$1000 - '84 Tercel Wagon 4WD - Venice CA

[artistadventurer]

My beloved Gorilla Mobile will never pass CA smog ever again without some major work that I don't want to deal with. I would love to sell her to someone who could use her, or fix her up.

235,000 miles. Runs great. Bad right front bearing. Have been told by various mechanics that there are missing shims, shanks and that the crankshaft is cracked - who knows if they are right?? Because of the bearing issue, I am hesitant to drive it at high speeds, I've used it as my daily in-town driver for two years and it has never let me down once. I love this car, but I am NOT a mechanic, so it's either sell her to the state of California as a gross polluter or sell it to someone who'll love it, either out of state or as a non-op. I'm asking $1000 because that is what the state will give me to 'retire' this car. All other reasonable offers considered.

Some rust on rear hatch. Spraypainted with two blonde gorillas - one on hood, one on driver door - done by artist Isabelle Alford-Lago.

[Petros]

Welcome to the list! Too bad to hear about your car, the bearing replacement is simple enough, and it might be worth it for that alone, but a cracked crank means serious engine work. I have brought several non-smog legal CA cars to the Seattle area to fix up and sell (these cars are very popular here, good running ones sell quick at good prices).

There are no shims on this car, so I do not know what they are talking about. How on earth would they know the crank was cracked without taking the car apart, remove the crank and do an x-ray or magnaflux test on it? Sounds suspicious, along with the "shims" issue. Could be rip-off shop, or they just want to scare you off since they do not want to work on a car that old (a common problem). Good news is these cars are easy to fix.

That price is a bit high if it really needs all that work, if you want it "saved" you will have to give up a bit of cash. Otherwise if you do need major engine work, and suspension/bearing repairs, $1000 from the taxpayers of CA is the best you are going to get for it. At best is might be worth about half of that. That is also a lot of miles, what is the interior like? Is that the SR5 model? looks like you have mismatched wheels too. What else does it need?

I have rescued some 6 or more Tercel4wds from going to the crusher, I usually buy them for much less, put a lot of work into them and sell them at a small profit (I have drove them from Colorado, Calif, New Mexico, Oregon and all over this state). Not so much to make it more than a hobby income, but I like saving them. So there is not a lot of profit. I fly to where the car is located, fix it good enough for the road, drive it to Seattle, finish cleaning it up and make it good daily driver and than sell it.

I hate to see them go to the crusher, they are great little 4x4 wagons (one of the best made I think), but at $1000 it just can not be made to work out so the effort is worth it.

BTW, there are other list members in the Los Angeles area that might be able to help you fix it (one is a good enough mechanic you might consider paying him to fix it for you).

Good luck.

[dlb]

BTW, there are other list members in the Los Angeles area that might be able to help you fix it (one is a good enough mechanic you might consider paying him to fix it for you).

i'm down with petros on this statement. there's no reason that your car can't pass smog again, it just requires going over the emissions controls stuff with a fine tooth comb. easy stuff but would take a few hours and no shop wants to look at that stuff anymore. luckily, our members are all over the place so you could probably sweet talk one into helping you with this.

i too doubt the crankshaft diagnosis, especially after the shims comment. wheel bearing is easy if you have a shop press the old one out and new one in. so i say track down a local forum member and get them to help you. you can take the $1000 and run but be warned that you will honestly will not find a more reliable, economical, cheap to repair, easy to work on, 4x4 vehicle. you'll probably wind up with a beater that lasts a year and then you're back where you started so i think you're better off to put the little bit of time in now to get this one back up to snuff.

that's my 2 cents. good luck!

[artistadventurer]

Thanks, guys, for your advice! I really appreciate it! Everything you are saying makes complete sense!

[toughtercel]

What Petros say-That price is a bit high if it really needs all that work, if you want it "saved" you will have to give up a bit of cash. Otherwise if you do need major engine work, and suspension/bearing repairs, $1000 from the taxpayers of CA is the best you are going to get for it.

I full agree with that , I did the same thing when I sold 1969 Land rover and few T4WD at dead cheap , At lease I know where the Land rover is now , the new owner spent over $10,000 on repair and swapping motor . As for T4WD that I sold for parts .
Now I have Two 1972 BMW Bavaria ,both are from Cailf. one of them is running , I am selling both for $500 and I receive lots of phone call from TOW TRUCK DRIVER, my answer is No to them , Just have to wait , Many thought they are 5 series . Anyway I bet there lot of buyer want to enjoy them self once it sold reasonable cheap.

[Petros]

I think saving as many of these 4x4 cars as possible is well worth it. And frankly I think it is a terrible waste of tax payer money to buy old cars and crush them, who ever thought that was a good idea in a near bankrupt state must clearly be a politician spending other peoples' money (who no doubt got campaign contributions from the car companies).

Even if you benefit from it, do you really want to participate in wrecking perfectly fixable great old car, and wasting scarce tax payer money?

Take a moral stand for both the tax payers, and your Tercel4wd, and get it fixed! Do not fall for the scam, do the right thing. It is not good for the environment to trash a fixable car, nor for your pocket book. It is far cheaper to fix a car than replace it, keeping it out of the junk yard and denying the incompetent big corporate car companies your money.

Do you really want to rip off the tax payers, wreck a perfectly fixable Tercel4wd (which is getting more rare everyday) and send it to the junk pile, and than give into corporate greed by lobbing for such a stupid laws?

I am so angry about these stupid wasteful laws that I am determined NEVER to buy a new car again.