(first posted 10/7/2014) Say hello to the Tercel from Hell. As this old California plate indicates, it’s been in use for a very long time, and as all this rust shows, it’s been running around Bloomington–or outside California, at any rate–for quite a while. I’ve seen this car driven regularly since moving here over a year ago, so I have to imagine its owner just sends payment to the California BMV regularly and its registration is current. Or, our local cops are missing out on an opportunity to fine someone. Maybe, like me, they wouldn’t have the heart to impound the thing.
It would be difficult to keep a car like this registered, however; it’s my understanding that a car of this age would need smog inspections every other year for registration in California. I can happily report that the car runs very quietly; perhaps all its emissions systems are in good working order, but does the dude who owns this drive back home often enough for emissions testing?
If so, I’m not sure I’d want to spend all those miles in here. This car really appears to get a lot of use even now; the seat cover which hides what must be a bunch of torn vinyl is tearing itself. And it’s not loving use, as the door clearly gets kicked open quite a bit (how do people do that to their cars?).
What’s impressive, however, is that regular investments in tires, exhaust and other pieces are made to keep this thing running. Most anyone I know would consider this not worth the repairs, and I’m not talking well-heeled people by any stretch of the imagination. It’s quite possible it simply doesn’t need much to keep it running, but would you want to shell out $300 bucks for a set of new tires for something which looks like this? I nevertheless admire this owner’s determination not to waste money on a new car when clearly, this isn’t broken. Frugality, even in the extreme, has always been something I’ve admired. Even more fun is how well this dovetails into my memories of the Tercel (or Corolla Tercel here) being the archetypal cheapskate mobile up until the Koreans got good enough to supplant it. If it weren’t for the other cars nearby, this picture could’ve been taken in 1992.
Yes, the Tercel was known for stinginess, but it had enough of a definable character to serve in other roles, notably cast as the well-loved wheels of Breaking Bad protagonist Jesse Pinkman. Yes, it was the next generation car used in that series, but the Tercel name had brand equity.
Whether you were a local union chapter who needed cheap, well-regarded wheels for a round of Japan Bashing or someone in need of a serious value on four wheels, Tercel was there for a good two decades. I don’t know why Toyota got rid of such a great name, although the Echo certainly didn’t deserve a better name than the one it was given. As an aside, anyone else here remember Japan Bashing? A network news report of this short-lived phenomenon scarred me as a kid (how could you hurt a poor, defenseless car??), and I didn’t appreciate my father’s laughter at the futility of such actions in the face of wanton violence against what I saw as a sentient creature–kids and their animist beliefs. Of course, I now understand these workers’ resentments much more, though I still could never bring myself to intentionally damage a car. Ironically, taking punishment is what the Tercel was made to do, and I’m glad this car constantly shows itself around town in much the same condition Tercels were presented in during my childhood: beaten to hell. It’s a real trip down memory lane, this nearly thirty-five year old Toyota. With the lack of other similar examples in Bloomington, you could say this Asian is a real sole survivor.
Related reading:
Curbside Classic: 1979 – 1982 Toyota Tercel – Toyota Nails Another One
The Eldorado in the Japan bashing photo is sitting there supervising the scene like some kind of Godfather.
A friend got one of these new from his parents in high school, probably 1981. It was red, and new, and practical, and I’m running out of positives.
There was a comedian that used to do a bit that went something like…
I remember the night Frank Sinatra saved my life…..I was getting my ass beaten by 3 hoods and Frank stepped in and said…”Ok, let him up, he’s had enough”….Thanks Frank, I’ll always treasure that….
…truly a yucky car ..in yucky condition ..please pass the bucket (errrrgggh!!!)
Yep, I sure do remember (literal) Japan bashing. I was probably six or seven when my Dad took me to a car show in Mondamin, IA – a blue collar hotbed of unionized labor and class resentment if ever there was one.
This would have been 1981-1982, and from what I remember a “donation” of just a dollar earned you the opportunity to take three swings at a generic Japanese econobox (probably a Tercel like this one) with a sledgehammer. They even had a smaller hammer just for the kids!
Just ridiculous. Imagine had all that anger and bitterness gone into actually building superior products…
I always prefered the motorcycle version at the biker parties: Where you hoisted a Jap bike into the air and ran it at full throttle until the engine blew, and then tossed it into the bonfire.
