Toyota Stalking, er...um, SPOTTING with Charlie™ (Cars, vans, SUVs, Lexus, Scion, and brochures)!

Me as well

 

And I also like some minivans, especially if it's a factory 5-speed/turbo 1989 Dodge Caravan or Plymouth Voyager, a Toyota Previa, or any JDM minivan!

 

@6 gearT444E
@98tacoma27
@ABA180
@ColoradoTJ
@Plain Jane Taco
@Rick's 2012
@shakerhood
@Squatting Pigeon
@Taco critter
@TnShooter
@wilcam47

An AWD R/C Supra, capable of speeds up to 70 MPH!


July 16th, 2022:

Syracuse, New York

 

Wow what did that cost?

 

The chassis was probably a few hundred dollars, and the guys has multiple interchangeable bodies for it, all of which he painted himself. The Supra body was a clear molded shape and he basically did everything himself.

 

I don’t know anything about RC.
I had a few as a kid. But they didn’t last long.
If the ramps we built didn’t kill them, the curb did.

 

RCs have sure come a long way! 70mph?

I remember getting one as a kid. It would go forward, reverse, and turn in only one direction.

 

And you can jump it numerous times without worry!

 

When we lived in Northern Virginia like 20 years ago, the neighbor's son had an R/C monster truck with a tiny single-cylinder gas engine. I don't remember if it was 2-stroke or 4-stroke, but that thing was fast. I had a broken model C5 Corvette, and I donated this toy car for him to run over with the monster truck. The monster truck pretty much flattened the Corvette.

 

Very rare, and very cool !

 

If I win the jackpot in the MegaMillions, I'm buying a 1993-1997 Mitsubishi Delica L300 with the 2.4L gas engine and 5-speed stick. I do plan on buying one of these vans someday, and I had my heart set on a diesel after driving one last February (albeit an automatic), but I was talked out of this by a veteran Delica owner I met at a cars and coffee. The 2.8L turbodiesel was never meant to be driven at "American" highway speeds, and vans equipped with this engine generally saw use at resorts in the mountainous parts of Japan; I drove a 1996 Delica L300 on the highway between Philadelphia and Bensalem and floored it numerous times. The van was slow, as to be expected with less than 90hp on tap, and struggled to hit 70 MPH. It had plenty of torque and accelerated okay, but I don't think I ever got it past 68 MPH. The Delica owner I met told me that people have blown up turbodiesel Delicas by gunning it on the highway. The 2.4L gas engine is underpowered as well but has more horsepower than the diesel, and it is the same engine used in not only the US-market version of the Delica known as the Mitsubishi Van, but also older Eclipses. Basically, it's not fast, but it's reliable and up to the abuse American owners can dish out. The 3.0L V6 is also a decent powerplant, but this was only offered in the L400/Space Gear Delicas. The most powerful engine offered in the L300/Star Wagon was the 2.4L naturally aspirated 4-cylinder. The L400 was also available with the 2.4L 4-banger and 2.8L turbodiesel. The 1996 L400 that I test drove on the same day back in February 2022 overheated during the test drive because it had snapped coolant hose that neither the dealership owner nor myself knew about.

There is actually a dealer in Philadelphia called DelicaUSA that, as the name implies, deals almost exclusively in JDM Mitsubishi Delica minivans; I met one of his employees at the New Hope Auto Show in September 2021 and got to sit in the van they were showing. In February 2022, I decided to try my luck and contacted the owner of DelicaUSA with the intention of doing a photo shoot for my "Non-Japanese car rant/rave" thread here on TW. He not only let me take all the pictures I wanted, but handed me the keys to both an L300 and an L400 to test drive. I'm pretty sure that the 1996 L400 (the one that overheated) was fresh out of the shipping container and hadn't even been issued a Pennsylvania title yet but in Pennsylvania, like most US states, slapping dealer plate on it pretty much guarantees that you will be left alone by the cops...

A heater not working is a sign that something is wrong, and it was late February and quite chilly when I took these vans out; I should have known something was up when I cranked the heat in the L400 and got cold air. I attributed it to (A) the heat simply not working, or (B) the fact that the HVAC controls were in Japanese and I was doing something wrong...



There were no signs whatsoever of a faulty heater core, so what could that have meant?!?! Maybe that there was little or no coolant in the system!!!

