back to the Tercels.
Its a GOOD thing I work at the Toyota dealer and get a parts discount.

[ARCHINSTL]

My story may go back the longest...
I had (probably) the first T4WD in St. Louis in late 1982 (built Oct.). It was an SR5, but "base" SR5, with no AC or sunroof or mag wheels.
I was yearning to replace the POS '69 VW Bus rustbucket with something modern, with hot water heat, and yet still kinda funky. And then I saw the tests in R&T and CandD... I ordered the car before there were even any on showroom floors in StL - sight unseen.
I put 47K on it in less than 3 years, what with going to bicycle races all over the Midwest and doing my daughters' HS carpooling - and loved every minute!
The only mech problem I had was when my B.S. (Beloved Sister) borrowed it when I was on a trip to CA in '85 and, being accustomed to idiot lights in her POS Escort, did not notice the temp gauge needle climbing and burst the radiator. I fixed that and kept filling the radiator - and filling the radiator - and filling the radiator and...finally noticed the water exiting the tailpipe. The head was cracked - to the tune of 1100 1985 dollars. I drove it for a month and discovered the new head had to come off again to fix (I forget what).

So I traded it on an '86 Mazda 626 5-door, enhanced w/aero add-ons - http://www.tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtop ... zda#p11543.
I loved the 626 and kept it until 2004, by which time the rear suspension mounts had turned to Swiss cheese and it flunked the safety inspection.
I always had a soft spot for the T4WD and had been casually looking on eBay, so this solidified my resolve.

I found Goldie, my '86 SR5, in Nashville in May of 2005 - and the rest is history (and over 3K posts).
Tom M.

[Petros]

I always thought these were great little 4x4s when they were new, but I could not afford one than. And I did not know much about them, I just liked the size and utilitarian looks and the fact it was 4wd. I did finally get to test drive a used one in about 1993 (it was listed for sale at $1495. in a used car lot) I thought it seemed a bit tinny and plastic inside, typical of lightweight cars, lots of road noise. My wife could not stand it.

Many years latter I regularly drove a first gen Nissan Pathfinder, which I loved, it was a great driving SUV (better I think than the rough riding Forerunner), but it only got 16-17 mpg, 20 hwy at best. As the price of gas kept climbing it was killing my budget. Despite that I put nearly 300k trouble free miles on it (on the same clutch!), and it blew a head gasket because of a leaky hose I neglected. I needed to find a car fast that was cheap and economical.

I ended up buying my first Tercel4wd, a beat up '83 for $200 that at least was drivable. I bought it only because it was cheap and drivable. I replaced the shattered rear glass and drove it, figuring I would get the Pathfinder fixed and just dump the Tercel. Things did not quite work out that way. I kept putting off digging into the Pathfinder, and drove the Tercel for over a year.

As the price of fuel continued to rise, and I was not keen to tear into that big Nissan V6, the Tercel began to grow on me despite the cracked windshield, peeling paint, the roaring wheel bearing and other problems. After six months I figured I could have just junked the Tercel and I would have been money ahead it saved so much fuel expense over the Pathfinder.

I finally dropped an import engine into the Pathfinder and got it running, but I hated to drive it because it cost to much to drive. The Tercel was saving me over $1000 a year in fuel expense alone. I had been slowly fixing up the Tercel, replaced the windshied, the bent up front bumper, replaced the roaring wheel bearing-it was so much easier and cheaper to repair than the heavy Pathfinder, it was just a joy to work on. I started to cleaned up the Pathfinder to sell it, now planning on keeping the Tercel.

After about a year and half of driving the Tercel, the little engine finally gave up, so I was forced back to driving the Pathfinder. Gas was a killer at this point. I decided to rebuild the Tercel engine, I wanted more power out of it anyway, and than I ran across my current daily driver, with a near perfect body and interior, but a blown trans (was abandon by the previous owner some 4 years before). It was owned by a tow truck operator who had three of them, he wanted the engine out of the one I wanted, to install it in another one with a blown engine (exhaust valve embedded into the top of the piston). I figured I can drop in the rebuilt Tercel engine I had sitting in my garage and swap the trans over from my ugly blue one. So I negotiated to do the engine swap for him in exchange for giving me the '84 SR5 without engine or trans. Though the old blue '83 could have been saved, it had a bent sub frame, some body rust, a leaky rear axle seal, peeling paint, and been side swiped from front fender to rear quarter (not badly but just too much work to consider fixing). Between the three Tercel4wds, I built up two running ones, stripped my old blue of parts, and scrapped it out.