If it were a roller-bearing Suzuki four, it would probably run out of gas before the engine blew. Try that with a Harley, btw.
It wouldn’t start, so no one could try it.
🙂
That’s not fair, my Suzuki S40 (the one with the huge 650cc single) started every time. It was a decent bike and one I’m buying again as finances permit.
I actually saw one of these locally just a few days ago, a reddish-orange 4 door. That one was in MUCH better shape than this one, looking 10 years old instead of nearly 35 years old.
I wonder how popular these were back in 1980? This was Toyota’s first foray into FWD territory, and combined with the….awkward (?)styling, at least on the 2 door sedan, it would seem that only diehard fuel misers would buy them.
BTW, this is one of the few instances where the 4 door sedan looks better (MUCH better) than the 2 door sedan. THE “looker” of the Tercel lineup was a 3 door hatchback….wagonish coupe (?). Looking at all 3 models, it appears as though the 3 door was designed 1st, then the 4 door, with tbe 2 door ( like this example) hurriedly designed as a price leader.
Better looking than the equivalent Nissan FWD cars (F10, for example) but just barely.
Strangely, FWD, but with a longitudinal engine/transmission….like an Audi.
It was a TOYOTA. Which means it sold very well, most likely at $300-1200 “additional dealer margin” or “market adjustment”. Buyers of these cars didn’t care what they looked like. They cared about a (somewhat) cheap price (before dealer gouging) and a build quality that couldn’t be approximated by any other nationality of car in that price range. And having “Toyota” on the hood meant that you were buying God’s Own Car. And would never, ever, ever, ever have to spend a penny on repairs for the rest of your life. Or so the ‘common wisdom’ went.
What is difficult to see at this distance in time is that the issue of the day wasn’t that Japanese cars were so good – they rusted terribly- but that America cans of that era were so bad.
How bad? Before accepting delivery of an American car, it was -seriously- common practice for informed buyers to check the build date against a calendar. You did not want a car built on a Friday or a Monday because quality was measurably worse.
Engineering wise they were terrible too. My wife worked for a Japanese company just opening a branch in the States in 88. The owner wanted to be pro-American so, although he could have afforded anything, he bought a big top-of-the-line Caprice. (A Caddy or a Buick et al would have been too flashy and immodest he thought). That car was terrible. Things broke or fell off regularly and it would -never- start on cold (Virginia cold, not Real Cold) mornings. I was continually embarassed for America by that damn car. After two years of suffering, he said “enough” and bought the first of the Lexus 400’s. The Lexus was a revelation.
Another quick anecdote – my Dad gave up on US cars after a bad Plymouth in the 70’s followed by a Caprice with a misaligned rear axle. He bought an Accord. One day, he told me with true amazement in his voice, ” I’ve driven this Accord 70,000 miles, and all I’ve had to do is change the oil”. He and I were both shocked, but for different reasons.
I know what you mean. I bought my very first Japanese car in 2008 (got my first car, a Buick in ’89) and was surprised that I never saw a mechanic for anything other than routine maintenance. Previously it was a trip to the shop on average every other month (some being better or worse than others) which I thought was the norm for all cars.
Many did. The “greatest generation” was raised on the semi-annual “tune-up.” Water pumps, master cylinders and alternators were wear items in those days.
Not anymore and we have imports to thank for that.
And those of us who chose that road were absolutely right.
That ironically was what killed the Tercel off. They kept pricing it higher and higher till the price of a decently equipped Tecel was in striking distance of the Corolla and a goodly amount of people going into a Toyota dealership to look at a Tercel wound up ponying up extra extra dollars and driving off the lot with a Corolla. In 1997 the MSRP for a base 4 door Tercel with manual trans was $12,168 while the top of the line 4 door Tercel MSRP was $12,878 by contrast the base 1997 Corolla with manual trans MSRP was $12998 and the top of the line 1997 Corolla DX with auto trans was $14988. There was less then $1000 difference between a base Tercel 4door sedan with manual and a base 4 door Corolla with manual. There simply was no point to buying a Tercel when you could have a Corolla for a little extra.
iirc, the Tercel hatch of that generation suffered from a tiny hatch opening. What’s the use of a hatch if you can’t get your stuff through a tiny opening? And there’s no point to a car that can’t carry my stuff.
