By RoadworkUK
Welcome to another instalment of The Carchive, where we descend the abandoned mineshafts of time and inevitably dig up a massive nugget of fools gold.
I was slightly taken aback when this week’s brochure flopped down off the shelf. On landing I scanned the title and had to spend a few seconds processing what I’d seen. It’s a brochure for a car I had very nearly forgotten the existence of. Nearly, but not quite. It’s the ’82 Toyota Tercel.
“If you’ve wondered just how far the hatchback concept can be developed, Toyota have come up with the answer: The Tercel”.
It remains unconfirmed, but there may well have been several people in the early ’80s who genuinely were pondering that very question. On receiving the answer of Tercel, they would have been wise to have explored just how, exactly, this towering achievement had been reached. What, exactly, was it about this astonishing Tercel that represented the zenith of hatchback development?
Well:
“..by combining the convenience, versatility and economy of a hatchback with the good looks, comfort and performance of a saloon”.
Toyota weren’t the only people trying to play the hatchback/saloon trick back then, there were a number of cars throughout that decade which wore a sedan silhouette but still possessed an easy-load liftback, and so had rightful claim to that afore-stated innovative status.
The Tercel, though, was JUST A HATCHBACK. I know that because there is a hatch at the back. Even the most myopic of on-gazers could tell that there was no third box back there. This here was pure nonsensical marketing nonsense to fool the uninquiring and impressionable.
“Sit inside the Tercel and you’ll immediately feel at home”
Well, the interior of my house is not largely formed of injection moulded grey plastic, so I’d probably feel like I was visiting somebody elses place. The dashboard was generic Japanese small car fayre, albeit somewhat more up-to-date than the Corolla had hitherto been.
At least things were ergonomically alright, the instrumentation was far from complex, a nice big clear speedometer was dead centre with minor issues like how little fuel you have left and how hot your engine is being monitored by smaller gauges to the left. There was a little clock to the right, to remind you just how much of your life was ebbing away behind that plastic steering wheel.
“There are little things that count- such as mudflaps on all four wheels”
You know what, I’m starting to get the impression from the text that this car was being directly marketed at impressionable pensioners. I say this because, from my experience of the elderly and their car-buying habits, they love a set of mudflaps. Throwing in a set of mudflaps would often be a deal-clincher for those with “more experience” on the roads. Hardly anybody else ever asked for them.
“The Tercel is very impressive to drive”
Compared to the owned-from-new Morris Oxford that Reginald was trading in, the Tercel probably felt incredibly impressive. Of course, in reality there was nothing very special about the way it drove at all.
Statistically, the engine was a four-cylinder 1.3 litre OHC of routine design, which helped the Tercel to from 0-60 in 13.4 seconds (described as “brisk” by the Toyota copy-writers, who made no such claim about the 15.5 seconds that the automatic model needed for the same operation) continuing to 97mph at the absolute maximum. This 65hp unit was the only engine offered in the UK in the straightforward hatchback.
Roadholding had no reason to be too disgraceful, with a wheel pretty much in each corner and independent suspension all round by McPherson struts.
“Trim, door panels, carpeting and seating all contribute to a feeling of luxury only normally associated with more expensive cars”
This is what the Tercel sold on. It was seen as being well screwed together, robust and substantial. It was a high quality piece of kit, trading on durability and fitness for purpose over any image of excitement or kudos. Aside from a few rural backdrops, the brochure photography is entirely studio shot, with no suggestions of fashion, lifestyle pursuits or perceived prestige.
This was a car, intended as a product, looking to satisfy the requirements of a certain breed of customer who wasn’t influenced by such flim-flam as car-park credibility.
“It’s this thoroughness of approach that sets the new Toyota Tercel hatchback apart from the rest”
That thoroughness of approach was soon furthered dramatically, but not within the scope of this particular brochure, by the Toyota Tercel 4WD, which, coming in wagon form with an amusingly oversized rearmost side window, was the only non-hatchback variant we ever saw in this market. And, with super-low basement gear (5-speed but with an extra one at the bottom) and select-on-the-fly four-wheel-drive, was a seriously useful piece of kit.
But, as I say, that’s not in this brochure, so it doesn’t matter.
Anybody have any tremendous Tercel tall tales to tell?
(Disclaimer: All images are of original manufacturer publicity materials, photographed by me. It was just starting to rain. And yes, that is my shoe. Copyright remains property of Toyota)
Jeff Glucker