With my "new" Tercel finally running again I quickly sold the pathfinder. Now I was in Tercel joy, not minding the price of gas at all. The only thing I miss even a little is the tow capacity of the Pathfinder, but we have the MPV 4wd for that anyway. I think the Tercel even has more interior cargo room too. After considering all the other economical 4wd cars available, I decided I liked this one and it would be the most economical and reliable, especially after I fixed the flaws Toyota built into these cars: the underpowered engine, the flimsy front brakes, the soft ride, all the plastic inside the car. I had even bought a Civic 4wd wagon and a Corolla All-trac to repair and compare, but the Tercel is more fun to drive and easier to repair, parts are cheap and plentiful, and with a few tweaks would be best. So I have been slowing working down my list of "want to haves" on my Tercel. With each improvement it just gets better and better.

Though my wife still can not stand it, as I keep improving it she is starting to warm up to it a little. Especially on the snowy/icey days it is the only car we can get up and down our steep roads into town for supplies in winter. I am holding out hope that some day she will not talk about my Tercel with such derision, she even commented once last winter "maybe this car would not so bad once you are done fixing it up". Mind you that is with the one that has near perfect paint, body and interior. She and my daughter for example thought the name of the car of the other list member "Turd-smell" was very funny and appropriate for mine! You just can never win with women.

It will be fun to see how much better I can make my Tercel. It has also been fun to be on this list, the best of all the info sharing lists I have ever been on. How can I ever replace that combo?

[ARCHINSTL]

It has also been fun to be on this list, the best of all the info sharing lists I have ever been on. How can I ever replace that combo?

AMEN, Brother!
And you are certainly a big reason it is.
Tom M.

[takza]

I was introduced the the Tercel wagon by the Dolly Llama here in Tibet. He was looking for a driver. I insisted on a Rolls or a Bentley...but he was bent on having a T4WD. And so the story goes....

[Mattel]

I worked in a surfshop on the South Coast of South Australia in 1990 and Everyone used to drive big six and V8 Holden Kingswood Station Wagons. But my boss was the first person I knew with one and I thought it was an awesome little car but I never got to drive it - our company car was a Datsun 120Y! - anyway - his wife got into a head on with an unlicenced uninsured driver and the Turtle probably saved her and their kids as it crumpled pretty well but didn't deform the passenger compartment at all. I saw it at the wreckers afterwards as I got the speakers out or it. He could also get to all the little out of the way surf spots that we would have to get out of our old cars and walk to. He ended up getting another one after the accident and that one stayed in the surfing fraternity for many years.

I had a first Gen Golf for a few years after the Kingswood but it was a four speed and I ended up cutting my mechanical teeth on that thing as I replaced just about everything. It was an awesome drive but constantly troublesome. Then a friend who was moving Overseas sold me his Tercel - a car that I recomended to him and I was overjoyed although it was gutless it wanted to drive all day so I would thrash the guts out of it and it loved it had it for 6 years and put on 120,000 kms. 83' SR5 green metallic with AC and Alloys and a recon engine. Loved that car but it was starting to rust out in the roof where someone had replaced the sunroof and I wanted to impress my finaces grandparents with a rust free ride from the airport - thats love for you right there. So I was cycling in the city one night and saw a really nice looking red Terc and left a note under the windscreen. 2 months later the guy called me up and sold it for me for a hundred dollars more than he was offered as a tradein for an X-trail Nissan. The Terc was in good condition body and interior was immaculate. The engine was tired though and the gearbox was notchy and sometimes would not change down but as soon as I changed the gear oil to Synthetic It was a great improvement that got better with age. It had the gravel guards - AC, no Power Steering - but best of all it had the factory sunroof which was a revelation. I just love driving with it open on a hot evening. My fiance missed the Power Steering and so did I as we lived 2kms from the centre of Melbourne the power steering and were always parallel parking - The Tercs power steering which adjusts the amount of assistance to your speed is actually really advanced for the time. You still had plenty of feel for cornering but it could park almost anywhere!