It may sound crazy, but I’d take the F10 wagon over the 1st gen Tercel. But then, what I actually bought in 80 was an R5, with a hatch that opened down to the bumper. I could carry stuff that my mom couldn’t get into her 72 Torino.
This chair came home in the hatch area of my R5. I’d carry 7′ Christmas trees by opening the sunroof and standing them on the back seat. I once drove a load of 86 bowling balls from Oakland to San Rafael. I don’t remember ever needing to move anything that that car couldn’t handle.
Yep, that’s the unions back then: Plenty of energy to take a sledgehammer to a Japanese car for a photo op. Absolutely no energy in attempting to ensure that the American cars they were building could actually compete in build quality.
And they wonder why things turned out how they did?
Yes, but if they worked for GM, they didn’t have much to work with. Literally. Didn’t GM pinch a shit-ton of pennies under Roger Smith?
Betcha after that bashing it still fired right up and ran.
When my parents decided they needed two cars, my father bought the 82 version (with minor differences being that it featured less chrome than the 1980 model). He drove it in 1988-89 to use as a second car but it became his car (I don’t recall my mom ever driving it!) and it already had bad rust around the rear wheelwells back in 1988 when it was just 6 years old and had just 120,000 kms… I was 11 years old back then but I did like it’s style (I think these looked better than the following generation) and I liked the round vents in the dashboard! He sold it for cheap to my aunt who had a Datsun 310 Pulsar that was in worse shape! I was surprised to see they reintroduced the same style ball vents in the 1991 Tercel that my aunt bought brand new about a year later when she got rid of the 9 years old Tercel!
Strangely, this generation didn’t show “Corolla” above the Tercel name in Canada. It was just “Tercel” from the beginning (in 1980). The SR5 had nice wheels and a 5 speed transmission too but the one my father had was the basic model with the 4 speed transmission…
Interesting point. The 1980 Tercel literature in the U.S. (and Mainland models) had the little “Corolla Tercel” badge . . . my ’80 and those I remember new in the Servco Pacific (Hawaii) showrooms had just “Tercel” . . . .
In the U.S., literature shows that 1980-82 models were marketed as “Corolla Tercel” just like the one above. I would have expected that those sent to Hawaii would have the same badges as those in the other states. Are there usually differences between cars sold in Hawaii and other US States?
I’m sorry, but Mr. Polyester-and-Perm has got no business tellin’ me what to drive.
Having driven only malaise-era Detroit iron back in the day, a girlfriend let me drive her mom’s brand new ’81 Tercel, just like this one. It was a blast! Yes, Toyota did make bulletproof mechanicals, but their bodies were flimsy as a tin can, as the 1st mailbox I mowed down proved. The old ’72 Impala ate those mailboxes with little more evidence than a scratch to show for it.
Either you were a pretty bad driver, or just hated mailboxes!
A car obviously with its final owner. I wonder why someone would have ordered the two door sedan over the hatchback. The hatchback is both better looking and more practical.
It was quite a bit cheaper. Not only was the hatch intrinsically more expensive, but (IIRC) it also didn’t come in the base/stripper version like the sedan did. Lots of buyers of these cars were young and price-driven.
but (IIRC) it also didn’t come in the base/stripper version like the sedan did.
Hatches were popular in 80, so the marketing geniuses probably figured they could gouge for them.
I bought my 98 Civic hatch during the great hatchback dieoff, when manufacturers were dropping that bodystyle. The Civic hatch was only available in the cheapest trims: DX and hatchback only CX, that didn’t even have a radio, cover over the cargo area or rear wiper. No other Civic bodystyle was offered as a CX. No hatchback was available with cruise, or power locks/windows or a tach. They even deleted the inside release for the hatch in 98.
Now Ford has reversed the trend with the cheapest Focus trim only offered for the sedan.
Those “marketing geniuses” never seemed to realise that there were other car companies.
These were good cars, but not great cars. Toyota struggled to really put out a small front wheel drive car with the same appeal as Honda, VW or even Chrysler. Imagine Toyota without the Camry. You end up with this era. The “Corolla” Tercel was a cheap thing that was to do market battle with Civic, Rabbit, Datsun and Omnirizon. If you wanted a cheap Japanese tin machine, Datsun was the ticket. If you wanted a decent FWD, the market still couldn’t get enough Civic. Non-Japanese buyers went for VW or Chrysler. Ford wasn’t offering a similar vehicle for another year, and GM was still hoping you’d be fooled with a Chevette.
