Theory: the Toyota Tercel is the cockroach of economy cars (in a good way)

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

It's such a treat for me to visit regions where the cars don't rust. It's like automotive time travel. Even just seeing the ones from the 80's is fun, never mind something unrestored from 1960!

Salt on the road had never been an issue for me, but when I lived in a coastal city there were some concerns with salt mist. But anyway, some 20 years ago it was not so unusual to see some old irons from the '50s being still daily-driven, and even some older ones still in service.

[mechman600]

The first car that I ever purchased, not including earlier hand-me-downs, was a 1991 Tercel S. 2-door, 4 speed manual. IIRC in my younger dumber days it got around 38 mpg. I didn't notice when I bought it that it already had a wrecker engine (obvious yellow paint pen numbers written on the valve cover). Turns out that the early SOHC 1.5 motors had a real problem with valve guides seals that led to piston rings gumming up and subsequent lack of mosquitos within a 2 mile radius. Mine eventually started burning oil (it turns out again), so one summer I did an inframe ball hone overhaul - new rings and valve guide seals, which solved the problem.
I always wondered if the later DOHC engine had this issue. I have always thought that a late model Tercel would make fantastic EV conversion.

[Vman455]

My college car was a Tercel, which subsequently went to my oldest sister when I took my grandfather's truck to grad school in Rochester. Rest assured, unlike cockroaches, it is possible to kill a Tercel through neglect.

ETA: Here's the last time I ever saw it, four years after I gave it to her, on her street in Coeur d'Alene. I was driving a Viper at the time. How times change!

[rnjason]

Just by looking at it made me feel nostalgic with our '88 Honda Prelude that my dad used to drive.

[MetroMPG]

Random sightings within a couple of minutes...





The odometer on the green one: 66k kms = 41k miles. Autotragic though, and it hasn't moved in a while. It's always in this spot.

[Daox]

Wow, the bodies are so clean on those.

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Random sightings within a couple of minutes...


The odometer on the green one: 66k kms = 41k miles. Autotragic though, and it hasn't moved in a while. It's always in this spot.

Notice how there's rust / staining on only the bottom of the wheels on the second one.

[jcp123]

I barely see Tercels, though I see a fair number of Echos. I see even more Echos up in the snowbelt. I seriously can't remember the last Tercel I saw. Kind of a shame since I think they are handsomely styled.

I'll agree on the pricing though - when I was shopping last year, both Echos and Tercels were priced right alongside cars from a class up and sometimes even some midsize cars, such as the stick Ford Fusion I kinda wanted. I see tons of 6th gen Civics absolutely everywhere I go, though.

[davelobi]

Originally Posted by Daox

Yep. Toyota makes pretty good cash on bland cars that run good.

speaking of vanilla, I just picked up an 05 corolla, 5sp, crank windows. My 6 year old had never seen manual windows. I showed her, she tried em and exclaimed "that's cool ".

[MetroMPG]

Nice find! How many miles? What's it replacing?

I've had that same funny experience showing wind-up windows to little kids (currently my whole fleet has crank windows).