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'84 TOYOTA Tercel - Not so FAKE-4WD
Tess the Tercel came into this world the year after I was born.
We first met when I was 14 and I have to admit I was not impressed.
It was a little white car that had no power (compared to my mum's V8
falcon) and some special feature called 4WD.
When I was old enough to drive my father took me up to Double
Island point to show me how to really drive. Not just bitumen but
beach/ four wheel driving. I fell in love and from that time spent
any time I could out pushing Tess to her limits.
The menu on the left and buttons at the bottom of the page take
you to her trips all around the Australian countryside.
| By the time my father was done with her,
Tess was a wonderfully sound running car. The engine and
anything that caused it to move was in top condition. The
stereo, interior, accessories was however severely lacking.
After fitting a modest JVC/ Pioneer stereo she sounded just
as good as she looked.
The addition of seat covers, floor mats, central locking,
carbon fiber wipers, high power bulbs, head light covers,
more hand holds
and a proper CLEAN gave her that look over my friends cars.
(Please remember that at this time my friends and I were
all high school students.)
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I took her 4WD'ing at a few places around
Queensland from our local forests to a few scenic national
parks. She always held her own and kept up with the other
real 4WD's.
My mother gave it the name of FAKE-4WD because she
thought it was too small to be a real 4WD. |
| When I finished school and got a job I
proceeded to enhance the car as most teenagers do. I put a
sub woofer in!! I also replaced the speakers and ran new
wires for the stereo. The custom made sub box worked
brilliantly and could be removed in about 30 sec if we
needed more space in the boot.
My brother also knew this fact and so whenever I left the
country, 60 seconds and the sub was in his car...
After installing the SUB, I went the next day in mums car
to buy a set of jumper leads as I had flattened the battery
the night before 'testing and tuning' the sub.
I tell you what, I used them more than once and not just
for my car either. I shall for ever carry a set of jumper
leads in my car. |
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A mate of mine that just happened to have 4
ex-rally tires laying around decide to donate them to a
needy cause. As you can see I decided that Tess was that
needy cause. I tell you what, they really make outback
4WD'ing much easier.
However after testing them on the beach I will never use
them there again. My standard radials at 50% normal psi
worked 100% better than the rally tires.
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