I Bought A 39 Year Old Toyota And Tried Driving It 2400 Miles Home (Might Not Make It)

I buy a 1985 Toyota Tercel 4wd Wagon in Salt Lake City, Utah and attempt to drive it back home to McAllen, Texas. I offroad it through Moab, the Grand Canyon, Schnebly Hill Road, and drive it through Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. We also camp and overland along the way in beautiful places.

#toyota4x4 #roadtrip #toyota

[OverlandNomad]

*BTW, I added subtitles because some parts of the clips have choppy audio and the audio wasn’t the best*

[LiamO]

I sold this to a guy down in SLC a few years ago. Love that it is still being used for adventure. I had a lot of fun in this rig!

[whodis]

I am 47 and those old Tercel 4wd wagons were "cult cool" since the late 90's. Well at least with car guys in the know.

[EvanMoon]

Tercel wagon engine is 3A, Carbureted, for torque. At the same time you could get the AE86 with the 4Agae (famous for starting drifting. Fuel injected, gutless, but twice the horsepower and 7500 red line.

I had that engine stuffed in my Tercel wagon for fun

[joesprague]

You drove a forty year old car with 280k miles on it another 2352 miles partially over rough terrain proving expensive off road vehicles are not required to see the American backcountry.Awesome video with stunning scenery and content.Thanks for sharing.

[lenyarbrough]

I am HERE for every second of Tecel content. I loved my ‘84. Just don’t be a boneheaded like I was when I tried driving 4wd on wet roads - with that live axle out back, I swapped ends pretty quickly.

Curious to see how you’ll mod it, and to see how well you’ll be able to find tires for the 13” wheels

[roger]

A true testament to the basic of an automobile. Basic is always in fashion! Fun comes standard at every Adventure. Thanks for Sharing.

[BATTLECRUISERJKU]

Sounds like we should take my Aerostar and your Tercel to the beach

[cesarcm]

Nice tercel. I own a 84 toyota camry with a 2.0l turbo diesel manual transmission with 300k miles. With original radiator . No issues just regular maintenance.

[Joep]

Ha! The couple was my girlfriend and I. Honored to say that I was then passed by the turd about 3/4ths down the trail!

Cheers!

[KNRS]

These are among my favorite cars from the 1980s. I basically think of this as the Subaru Crosstrek's ancestor and I think Crosstreks are cool. The styling of these Tercels is just iconic though, and it looks really capable. I don't think Toyota made this car with the intent owners would do crazy off-road driving like this, but it handled it pretty well for a 40 year old car.

[paulstrubell]

Really enjoyed the trip. I owned this car. Mine was a 1987. It was my first and one of my favorites. Felt like getting back together with an old friend.

[amnDallas]

Maybe a video of a tune up on the Turdcel, suspension, brakes, plugs…etc

[TheLotroNerd]

My boss 8 years ago offered me a free tercel. They never passed smog in ca according to my hs autoshop teacher, and recommended not taking it. but low and behold people love them!

[insid]

I have an 88 Camry, base model 5 speed manual. It's been one of my all time favorites and I couldn't be happier with a first car.

[ambienteterrazas]

Ever since I found out about the 4wd Tercel I've wanted one, seems the perfect camping/beach beater car, I can't never find one in as good condition as yours.
side note: The 80s and 90s had so many cool and weird cars like the toyota van and tercel with true 4wd, the VW Golf country with syncro system, The Samurai, etc.. a true golden age of reliability and simplicity.

[kukanow]

The most valuable thing in this Toyota is the huge trunk for transporting skis

[ColdCoorsBanquet]

18:33 So true man, I wish we had more public land in Texas 😔

[digdugbingo]

Just WOW!!! Breathtaking scenery guys! What a campsite, literally no one around for days! Amazing!

[eamonob]

That’s very impressive! Really the only issue was ground clearance. It was very capable otherwise.