So, good enough, was good enough for Toyota that year. These Tercels tried to make due with a longitudinal engine with FWD, remember? Within another generation, no one did that. This made this generation “Corolla” Tercel different, but not really in a great way.
This is the trunk model and that was the model meant for thrifty buyers needing something Toyota and new. If you wanted something nicer, Toyota offered a Tercel with an attractive sporty hatchback. The trunk version, like this one, was not as stylish as the hatch, which had a completely different rear end treatment, including a spiffier looking tail light and rear fender styling. The hatch was a one piece tinted glass.
It is about as exciting to see one like this, as it is to see an old Datsun B-210, which means, not much. Yet – I salute it for having survive all these years!
These Tercels tried to make due with a longitudinal engine with FWD, remember?
iirc it was R&T that did a piece on the Tercel when it came out. Regarding the drivetrain they described it as essentially an engine and trans from a rear drive model, with the trans folded under the engine. A cheap and quick lashup, rather than the purpose built powertrains from VW, Honda, Chrysler and Ford.
Nothing cheap and quick about this. This engine and drive train were all new for the Tercel, and is essentially similar to what others have done too, like Olds, Saab and Honda (with the Legend/Vigor). It’s a perfectly well-engineered drivetrain, and one that developed a rep for being extremely rugged and long-lived. It was used for two generations of Tercels.
We didn’t see these long enough around where I live (near Montreal in Canada) to really appreciate the durability of their drivetrain but they were certainly better than the 1987-94 models which often burned almost as much oil as Colts, Hyundai Excels and two-stroke lawnmowers!
…is essentially similar to what others have done too, like Olds, Saab and Honda (with the Legend/Vigor).
I’m not familiar with the Hondas, but, yes, a simular approch to the Toro/Eldo and Saab: take a powertrain designed for RWD and fold the trans under the engine. GM spent the money to redesign the Hydramatic for reverse rotation. Saab put the entire powertrain in backwards.
Great pic in your Tercel piece from last year.
The Legend, Vigor, and Saber/Inspire (TL) had the transmission mounted behind the engine with a shaft running forward to the diff, which also required running one halfshaft through the oil pan.
Although the A-series engine quickly became one of the most ubiquitous Toyota engines. When the Tercel was introduced, Toyota hadn’t yet decided how extensively they should adopt FWD — they were very reluctant to switch the Corolla — and I suspect one of the reasons for the longitudinal engine was to facilitate using the same engine in other platforms, gradually replacing the older K-series and T-series pushrod engines. Once Toyota committed to FWD for the Corolla/Sprinter and Corona/Carina/Celica, they developed a transverse A and began phasing out the longitudinal version, but the production quantities involved were so large that they wanted to approach things in stages.
And of course the Tercel’s longitudinal engine made it easier to create the 4WD version…
Yes, I agree the reasons for Honda’s adoption of it in luxury cars (where it wasn’t slung far ahead of the wheels, Audi-style) versus Toyota’s use of it in the Tercel were for very different reasons.
When did Tercel switch to the E-block; 1987? That was unfortunately not so stout, at least not the 12-valve versions.
and I suspect one of the reasons for the longitudinal engine was to facilitate using the same engine in other platforms
I suspect not. It doesn’t take very much to convert an inline four to transverse position, as others have done (Iron Duke, etc). I’m not sure as to why Toyota chose this configuration, but somehow that one just doesn’t quite work for me.
The gen1 Tercel was a quite narrow car, likely in order to fit into one of Japan’s tax brackets. I’m going to suspect that a transverse power train was possibly turning out to be a bit wide, as this engine isn’t exactly overly compact. Perhaps there were concerns about turning radius, or other issues. It’s speculation, but given the large volumes Toyota was dealing with, designing versions of this engine’s block to easily work in both transverse and RWD versions seems like it would have been very easy.
I don’t think the AL10 Tercel’s width was motivated by tax bracket. The breakpoints were 1,400mm for the minicar class and 1,700mm for the five-number class. The Tercel was 1,555mm, which was only 15mm less than the E50/E60 Corolla and Sprinter and 50mm wider than the first Civic. Of course, Honda took pains to minimize the external size of its engines, which were mostly undersquare with conjoined bores, whereas the the A-series was oversquare and designed with some room for bigger bores. I don’t claim to know how their external dimensions compared, but I assume the A-series is probably longer than the early Civic engine.
