Frequent readers of CC will know of my propensity for (mostly) ’80s Toyota iron. However, my roommate, Jerry, who sold me my first Toyota years ago, is making me a bit jealous.
My little ‘83 Tercel hatchback is getting crowded out of the church parking lot in which they graciously *cough* allow us one spot. He bought this ’89 Corolla AWD “Turbo” wagon off Craigslist (and for dirt) earlier this year, and a few weeks ago an FX, for $300. Although listed as undriveable with a “stuck” clutch, he was nevertheless able to drive it home. After he replaced the master cylinder, it was good to go. And just last night, he bought an ’85 Tercel 4×4 wagon for $150. Long story short, its owner had taken a train to Mississippi after, well, attempting to repair a fuel issue. He didn’t really know what he was doing, and wound up bricking it…
…or not! We spent a few hours replacing various bad vacuum hoses, then went through almost an entire can of carb cleaner, added some premium gas directly into the carb–and still couldn’t get spark. Or so we thought. And then we tried the “stick a screwdriver in the distributor and place the spark plug cable near the screwdriver and turn the ignition and look for spark” trick, and…spark! When we pulled the timing belt cover back we found the likely culprit: a camshaft pulley so severely bent that the new timing belt we’d put on just a few days earlier was slowly slipping off.
Stay tuned — pretty soon there just might be another CC back on the road (fingers crossed!).
The “church of Toyota”, huh? Pagan.
Sure, Zack…every Lent they observe “The Stations of the Cressida”.
I thought it was a cult.
Interesting mix of badges we call that 4wd Corolla a Caribean, but good cars and hard to kill,
Just Carib or Sprinter Carib:
A friend looking for added winter traction for safety, plus the space of a wagon, bought a Tercel SR5 four wheel drive wagon in 1986. I recall at the time, the AMC Eagle wagon wasn’t on his radar. You’d have to think that the Tercel four wheel drive wagon must have significantly hurt AMC Eagle wagon sales when introduced in 1983. My friend’s Tercel wagon was very spacious, had excellent traction, and delivered great mileage. Perhaps the Eagle was more roomy, but would have suffered in fuel economy, compared to the Tercel. Plus Toyota was developing a very good reputation for quality at the time.
My friend was very happy, and I thought it was a great little wagon.
I love the styling of the Toyotas especially in that last photo and I like the asymmetry of the underhood bracing. Nice job keeping these on the road. Looks like the white Corolla Estate came from San Francisco judging by the parking permits on the rear bumper. A number of Oregon’s Doug Fir plates are getting hard to read, but it adds to the character of the vehicle.
I noticed that too, the bracing is so weird! I’ve never seen anything like that.
We had a beige Tercel 4wd wagon. Thing was great and we put a ton of miles on it.
Forgive me father for I have sinned. Yesterday I drove a Nissan. What is my penance?
’89 Corolla Turbo wagon …. Turbo??? is this some joke going over my head? I know Subaru had a Turbo wagon in that era (my FIL had one), and of course the Celica AllTrac Turbo, but Corolla AllTrac Turbo? Out good friends still have one of those Corolla AllTracs but it’s definitely non-Turbo. On a similar topic, I read recently on BringATrailer that the Tercel AWD wagon was a 6-speed …. is that true? I know the later Honda Civic RT4WD’s were 6-speeds, but never heard that about the Tercel wagons.
Someone put a TOYOTA TURBO EFI badge on the liftgate of the Corolla. We both though it was stock, due to how sporting the car moves along. Turns out it’s just a badge off of a mid80’s (albeit rare) stock Toyota turbo truck. There is no turbo on the car. You can see the badge to the left of the handle in the picture.
Tercel 4x4s have an extra low gear, so I guess that’s where the 6-speed designation comes from.