Sorry, everyone: no Cold Start via Jason this morning. Torch is likely still asleep in California, eyes flitting back and forth beneath their lids as his dreams conjure motherflapping who knows what. Or, he may be tucking into a continental breakfast. Who knows. What I do know is that any imitation I might attempt of Jason’s signature CS style could only fall flat, so I will instead use this time and space to wax rhapsodic over a car I hold near and dear to my heart: the AL25 Toyota Tercel wagon.
As is so often the case with such things, I am convinced the affection I have for the Tercel Wagon is earned entirely by the merits of the car itself, but I cannot discount that I may merely be nostalgic for the era that I was a passenger in one and later counted it among the first cars I drove on the regular. But I can tell you for certain that my goodwill for this good wagon is not entirely nostalgia, nor is it even 50 percent; I think even 20 percent would be charitable.
I recall vividly the day the car came home, and how I felt it was properly modern. All crisp lines and black bumpers, the Tercel was everything the car it replaced was not. No chrome girders hanging off the ends, nary a curve or rounded panel in sight, and bright silver paint where the outgoing American wagon wore woodgrain over a color that could have been listed in the brochure as Well-Circulated Penny.
I recall our Tercel being a ringer for the one in the Bring a Trailer listing shown above, minus the wonderful plaid seats and inclinometers (more on those in a minute). For those of you too young to remember the early-80s car scene, jutting flat-topped bumpers proudly wrapped in black rubber were quite the rage, and brightwork was shrunk to thin accent strips if there at all. Entire windows framed in chrome were definitely out, as were chromed side mirrors. Leave those things in the 1970s, man. I thought, and still think, the white-painted steelies give the wagon a bit of a rugged vibe, and the center caps really pull the look together as a premium-appearing package as opposed to the cheap base offerings they were.
No discussion of the Tercel wagon is complete without mention of the rear hatch’s license plate surround, which resembled an automatic teller machine. ATMs themselves were still relatively novel at the time as I recall, so Toyota was really tapping the zeitgeist there.
Moving inside the Tercel, I thought the dash’s straight lines, crisp corners, and block-hubbed steering wheel were quite futuristic – especially with those chunky switches embedded in the instrument cluster’s bezel. Sadly, Dad did not opt for the optional inclinometers seen farther below. He no doubt thought they were neat but also ridiculous, as our Tercel would never see anything steeper than whatever qualified as Seekonk, Massachusetts’ biggest hill. In hindsight, not spec’ing the inclinometers likely forestalled all manner of teenage-driver shenangans, as 16-year-old me would absolutely have attempted to see just how much incline the Tercel could ometer.
Our Tercel wagon was a loyal commuter, family hauler, and car-I-was-allowed-to-drive until it met its demise when a guy ran a red light in his brand-new Panther-platform Mercury Cougar and totalled the little Toyota with a shot square in the left front wheel. I was in the driver’s seat for that, my first car accident. Needless to say, it sucked, and I was very sad to see the Tercel wagon go to the scrapper. The entire family was. Womp-womp.
And there ends my Tercel wagon story.
Shout-out to all the hipsters who discovered my favorite Toyota as Jesse Pinkman’s ride in Breaking Bad.Â
Fingers crossed, Jason returns to Cold Start tomorrow!
Don’t replace the thermostat unless you have small hands. Did that once. Rather replace a subaru engine of the same era instead. No trying to fit hidden shit even if its more work.
Functionality, usefulness, utility, economy, frugality. Maybe not great to drive – I wouldn’t know – but it’s otherwise chock full of good qualities and all the things I look for and want in a car.
Here in Australia they have just released the Dacia Duster (as a renault) and it is almost the spritual ancestor to the Tercel 4wd with all the qualities you mention.
“Ladies and gentleman, may I introduce to you the Dacia Sundero! James May approved!” 🙂
We occasionally get an instacart delivered by one of these in the same shade of (oxidized) red as Jesse’s. I just stare at it from the window not wanting to scare the poor man away.
Seekonk! I have fond memories of the 4th of July at the Speedway, spend way too much time (and money) at Vanson Leathers too. Grew up un North Attleboro, long enough ago to spell it that way. (apparently it’s Attlebouroughoughough or something now)
To answer a question that was recently posited here, this is the slowest car I am willing to drive on a highway. I’ve driven slower, but nope, not doing that again.
