'84 SR5 eBay > INCREDIBLE CONDITION ! 37K MILES! <

[North of 60]

Now up to $6900.00

[Petros]

lets see if the buyer actually comes through. Often times the "winner" in an auction is a no-show, and they relist the car.

Does that mean if one was to do a ground up restoration to effectively create a "zero" time Tercel4wd, we could get that much too? Or not?

[dlb]

petros, i can hear your gears turning. don't do it, it won't be worth the headache. and you'll probably wind up with some non-paying bidder.

[danzo]

Wasn't there somebody here who was going to have his T4wd professionally restored? If so can we get a progress report? He found the exact car his dad owned back in the '80's and he now works for Nissan IIRC.

[dlb]

yeah, that was bryanthompson. i don't remember him saying he was going to restore it, i thought he was just going to fix it up into running condition but am not sure. he hasn't been around for a while now.

[Petros]

petros, i can hear your gears turning. don't do it, it won't be worth the headache.

I already thought it through, even consider "production lining" several at a time and get good prices on carpet and upholstery kits, etc. I would even consider improving it by installing 4afe engines, up-date to the better brakes, and other improvements (these cars are just too underpowered to do a "factory" restoration). You would have to sell them for about $10,000 to make it worth the effort. I do not think there is that big of a market of refurbished old Tercels, even if you put say a 30,000 mile warranty on the cars. And sooner or later you would run out of Tercel4wd to rebuild. You might sell a few, but that would not be enough to make any significant money for all your efforts.

I had also considered a business taking about 10 year old Camrys and rebuilding them, and convert them to run on hydrogen or propane fuel, and sell them at twice as they are worth to cities and "green" consumers so they can feel good about buying a rebuilt old car that uses alternative fuel, and satisfy their guilt for being born. Save old cars from the scarp yard, and running on hydrogen means zero carbon emission, who would not pay twice as much for saving the planet?

[SynthDesign]

Now it's at $8,600.

Already more than what's listed on an original 84 SR5 receipt from Toyota.

[tercel4wdrules]

Now it's at $8,600.

Already more than what's listed on an original 84 SR5 receipt from Toyota.

This is what happens when multiple parties are fighting over a rare piece of art. It shall be interesting to see where the auction ends at and if the winning bidder actually follows through on the sale. I guess we just have to wait and see.

[Cayuse]

I saw the same auction mentioned in a thread on TGR (tetongravityresearch) so there RE people from far and wide looking at this prize. But looking at the bid history I would guess that the last real bid was at $6800 (bidder actually had several transactions).

[ARCHINSTL]

VARIOUS THOUGHTS...

The eBay Terc...
1. As mentioned, the top bidders as of now ($8600 mark) have little to no feedback - presuming they are legitimate bidders and not some teen in his parents' basement. This happened to me and others selling vintage BMX parts a few years ago. The other possibility is that one (or both) is a friend of the seller's/owner's; harsh, but it happens. Although, this seller seems to have a decent record and his responses to my emails have not been suspect and quite literate.
2. The most important thing for us as a Club has been the staggering number of unique views of this car - as of 1 AM Wed morning, there are 5500! This figure blows me away! This means that 5500 different people now know what these cars look like and their interest may be piqued. Which may mean more interest in obtaining the Wagons and leading to more preservation efforts - and more members for us.
Of course, the value of our cars may be increasing, which would bode well for resale - or bode ill for obtaining cars for us in the future.
3. To the exposure on eBay should be added the exposure on Bring-a-Trailer; this goes world-wide to car guys. I've gotten two emails from HS and collitch friends who are motorheads and knew I have one, and one from a former employee who remembered my '83 and wanted to know if I saw the BaT story.

Petros' Camry Conversions...
From a business standpoint, this would be, alas, eminently more viable than converting old Tercs (or Subie 4WDs, for that matter). The Camry would offer lots more in the way of desirability to the average driver (that's why so many have been sold over the years). They have interior room, acceptable styling (to most peeps-not US, of course!), enough bells and whistles, modern safety features, and fixability at any service location. There are also a zillion in JYs for parts availability, whether sheet metal or upholstery or greasy bits - that's 'cause three zillion have been sold. And - they have the Toyota name.
I think it's a great idea!

T4WD Restoration...
davidlucasbarnes was correct - it was bryanthompson. The last word from him is that it is to go into in dry storage in AZ and he does plan on following through on restoration (in a PM to me). See http://www.tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtop ... f=2&t=5882. He's pretty sincere in this; after all, he spent some BIG bucks hauling it from ND (or some other Arctic state down to AZ).
Tom M.

[danzo]

one (or both) is a friend of the seller's/owner's;

Doubtful since the bids are much higher than necessary and the reserve has been met. If a seller has a friend bid usually it's a competitive bid. I bet the top bidder is just someone playing a joke. This happened to me when I tried to ebay a Jeep Cherokee a few years back. The winning bidder wouldn't respond to me, and the second highest bidder didn't want it. It went badly for me - because I had to move cross country immediately I wound up donating the car thinking I would get a tax credit. As it turned out Massachusettes laws changed 2 months beforehand so I got absolutely nothing for the car. Positive side was that it was worth only about $1500, but still....

I bet whoever gets this car will wind up on our little forum. He/she will become the 'go to' source for our "what did xyz part look like when new?" questions.

[ARCHINSTL]

Still at $8600 with a day to go. .........AND - 6300 unique hits ! ! ! ! !
Tom M.

[emmahumpfritter]

This is just crazy

[tobiastercel]

no kidding emma

i have been watching it grow but man, never thought it would go as far as it has

i am excited to meet the one who wins it
they must be pretty stoked on t4s

[dlb]

they must be pretty stoked on t4s

that's an understatement. these people bidding must be fanatics, rich eccentrics with nothing better to spend money on, or both. it would be pretty hilarious if whoever bought it just drove it straight into a tree. hilarious in a sad, awful way, that is.