Ownership Verified: Restoration. How hard can it be? (1984 Toyota Tercel 4WD)

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So, as you know my family sort of ran out of money and that's why we stalled on this and I don't have more cool toys. But my father, forcefully retired from the workforce, has decided that he'll put all his handyman skills and prep and paint it himself....stand by for success or fire....I hope it's the former.

Oh, and to answer the question in the title. Very hard if you run out of cash.
 
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Just don't give up.
 
Don't worry, we won't.

Also.



Called it, the GDPO didn't actually buy new parts.
 
To be fair, he may not have been able to. Those didn't sell all that well and they're almost all gone now, so there's not much of a market for reproduction makers to go after. And Toyota's always been annoying to get bodywork from after a few years.
 
I agree. It was most likely the shop fixing probably tried to pawn them off to him as new, to the point of putting Chinese stickers on top of the primer underhood. it would go inline with the rampant amateurism on every other previous fix we found on the car.
 
Progress




Strangely enough for a 1980's Toyota, which is supposed to be soluble in water, the only rust problems we found were in the rear behind the wheelarches

 
ooooh, nice :thumbsup:

Good to see you making some progress, hopefully it's going to be finished soon!

(That is, if you can ever "finish" a car that is still being driven;))
 
Looking good
 
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Today was the day for the second tone

 
The car's almost done by now, clear coated, all the trim has been painted shiny black again and polished. but it's still missing a few details so instead of posting it here's something completely different. Please enjoy the Toyota Tercel Brougham with desirable Di-Noc and stand-up hood ornament

 
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Interesting story, the car was bought in 1987 by its current owner who imported it from Miami. Wood vinyl and all. he kept it spotless and pampered until 1998 when the Choluteca river literally dragged it away during hurricane Mitch (it was one of the lucky cars that lived) the rusty, paintless bubbly fender is just some of the damage he couldn't fix. He hasn't resprayed it because he wanted to keep the wood, faded as it may be. I've introduced him to Di-Noc, we'll see what he does with this info.

Fun fact, when he was fixing it he needed a right door (it was stopped by a large rock, or so I'm told) and the owner manage to find the one other wood-paneled Tercel in Honduras. Maybe even the world because nobody seems to have any info on wood paneled-Tercel wagons. The wood says "Leatherneck" on it. And that's as far as I found out.
 
Did someone ask for a car that looks amazing from 10 feet away?









Special thanks to BCS for the Tercel 4WD badge. The paint is an upgrade from whatever stuff Toyota was using in the '80s and gives it a Silver/black look under certain lights
 
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