I guess in the 10 years of owning Tercels I have changed - it's not you it's me - and now I'm driving freeways and inner city and want to talk to my mates and listen to music and the roads are a lot more aggressive in Melbourne and I was having trouble keeping up with traffic so I found a cheap but fully optioned All-trac. I'm probably going soft but it's got a little less character but 50% more power and cruises really well. It's also going to be a lot easier to mod later on as things start to fail and the 4age is almost a bolt in also there are a lot more of these around in Australia than there where Tercels so parts are good. I still miss the Tercel and really enjoy listen to you guys chat and occasionally bicker. Anyway who knows. If I find another good one in a few years I might be back. But right now I want to move back to Japan when I finish my University.

Here's my 2 Tercs infront of the bomb shelter apartments I used to live in.

[ARCHINSTL]

Did everyone but me see the red T4WD of Mattel's? I had to save the pix to my desktop display and then open it.
The body-color bumper looks good - on the front as well? That was not an option here. I like that red color!
Bomb shelter apartment? Literally? A bomb shelter made from brick and above ground?
Tom M.

[dlb]

and really enjoy listen to you guys chat and occasionally bicker.

ha! it's true.

[Neu]

I love reading all of these stories.

My love of tercels came from youtube pretty much. I was bored at work when I ran a local gas station. I was raised in a very small town and we had a great gas station until this last year.

I've always been a person who chooses his car for a reason. I started off with a 1976 Celica with a 22r in it as my far car, in 2007. I loved that car, but I cracked the head. I got a 1997 Accord after that in 2008. I drove that car a lot. 80k miles in under a year. Never any problems. I managed 25mpg most of the time. I just made the mistake of driving through a very large puddle, forgetting that I had a cold air intake right infront of my wheel.

After that I needed a car I could have fun in. I wanted to go off road but still have good mileage and space. I'm not a truck kind of guy. I found tercel's on youtube pretty much. I'd seen them come into the gas station so I wanted to see what I could find.

Then I found this forum. This forum is literally the reason I have owned 2 terdcels. It's taught me a lot. I now have a huge to do list for my car which I'll be getting to this summer/fall. When I saw how great this community was it was pivotal in my decision. I knew I'd have people to ask who knew these cars. I just hope that I've helped other people make that decision, and I feel I have so mission accomplished.

I bought my first tercel in 2008 or early 2009, I'm not sure. I fell in love with these cars the first time I drove one. It had a ticking wrist pin, so it was 150 dollars. I had to trailer it from Bend to Monroe, which involves going over some pretty steep mountains. I got it home and basically drove the piss out of it. I knew the engine was gonna go, so I drove it hard. I broke the wrist pin and blew holes in the sides of cylinder 3. I had another 3a to throw in there so I did that. Then I got a 2nd tercel for free from the forum member brianp. I drive that tercel everyday. It had a bearing going out and I replaced that after I drove it for a while. It also has frame damage so the alignment loves to go out, but I don't drive too much so it's really lasting me. It has some overheating issues, but she's been a good gal. I do basic repairs, as it's hard to do upgrades when you're a struggling college student/freelance computer guy. I've probably put less than 800 dollars into the tercel and it's a great vehicle. I love it. I recently sold my first tercel, as I just beat it up too much to really drive it. It went to scrap for way more than I should have got for it. I'll miss it, a lot.

On my to do list for the terd is brakes, tires, alignment, new head gasket/radiator/water pump/thermostat and to fix the heater control valve and most likely the entire heating/cooling system. I also need to repair a window on the driver side back door, the smaller immovable window. Hardly any rain gets in there so I haven't bothered. Literally nothing has been stolen from my car in almost 16 months of no window. I also want to lift it an inch or two, throw on slightly larger tires. Also the weber swap and an overall engine overhaul. Maybe then I'll be happy.

[hberdan]

I was introduced the the Tercel wagon by the Dolly Llama here in Tibet. He was looking for a driver. I insisted on a Rolls or a Bentley...but he was bent on having a T4WD. And so the story goes....

He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? "Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-lagunga. "

[Neu]

And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness."

So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

[westernflyer]

My first car was a yellow 81 tercel sedan (my vote for nicest looking tercel of all time)... but the first car i ever drove (age 10 or so) was an 85 T4. I forget the details but it was a grey automatic. My dad let me drive it up a logging road (under his strict supervision) and i poked a hole in the gas tank somehow. That was soon fixed and the car dragged us all around the back country for quite a while (without me driving). I've had lots of tercs since then and they've always been great cars. The 83 hatch i have now i got for 100 bucks over a year ago and i still haven't put more than another 150 into it including oil changes and it's given me 30 000 kms. I need a new wagon though... the FWD car always makes it through the mud but not very gracefully.