Like an idiot, I just assumed that everything was alright. The owner had given me twenty bucks cash to fill up the L400 at the gas station around the corner since it was on fumes. I used my credit card to put twenty bucks worth of gas in the van, kept the twenty bucks, and got on the freeway; As soon as I was on the highway, I gunned it and pushed this van to its limits. I drove eight miles to a shopping center in Bensalem, and as I pulled into the parking lot I saw steam coming from under the hood out of the corner of my eye. I was livestreaming on Facebook, and I actually said "Am I overheating?" I glanced down at the temperature gauge, and it was all the way at the top.

I had never had a vehicle overheat while I was driving before, and I was convinced that I had just roasted the engine in this thing; I was freaking the fuck out. I popped the hood, and immediately discovered the problem. The smaller coolant hose had become brittle and snapped clean off the radiator; I called the owner of the dealership expecting to be cussed out, and he apologized to me, saying that this van was a new arrival and that they hadn't had the chance to fully inspect it. I was in a shopping center with a grocery store, and the nearest auto parts store was a few miles away. There was a towtruck driver assisting another stranded motorist, but he wasn't much help to me. The dealer owner told me to just put water in it and see if I could get it back to Philly, and that if it continued to overheat he would figure out a way to help. The one thing I am thankful for is that the was courteous enough to wait until I got to Bensalem to overheat, and didn't boil over on the highway, or even worse in the ghetto part of Philly where the dealer was located. Keep in mind that my truck was eight miles away at the dealer in Port Richmond, which is pretty shitty part of Philly. I could have just locked up the van and left it there, taken an Uber back to the dealer, and told the guy where the van was located, and he probably would have been fine, but I didn't feel right just leaving the van behind without at least trying to get it back to the dealer. I didn't push the van any harder than I would have pushed my truck, but I wasn't light on the accelerator either, so I wasn't guiltless in this situation. I bought three 1-gallon jugs of water at a grocery store in the shopping center and a lot of it gushed right back out, but by enough of it settled in the radiator that I felt safe starting the engine. The engine had cooled down sufficiently, and started right up when I turned the key. I was told by my dad from a young age that cranking the heat is a great way to cool down an overheating engine, so I cranked the heat and it actually worked now. It didn't work anywhere near as good as the heat in my Tacoma, probably because it was more water than coolant and the levels were low.

Amazingly enough, I was able to limp the van back to Philly without it overheating again; I did not say anything about the five bucks I'd spent on water, because even though the dealer didn't blame me, I still felt somewhat responsible for flooring it on the highway. I had been given the L400 first, and when I brought the L400 back, I was given the diesel L300. The L300 was slower than the L400 since it had probably half the horsepower, but it didn't overheat and the heater worked great.

The people at DelicaUSA are very nice and I would go to them first when I can finally afford a Delica, but I have not been back since that day in February because they are in a pretty shitty neighborhood.

 

What an experience!!!!

 

I used to have a little nitro gas powered RC, one time i was driving it around the culdesac and i didnt know the controller batteries were going dead. The RC car revved up and drove straight into garage wall. Broke a couple pieces on steering it was kinda cool to watch though

 

2001 Sienna CE


July 29th, 2022:

My neighborhood

 

My aunt and uncle's 2013 Prius V, which they initially leased because they didn't know if they were going to like it. They ended up liking it and bought it when the lease was up in 2016, and it presently has almost 100K miles on it! They are going to be trading it for a Tesla Model Y next year (that car was supposed to be ready for delivery in August 2022, but is on national backorder until April 2023), but in typical Toyota fashion the car has been incredibly reliable and trouble-free. I considered buying the Prius from them and driving it home to Pennsylvania, but I can't afford two vehicles and would have to sell my Tacoma in order to buy the Prius outright. Most people in my family own at least one Toyota, though I am one of only two people with a Tacoma.


July 31st, 2022:

Santa Rosa, California

 

1995 Corolla LE


July 31st, 2022:

Santa Rosa, California

 

2000 Lexus RX300


July 31st, 2022:

Santa Rosa, California

 

Are you from Santa Rosa or just visiting?
I really wish they designed the Prius a little different. Then they would have sold a lot more.
What's that song 'Video killed the radio star' ? Well the 'economy killed the R/C car'. There was a time when there used to be crazy R/C racing tournaments all the time.

 

Just visiting and currently live in LA, but my dad is a Navy veteran and I was born in Milpitas when he was stationed in that area. My aunt and uncle have the Prius V, which is large than the regular Prius, and a lot better looking in my opinion. The Prius V didn't sell that well because it got "only" 42 MPG while the regular Prius got closer to 50 MPG.