Think of how slow it is with a three speed auto, and how much it leans in corners without the optional sway bar. Now, with a 5 speed and sway bars, and I’m sure it was good for what it was. My brother had the former for a while until the carburetor died. Apparently, it was super complicated and was right before going to electronic ignition, and was a pain to work on.
I thought these looked a little odd, but ended up buying a used ’84 Sport model in 1995. It was a fun-ish little car. Surprisingly decently balanced trending towards oversteer if you came into a corner a little hot. Mine didn’t have the inclinometers, but it was nice to have the 4WD option when the normal FWD wasn’t enough to motivate the car in snow. Probably used it ~five times in the three years and 25,000 miles I had it.
When my dad bought his Tercel hatch in ’84, we lived on top of a mountain peak in the Rockies, where snow was sometimes measured in feet rather than inches. So when he saw the 4wd option he immediately… Said no because money doesn’t grow on trees and does he look like he’s Rockefeller and all that means is extra things to break. Said the same thing when they offered a radio, which was not standard on that car.
Never got stuck in it though. We just stayed home like everyone else when we got a dumping of snow.
FWD and good tires are usually enough. I was tapped out at the time and a set of Blizzaks was not in the budget. And I had a job where snow was not a very valid excuse for not showing up.
Climbing the Cascades from Seattle was a noisy trip (engine and road noise), but it got there without impeding traffic.
Yep. The only 4wd vehicle I own is a compact tractor. 😉
Of course I live in the flatlands of the upper midwest now, so it’s not like I’m climbing too many hills. I don’t even bother with winter tires anymore – the Michelin all seasons are plenty as long as you don’t drive like an idiot. If it’s really bad I just work from home.
I owned a new Ice Blue SR5 with the white wheels exactly like the one in the photo. It had a 5 speed and it was dog slow, passing was a highly dangerous affair. It did have a shocking amount of room inside and even the back seats were roomy because they sat high and your legs dropped down. We had two small kids at the time and it was a great, reliable family car and it looked cool too. And yes, the first time I saw it I thought it looked like an ATM (or Ready Teller as we first called them) in the back.
I think Toronto Dominion were the first to introduce ATMs in Canada. They called them Green Machines. Canada Trust was probably second with the Johnny Cash brand. Advertising agencies and cocaine had a great working relationship back in those days.
Looking at the pictures posted here today, I’m seeing a lot more ice maker/drink dispenser.
At least you had a 5 speed. The hatch base model came with a 4.
Man, my wife-to-be had one of these and used to drive it terrifyingly fast. (She’s now a grandmother and drives like one.) We kept the Tercel until it started looking shabby at 150K and gave it to her brother, who lived a simple life in a remote Colorado cabin. He babied it religiously and the next time I saw it it was spotless and ran like a top. He got it past 300K before he himself passed from a heart attack. When we sold his cabin to his neighbor, the Tercel went with it, and may still be going!
Man, wouldn’t we all love to see a Panther based Cougar? It’s a shame they never continued the 2-door coupe with the “Aero” Panthers…I think they made one as part of the Marauder show cars? A quick search indicates it was a two-door Marauder convertible. Which could have been a Cougar…
Came to post this. Cougar was never a Panther-platform. Since this Tercel’s introduction, the Cougar was either Fox-based (until 1988), MN12 (1989-1997) or Contour-based CDW27 (1999-2002).
Oh man, you just took me back to an absolute gem of a memory, I had all but forgotten! One of my high school buds, like you, basically inherited a sweet ass red one. As high school aged boys tend to do, we immediately packed that mofo with anyone that was down to clown and put “cherry” through any and every challenge a car full of teenage testosterone possibly could, in a small desert town… then one of us clowns had a terrible/wonderful idea to test out the 4WD… in a dried-out riverbed. Let’s just say, mistakes were made and we buried it to the axles as soon as we hit the middle of said riverbed. This was pre-cellphone days so two of us had to walk back to an Arco station and use a payphone to call one of our dads for help, and uh, after we were ridiculed and laughed at, we were driven 4 shovels and wished the best of luck. Ugh, talk about a clusterfuck. Some of us learned a lot that day, others not so much LMFAO
I bought one new, with the inclinometer. White 5speed and I am sad that I got rid of it. But I did trade it in for a VW GTI mark 1 in Silver.
I went from a 1979 MK1 Golf 1.6 GLS (in Santos Green) to 2 x 1983 Tercel 4wd Wagons and although the Tercel was a bit less fun to drive day to day it ended up being a really good long distance cruiser. Unfortunately we never got the mk1 GTI in Australia
“Toyota loved showing off the Tercel wagon topped with skis and traversing snow, though the slow exposure of this shot makes it look as though this SR5 driver has the car tach’d out with absolutely zero traction and just as little forward momentum”
I’m not saying it was spinners… But it was spinners.