Some markets didn’t want FWD, Toyota shipped some obsolete models of Corona to Australia to keep sales going there in RWD until things like the Camry had been proven elsewhere, then once development of the widebody Camry was completed in NZ they revised the car for world consumption and sent a whole factory to OZ.
I blame corporate culture. Toyota was an intrinsically conservative company at this time. The Toyota Starlet and the E70 Corolla was extremely conservative for its time, though with an unfailable tried and true drivetrain.
There could be a million technical reasons for having a longitudinal fwd engine, but the biggest reason I believe was simply that longitudinal engines was what Toyota did.
The Tercel was their first effort, behind Ford (’76 Fiesta) and VW (Golf, Fox/Passat). Even Chrysler had the Horizon for ’78, and the K-cars in ’81. When the E70 Corolla debuted in ’79, it went alongside the fwd Chevrolet Citation, both new cars for that year. There was no culture for front wheel drive at Toyota, they didn’t have the know how. What they knew was longitudinal.
I don’t think the AL10 Tercel’s width was motivated by tax bracket. The breakpoints were 1,400mm for the minicar class and 1,700mm for the five-number class. The Tercel was 1,555mm, which was only 15mm less than the E50/E60 Corolla and Sprinter and 50mm wider than the first Civic.
The easiest way to make a car cheap and light is to make it narrow.
If width was the concern with a transverse powertrain, Toyota could have taken a page from the Austin/Saab book and mounted the trans under the engine. The Landcrab and Princess offered a transverse inline 6, with a Borg Warner automatic. Surely Toyota could have figured out how to get a transverse powertrain in the Tercel if they had wanted to. They didn’t have Saab’s excuse of tiny sales volume.
I’ll put this down to Toyota timidity. They had the volume. They had the money. Ford, Chrysler, Austin, VW, Fiat all had transverse powertrains. Toyota just refused to jump in.
My buddy got 600,000 km out of one until everything except the engine, transmission and steering failed.
Toyota has always been a conservative company. A transverse engine was considered too radical for the old men running the company at the time.
It wasn’t a good year for Toyota? The sold every car they could import and often at a fat mark-up.
Toyota was a conservative company, yes, but I think their main bugbears were tooling costs and commonality, which were also Ford’s and GM’s concerns with FWD.
Big volume manufacturers tend to think that products aren’t worth bothering with if they don’t sell in big numbers and getting decent margins on those numbers hinges on spreading out the costs as much as possible. If you want to introduce something new or convert an existing product in a radical way, you either have to set up a new plant to produce the new components (really expensive) or retool part or all of existing plants to do it. The latter is somewhat less expensive and you have to recalculate your economies of scale for everything else that shared that platform or component and decide if you’re going to change everything or if it’s cheaper to have simultaneous production of two different things.
Toyota was exceptionally good at finding ways to build multiple variations on the same lines, but this kind of thinking was still a major part of the decision-making process for product development. That was why they were reluctant to go to FWD at all and when they did chose to do so in stages.
Paul is right; Tercels had 1500 SOHCs specifically designed for a N-S FWD configuration. I put 50K on mine in two years (!) – was transferred to Tidewater, Virginia. Said Tercel shipped to Oakland and driven cross-country by way of Dallas, N.E. Missouri. CV joints started to ratchet around turns halfway across this great land of ours and shit-the-bed in Virginia.
The 2 door was a price leader and the hatchback was the “sporty” model. The cheapest 2 doors had 4 speed manual transmissions while the hatch had a 5 speed manual. I don’t remember if the hatch was sold as an SR5 only, or if there was also a “plain jane” model. “Ironically” Toyota offered a 5 speed in the sporty Tercel while Ford wouldn’t offer a 5 speed in the Mustang until 1981.
Sorry about all the quotation / emphasis marks.
My father’s 1982 Tercel was the plain 4 speed “Deluxe Liftback” model, same wheels as the model featured above, AM radio, cloth/vinyl seats… I think that the Deluxe 2 and 4 door sedan models added a 5 speed transmission to the standard equipment list but there was a base 4 speed 2 door sedan model that was even less elaborate than the Deluxe Liftback…
The SR5 Liftback had nice aluminum wheels, large SR5 stickers and pinstripes on the lower body. I don’t think there were sedan versions of the SR5 but the Deluxe Liftback which had nothing “Deluxe” (unless you consider carpeting as a Deluxe feature!) used to be more common then the SR5 over here.
