We know that Toyotas last forever. I have three examples with over a quarter million miles each in my driveway, but I would have to add all those miles together to equal Andy Campbell’s 1985 Toyota Tercel. Purchased in 1990 for $2,500 Canadian loonies, it now has more than 778,621 miles on it, and counting. I’d say he got a good deal.
Campbell accumulated most of those miles commuting from his home in Wyses Corner, Nova Scotia, to Halifax, a bit over 30 miles each way. Campbell is now retired, but his Tercel is not, as it’s still his daily driver for errands and road trips around the Maritime provinces. Most of these cars have long since fallen apart thanks to rust, especially in the north but Campbell regularly applies undercoating and grease to keep the metallic cancer at bay.
Aside from front-end alignments, Campbell performs all the maintenance and repairs on the Tercel himself. The only original part on the car is the body, and even that has been repaired at times. He’s acquired a sizable stash of parts over the years, including three parts cars up on blocks, since many parts for this unique car are no longer available.
It’s a brown manual 4WD wagon
Our Holy Grail of vehicles has long been the brown manual diesel wagon. While the Tercel was not available with a diesel engine, its 62-horsepower 1.5-liter inline-4 was about as slow as one. Plus, most wagons sold in North America came with a part-time four-wheel drive system that I feel is just as cool. Pulling a lever switched from front to four-wheel drive, locking in a solid rear axle sourced from the Corolla. It was only for use in slippery conditions, not on pavement. Engaging four-wheel drive also unlocked an “extra-low” gear below first, emulating the low range of a true 4×4. In contrast, its contemporary Honda Civic wagon competitor (I’ve had two of these) used a full-time 4WD system that required no driver intervention, like the modern crossovers these cars helped to inspire. It became the more popular choice due to its ease of use, but it did not perform nearly as well in the slippery stuff as the Tercel.
Campbell does have a backup car for when his 1985 Tercel is out of commission. It’s a 1986 Tercel that looks identical to his primary ride. While he does not consider himself a car guy, we beg to differ. Anybody with this much enthusiasm about their car, especially one as quirky as the Tercel 4WD wagon, is certainly one of us.