I think it was a pre-production photo shoot, and the “factory” wheels weren’t ready yet, so they put on whatever wheels fit, sprayed them white, and blurred them out.
Indeed there are many different versions of that shot that Toyota used in different markets flipping the driver from RHD to LHD in some.
I love these too. Throw in the wagon Civic, and a Mitsubishi Colt I think it was… I hate to say it but they were the precursor to the modern crossover, just way cooler. I mean that’s the way of the world, isn’t it? These great ideas get watered down for the masses in the name of profits.
My uncle had one of these for a couple of years in the mid 90s. Probably one of the better crap boxes he used as a commuter while my aunt had the nicer family car.
At some point the rear window was smashed out to get whatever was back there while my cousin was using it for errands. Being the cheap man he is (he was born in Scotland so the stereotype works) he bought the biggest rubber maid tub and lid he could find and cut the lid to size. Then proceeded to drive it for many months after that.
I love the big ol’ license plate surround! It’s a clever bit of internationalizaion: need to fit various plate sizes and rear lights without manufacturing a new tailgate? Just work something that can easily be changed into the design from the very beginning!
Compare the Nissan S14, where they punched a big hole in the bumper and stuck a whole new surround in to hold the euro plate & rear fog light, and it doesn’t work with the design at all: https://petrolpositive.at/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Nissan-200sx-S14a-Z-Edition_17.jpg
Weirdly where I live Australian Design Rules deemed that we needed to have our licence plate further to the right and therefore needed and extra plate holder! as can be seen on this specimen.
These were so interesting.
bring back tall roofs
The Ford C-Max and the Prius V are the last two tall roof 5 doors I can remember being sold in USA and both I think we’re last sold here in 2017
This was my first car. It was awesome. I still miss it.
car-I-was-allowed-to-drive Money meter Womp-womp All I knew was that it made me feel weird tucking into motherflapping well-circulated girders premium-appearing zeitgeist
Queue the rant: why can’t we get small practical squared wagons anymore?
Because, Virginia, people only want them when they’re called an SUV these days so we can fleece the customer for more money.
And now they add RS or M badges so they’re cool.
Uh… my RS SUV is pretty cool.
OK, it’s not that cool. But it’s yellow, so that’s gotta count for something.
I do like the yellow.
There’s also the ride-height arms race. Everything gets progressively taller so people think if they don’t also have something tall they’re unsafe and now we’re caught in this self-perpetuating race for the sky. Since we have no functional government left to regulate that out of existence, here we are.
In the battle of weapons vs armour, cars appear to check both boxes as they get bigger.
CUV but the point still stands.
There is the Forester……..
The rear-most side windows not lining up with the others is a jarring detail that I have always absolutely hated on these.
I think that the bottom of those rear windows is aligned with the bottom of the glass in the rear hatch and it may have been intended to tie that together.
I basically expect that I should hate that non-lineup in the same way, but in fact love it. It breaks the back end into a separate element, and beyond that, if the lower edge of the rear glass was raised to line it up, the car would become incredibly boring and forgettable. All IMO, of course.
Also there’s the logic-conscious-brain consideration that someone at Toyota said, eff it, we’re going for maximum interior light and outward visibility.
After having a couple of these and its its successor I like the odd windows as it was never going to be a beautiful car they decided to make it interesting and the glasshouse on this car is huge. Here is a link to some concepts. Car Styling 40
The parcel shelf (with Toyota badging) lines up with the doors through the window.
The windows were originally designed to be gull wing as seen on this prototype (toyota RV5 concept) for the 1981 Tokyo car show. Tercel birdwatching edition
This guy also has a Tercel wagon story. Several, probably.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/1985-toyota-tercel-high-mileage-1.7597168
Yeah, looks like it’s Tercel Wagon Month here: https://www.theautopian.com/this-heros-1985-toyota-has-775000-miles-and-his-plan-to-go-another-600000-is-legendary/
How did I miss that???!!!
In my world every month is Tercel wagon month
I’m fond of the blue and silver color scheme just because it matches one of my favorite toys as a kid.
https://tomica.fandom.com/wiki/No._23_Toyota_Sprinter_Carib
Glad to see after all these years we werent the only ones who thought this. We called them “Toyota Versatellers”