I have to imagine its owner just sends payment to the California BMV regularly and its registration is current.
Did you actually look at the registration? I wouldn’t be all too surprised if it’s not current. And tires last about 60k on these. There’s a fair number of these still on the streets here, as they make excellent low-cost beaters. My point is that the owner of this one may just be running it until something major breaks. But there’s no doubt in my mind he’s (update: NOT) driving it back for smog inspections.
And from the look of the rust, it may well be from a beach town in CA. Midwest salt rust tends to start from the inside/underneath. This rust seems to have started on the outside.
True enough about the registration. After returning to my native Kentucky when I got out of the Air Force, I drove my Rabbit for a couple of years with expired California registration (long story). I don’t recall it ever being an issue, a little strategically placed mud and it is hard to tell if the out of state sticker is the current year or not. Especially in smaller communities the police are less likely to make an issue of this type of thing, unless you get stopped for some other violation. I agree with Paul that the Tercel is likely being driven until it dies or can no longer be kept running on the cheap.
I thought the same thing, this car is sort of skirting under the radar, with the owner hopping the wheels will fall off first before anyone discovers it hasn’t been registered since 1998.
It’s possible that current said owner may be getting away in Illinois having an ‘old’ (rudely expired) Cal registration which is altered simply by taking a little acetone and rubbing the date off the sticker enough to where it’s hard to read at first glance. If this is the case, eventually the local law will get wise as they’ll see this car on a regular basis, with Illinois salt rust and old Cal tags and actually ‘run’ the plates.
The acetone trick was a favorite of my older sister as, around in the mid-90’s, she had an old ’78 Toyota Corolla wagon and was in between her (multiple) husbands . . . . couldn’t afford car insurance (before mandatory checks) nor registration, so she acetoned part of the year off . . . . got away with it too . . .
I didn’t think to when snapping the pics, and now the image isn’t large enough, hence the guessing. I’m inclined to believe it’s actually not current; what makes you believe he’s driving back for smog inspections?
Typo. Meant to say ” there’s no doubt in my mind he’s NOT driving back for smog inspections”. That’s a borderline absurd notion. Probably from an area of CA that doesn’t require it, which includes much of the coast, as it has such clean air naturally.
My guess is that they moved to Bloomington for school, and will run it until it dies. But who knows? Maybe it’ll still make it back to CA. I wouldn’t be surprised.
Oh okay, that makes more sense. It’s an older gentleman who owns this car, FWIW (though maybe he is in school–who knows). I’m just surprised the cops haven’t noticed, he drives everywhere.
If it’s yellow (it looks like it, but it’s itty-bitty), it’s probably either current or quite out of date. California rotates the color of the stickers each year to make it easier to tell when a plate isn’t current, although because registration renewal doesn’t come at the same time for everyone (it’s on the anniversary of the date the car was originally registered), there are always two colors in play at any given time even for people who are paid up.
The 2014 stickers are blue and the 2015 are yellow. I don’t honestly remember what color last year’s were — maybe green, but it’s one of those things you look at once and have no particular reason to think about again. (I actually had to go outside and look because I couldn’t remember what color mine is.)
Assuming that the owner kept the car’s registration current, I really don’t see why someone with a California car who moved to another state would choose to keep the CA registration, as I think states like Indiana would have less costly registration, unless it’s a state like Virginia with a property tax levy on cars based on its value.
and yes to California coastal communities affecting cars’ rust – you see rusty cars in San Francisco’s far western Sunset district, which borders the Pacific Ocean.
California cars along the coast CAN rust . . . . but, it’s usually surface rust and if holes do pop up, it’s due to trapped dirt/sand in areas where the water can’t run down the channels down to the lower panels and onto the ground.
Regular washing/waxing prevents this problem as it does out here in Hawaii and even in the rust belt states (I lived in Cleveland for five years, and as long as I could get steady water coming out of a hose, or fill buckets with bathtub water, I was washing cars in the dead of winter – same with Alaska).
California cars over 25 years old do not require smog checks, so the owner hasn’t needed to smog it in nearly a decade. Registration costs are higher than many other states, but on a low-value car like this the difference would be negligible.
Sadly, not true. When the regulation was introduced the intention was that it be a sliding annual scale. That lasted only a year or two, and then the “smog exempt” cutoff was frozen 1975. 76 or newer requires smog check on transfer, and biennially in some areas.
