We’ve all seen those stories about some old-timer driving around in their 40 year-old car, proudly announcing that they’ve raised a family in it, grown their career in it, retired comfortable in it, and how the thing still “runs like a top” after all these years. It’s a classic local news piece. But this story from CBC News Nova Scotia is a bit different, because the owner, Andy Campbell, is an absolute legend.
To be clear, I don’t know Campbell at all: I just saw this news story from CBC, and I was blown away for reasons I will soon enumerate.
But before we get to them, here’s CBC’s video on Campbell:
The car in question is a 1985 Toyota Tercel, a boxy four-wheel drive vehicle that you’d be forgiven for mistaking as an old Subaru. The thing is cool, especially since its “3A” four-cylinder engine is known to be relatively reliable (if a bit gutless at 62 hp), it’s got an “old school” lever that you pull to go from front-wheel drive (yes, longitudinal engine, front drive!) to rear-wheel drive, and it’s got a giant manual transmission shifter that features a “very low” 4.7:1 gear ratio for off-road use:
But what makes Campbell a legend is not just that he drives a cool old car with a stickshift. No, what makes him a legend is his plan for putting another million kilometers on the car he’s owned since ~1990. That plan involves his shed:
“Over the years, [Campbell has] stashed away enough spare parts to try to keep it going for 1 million more,” the CBS News Nova Scotia video host says in the voiceover, before cutting to Campbell, who says: “Heater motors, radiator, fans, and stuff right — just things that I hope I never will have to use again. But if I do, instead of going to Toyota, I come here.”
But then you look in the footage of the shed and it’s not just small parts like heater motors and fans and radiators. Campbell has two spare engine blocks just sitting in on some dollies:
And look at all these starter motors:
And he’s also got simpler parts like tires, exhaust bits, and taillight housings:
Campbell is not only a prolific Tercel parts hoard— err, collector — but what’s most impressive is that he’s a wrench. “Except for the front-end alignment, he does all the maintenance himself,” says the CBC host, going on to mention: “Almost everything has been replaced or repaired. The body is probably the only original part left, and that’s had work done on it, too.”
But just as you think Campbell — a stickshift-driving older gentleman who drives a 775,000-mile car that he fixes himself using a prolific parts stash in his shed — couldn’t possibly be more legendary, the video shows him drive out of his garage in his “new” spare car for when his O.G. Tercel needs fixing:
It’s the same dang car. A year newer, but it’s the same car. And in the same color!
“This is my new one — ’86. How you like it?” Campbell asks.
What an absolute legend.
Impressive parts hoarding skills indeed! We have another member on Tercel4wd.com that has over 1 mil kms on their wagon as well in Nova Scotia. Do they even use salt on the roads there?
A friend had one of these in high school and college. It was only referred to as The Lunchbox
He has plans to put a million more miles but I couldn’t find how many miles he has put on it so far. I worked with an accountant in the 2000s he had a 1974 Plymouth something he bought new. I am not sure how many miles he had on it after 40 years or if he is still driving it. However it is proof cheap non car guys can make a car last.
I get hoarding parts for an old car but he does know that tires go bad with age – right?
That Toyota is like a pet parrot: in other words, Campbell better make provisions for it in his will because it’s going to outlive him. Great story!
Impressively clean cars, especially considering he’s in an area of the world where that metal would most certainly corrode.
Yeah, CBC, spill the beans – what are his rustproofing secrets?
He must’ve bought the undercoating from the dealership.
Could’ve been Ziebart or Rusty Jones back then; both operated in Canada
He could’ve made a trek to Minnesota to get the TruCoat.
I think TruCoat was just a paint sealant to prevent oxidation. Bill Diehl at Midwest Federal let them talk him into it on his Toronado, said it washed off in the first few months
Corrosion Free,it’s a Canadian company. Great product.
Ive used it and it works.
https://corrosionfree.com/