There’s a virtual lovefest going on today over an unlikely object of affection, the 1985 Toyota Tercel 4WD Wagon (aka Sprinter Carib in Japan). This is probably why Jalopnik is the best automotive site out there today (um, other than JNC, that is). Where else can you find site with 1.9 million readers a month whose commenters pretty much all have good things to say about a 20-year-old station wagon with drivetrain that zig-zags from a longitudinal engine to a V-drive tranny then back under the oil pan and finally to the rear wheels?
The rear of those things looks like an ATM machine.
Haha, true!
Haha, I always thought the same thing! I remember those sticking out when I was little. I always thought the back-end was so damn cool. There used to be like 5-6 in my neighborhood alone. I haven’t seen one in years now.
My parents had one when I was a kid. I loved it.
Stupid Aussie laws required the rear licence plate to be in the centre or right side of the rear. So Aussie spec Tercels had a big reflective “TERCEL” panel in the numberplate box and an ugly black bracket for teh plate bolted to the right side of the hatch. The law changed and the rear plate was located in the proper box on later Tercels.
Here’s a link to a photo of the wierd rear plate mount:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/bnicho/tercel.jpg
If you own one of these wonderful little guys, join our T4WD Club (2WD Welcome as well). We are into preservation and not neon or aero mods (HA!).
There are some extremely talented and very clever and helpful folks worldwide in the Club (and in particular some very large Canadian and Australian contingents as well).
http://tercel4wd.com/forums/
Be CERTAIN to check out the sticky “Zen and the Tercel Wagon” in the General Topics section.
Tom M.
Hey there. I checked out your site and was glad to see some love for the Tercel wagon. Sorry about the approval thing, we get a ton of attempted spammers here.