The fact that this car is still running with the body in this condition is nothing short of a miracle, or a tribute to Toyota quality – I remember seeing Subies from the same era looking like this in the early 1990s.
remember seeing Subies from the same era looking like this in the early 1990s.
I remember 70s Subies looking like that in 5 years.
California cars CAN rust, as Paul points out. In San Francisco there are a few older cars showing rust in the few blocks just east of Ocean Beach, close to the Pacific Ocean. There used to be a lot more but with average home prices there exceeding a million dollars, almost anybody out there can afford newer cars.
Also, it’s not ALL of California that requires smog inspections. In nonpolluted rural areas (not all rural areas are nonpolluted) there is only the State requirement of an inspection when a car’s title is transferred (usually sold) to someone who intends to re-register it in the State. This owner could be sending a check to California DMV yearly if the car is registered in one of these areas. More stringent rules apply only in specific air pollution control districts.
Possibly an annual vehicle safety inspection (in Pennsylvania, make that “gouge”) is required where the Toyota is now, so the owner elects to keep it registered in California where such inspections are not required.
The Pacific coast was brutal on many Japanese cars. My aunt junked a first generation Accord with only 40,000 miles because it dissolved from the top down a few blocks from the beach near LAX. In Hawaii it was even worse due to warmer temps and tropical sun accelerating the oxidation.
To be fair, GM pioneered the use of water-based paints, I think at the South Gate and Van Nuys plants in the 1970’s. The result was also a disaster in the salt spray zone.
Some of the “C” pillar rust on this one reminds me of how Japanese cars of this vintage would rust from the top down in Hawaii and Guam. My ’80 Tercel (below) had this gooey, tarry, Quaker State rustproof stuff pumped into the inner doors, rocker panels, A, C pillars in inside the trunk panel which sucked because the little Toyota tire and tool kit that came with the car in the green vinyl and cotton bag got covered with the Quaker State rustproof goo.
Yes . . . out here, most cars would (some still do) rust from the top down and along the hood and trunk lips.
We never did Japan-Bashing down in Florida, since we don’t have car plants, I do remember generic “car-smashing” at county fairs, which also seemed wrong to me as a kid, it was usually some 15 or so year old car like an 1965 Impala. If you’re going to smash something, smash something truly hateful because of the people that drive it, like an Audi A4, a 3 series or an Altima.
We had a car bashing in high school, but it was an old late 50’s American car that was of thick steel, and it got bashed on all day and still sort of looked like a car at the end. Much more bash for your buck. The 96 Tercel bought for a family member last Feburary now has another 7K miles, up to 164k from 157k when purchased. One thing I notice is how light and flimsy the hood and especially the trunk lid feel, the metal is quite thin. But I have a feeling it’s going to hold up well in the long run. Keeping fingers crossed.
An old girlfriend had this exact car in this exact color, and maybe with this exact rust in an earlier stage. It was pretty tercellible to drive. She moved from the northeast US to California and changed her name… that, combined with your Breaking Bad references, has gotten me thinking that this car is involved in a complex scheme of which I am better off knowing nothing.
BTW, the car in Photo 6 (the B&W one) looks to me like a mid-70s, garden-variety Corolla, not a later Tercel.
It is; there’s a Corolla emblem on the grille.
I remember these well. Interesting the Tercel was sold alongside the Starlet, giving Toyota 2 cars in the lowest price range subcompact segment. I think the Starlet was the better car.
Starlets were equipped and sold in the U.S. with a little more standard equipment than a base Tercel. You got that little pinstriped vinyl seat, carpet and a little brightwork with the Starlet as standard equipment . . . most were five speeds . . . .
A yellow cockroach .
I remember these well , the Toyota Dealer couldn’t keep them on the lot they sold so fast .
Those tiny tires cost well under $200 for a set of five new ones .
-Nate
The base models had 12′ tires (see my photo below); the Deluxe versions had the 13’s – but – base model Tercels with automatics got the 13 inchers. In 1980 on the base model, those were belted Bridgestone Skylines where the base stick models had Bridgestone radials (as did the Deluxes). In ’81 they all got radial tires.
