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

What do you think of this car? Most of these turned to dust by the end of 20th century, especially the ones in our neck of the woods!

 

Only alright? The very first car I ever rode in was a 1983 Celica GT, my dad's car, when he took me and my mom home from the hospital back in 1989; I don't remember it, but because of that the Celica will always hold a special place in my heart...

Plus, it's a rust-free 1980s Toyota!

 

Do you know if it's a rag top, or does that cover get removed and replaced with a hard top?

 

You do like the 4WD Tercel wagons though; I've still got got that patch for you! Sadly, I've only seen one Toyota Tercel 4WD wagon in the last five years or so...

It was after I started working at Puck, but I'm pretty sure it was before we moved into the new house, meaning it was anytime between December 2014 and March 2016; I met the owner in the parking lot of Marshall's on 611 (forget where that is Doylestown or Warrington) and he was initially a bit hostile, thinking my interest in the car meant I wanted to buy it. Once I assured him I was not interested in buying it (If I had the money I would have been), he was much friendlier; The car was absolutely mint for such a vehicle in the Northeast, and I may have taken pictures of it, but this was at least five years ago and before I was really big into TW so...

 

Ragtop; Don't think they made use of the roof after giving it the guillotine treatment...

 

And 4WD Corollas!

 

Don't think I have ever seen one of those as a convertible.

 

I have, but not in person; Only online until this past Saturday...

 

One thing I was surprised to see was that it had 4-wheel disc brakes instead of the front disc/rear drum setup I was expecting on a 1980s Toyota (at least on anything less than a Supra)!

 

I like it... I like it alot!

 

A lady I knew had this in white back in the 90s

 

Almost forgot about the odometer shot; Less than 125K original miles!

 

I actually photographed this 2020 Subaru BRZ before the 1985 Celica even showed up, and I try to post all of my pictures in the order in which they were taken, but I was a bit excited about the Celica and posted it without thinking...


September 4th, 2021:

Warrington, Pennsylvania

 

@ColoradoTJ
@NMTrailRider
@shakerhood

Why do people replace damaged panels on their cars and not bother to paint them? I'm not talking about pulling a door, a fender, or a hood off a wrecked car of a different color, but rather installing a brand new unpainted panel...

That's the case with this 2004 Lexus ES330 I spotted in the parking lot where they were holding the Cars & Coffee; I took a closer look at this car, even peaking through the window to get an idea of what kind of condition the car is in. In addition to the clearly mismatched hood, the paint on this car is shot, but the interior was actually very clean! On top of that, this car has less than 150K miles, which is actually pretty low for a 2004 vehicle in 2021; According to Carfax, this car has had three owners, but has spent its entire life in the Long Island area...

On another note, the only reported accident was in May 2009, when the car would have been six years old; The car also has a clear title. This leads me to believe that the hood was replaced as the result of a later incident, and the owner likely only has liability insurance on the car due to its age, so they were forced to pay out of pocket for repairs...

I just don't get why they didn't find a hood from a wrecked Lexus (and thus a painted hood) and put it on this car; The paint may not have matched, but it wouldn't gotten all rusty...


September 4th, 2021:

Warrington, Pennsylvania

September 4th, 2021:

Warrington, Pennsylvania

 

The car was actually not in horrible condition; At this point, the interior of this Lexus is actually cleaner than the interior of my truck (You have dogs too, so you understand)!

 

This is actually one of the better looking Prisms I've seen in the last few years, and this one is old enough to still be badged as a Geo rather than a Chevy! If you look closely, you'll see that it has a brand new license plate, and temp tag in the back window. I also tried running the license plate through Carfax and got no result; This would indicate that the current owner literally just bought it. As such, I could not get the year...

The inspection stickers expired in January 2021, which means the car was probably sitting for a little bit, but aside from the peeling paint the car is in okay condition overall; Also, see that white apple logo on the left side of the trunk lit? I am 99% sure that is the logo for Apple Automotive Group, which is based in York, Pennsylvania; York is less than an hour from Buck Motorsports Park, where I spotted this car, so that means this car has probably spent its whole life in the area where it was bought new!

My overall opinion of the Geo Prism is that it is a genuinely good car, which probably has something to do with the fact that it is based on the Toyota Corolla, a car that is legendary for its reliability even when poorly maintained!


September 4th, 2021:

Quarryville, Pennsylvania