My dad bought a brand new 1980 Tercel at the beginning of 1980 to use as a commuter car while my mother drove the 1976 Ford Granada. It was a base model with a 4 speed manual trans and black vinyl seating. In 1992 they foolishly got rid of the tercel in favor of a free 1980 Chevy malibu from my Grandparents. That was a big mistake as even though the Malibu was meticulously taken care of by both my grandparents and my folks it was still unreliable from when it was new until it was gotten rid of. While the Tercel was rock solid reliable so that Malibu was total POS.
Now to be honest the Tercel was not exactly the worlds greatest car and neither were a lot of Japanese cars BUT they were better made then a lot of the Domestic cars of the time, the union mentality that “hey we will always have jobs no matter what the final product looks like” got GM, Ford and Chrysler into a lot of trouble. At one time 1 out of ever 3 Ford cars and trucks rolled out of the factory with misaligned or damaged body panels resulting in the dealership having to fix it. When the Japanese brought their cars over to the USA, Americans saw that not only were the cars cheaper then American cars BUT they were reliable. This should have been a wake up call that “hey we need to step up our game and make these cars as perfect as we can” but no it was simply easier to blame the Japanese and their cars.(just like it was to blame the Germans for their Beetle a generation earlier)
Now there is a good outcome to all this, in 2014 American cars are among the best made and reliable cars out there and every bit as good as their Asian counterparts but resale value is still piss poor due to the perception that American cars still reek with unreliability.
My dad bought a brand new Toyota Tercel in 1980 to use to drive back and forth to TN for work on a coal mine. It was about a 60 mile round trip and he wanted an economical vehicle to drive while his 98 Olds sat in the driveway.
A few years later I was old enough to drive and inherited the Tercel which I drove through high school. It was a 4 speed on the floor, black vinyl seats and bright red in color. I loved that little car. Dad kept it for about 25 years before selling it to a neighbor for $400, it had over 250k miles on it when it left our family.
Really digging this site, keep up the good work y’all.
We had a white 82 sedan, our first toyota, sold it to some guy from NH at a yard sale in 1993
Funny little creature, always a rarity. The contemporary Starlet P6 did much better because it was a hatcback.
B- and C-segment cars with a butt never did anything here. All Starlet generations were tough as nails.
It is sad that old cars such as these will never gain real collector car status. Two teachers in high school drove (’87-’90) Tercel hatchbacks -one being dark blue and the other a rusty silver, both of which I thought were ugly.
My dad still drives a ’97 Tercel sedan purchased with 128,000 km in 2007 and now has over 247,000 km. The rust is developing near the rear wheels. It seems to be burning oil as we have to top it up every now and then, but not many issues. It still survived a 1000 km round trip this past Summer. Cheap new tires can be bought and installed within $200.
An older 80s car like the one pictured would be exempt from the emissions test over here. Although money is a deciding factor, the only question is when do you replace an old car for the sake of safety.
A true road warrior. Rust in peace little Tercel
My first new car: 1980 Toyota Tercel. The 2-door sedan notchback was only available in Hawaii (and Guam) in the base series. Four speed, rubber floor mats, vinyl seats. if you wanted the Deluxe, you had to get the hatchback, which I thought was ugly. I had to ‘wait’ for almost 2 months when they (Servco Pacific, not Toyota USA) waited for the last batch of 1980 models to be shipped into the 50th state. Took delivery in September, 1980 (towards the end of the month). Here it is – my then pride and joy around 1981 . . .
The pic of the rednecks smashing the car is a 1975-79 RWD Corolla not a Tercel… to call that car a Tercel is an insult. LOL
I’d rather have the RWD Corolla.
Since there was a lot of interest and comments (six years ago) about the California registration, revealing that CC’ers are interested in all things automotive, no matter how trivial, and not just about the vehicles themselves, I’ll toss this out there: our son is active duty military stationed on the East Coast but he is allowed to keep his California driver’s license and vehicle registration. And he is exempt from smog checks here … as well as the vehicle inspections where he lives.
California only requires smog checks in higher-pollution areas. In cleaner-air districts they are required only at change of ownership. Family ownership transfers are exempt.
Mailing addresses for car registration can be out if state, many businesses with locations in multiple states run that way.
There are no California safety inspections.
Just found this little number on a bootleg Cd I own. Bob Rivers, the comedian and virtuoso musican. To be fair, he also did a hatchet job on Toyota’s braking problems back in the 90s.
https://bobrivers.com/back-in-a-u-s-made-car/