Bonus points for having a foxy stuntwoman.

Well we all know that you NEED a longitudally mounted engine so it doesn't nosedive whilest jumping your competition. Seriously.

Is it just me, or does this have a sort of winning the Special Olympics sort of feel to it.

Cut that landing pretty close.

I'm thinking about getting a Tercel... Yeah that's a Toyota.

@nsjames: Actually it's to reduce torque steer from the 79 raging horses thumping under that yellow hood.

the tape stripes obviously added the necessary lift to achieve flight.

It kind of looks like the valet parking area at the Mandaran Oriental........sure we can fit one more car in here !!!

This on truly is p___y-magnet yellow!

"one" that is

@ranwhenparked: great, now you've got me laughing bits of sunflower seeds into my keyboard.

Maybe they should have gotten "Corky" to drive the Tercel (properly pronounced: "Terk-El")

Danica is getting more dangerous by the day!

take a 79' Tercel
+ a Yota 22re
+ doll in a car seat
and you get
09' 24hours of LeMons glory

I had an 82 Tercel. I traded it for a Ford but not before I tried a couple of stunts like that. I did off road pretty well but on the road it was terrible. When they took it in to "assess" it for trade in value the door handles came off when they went to open the doors. It was pretty cheezy.

Am I the only one who absolutely hates when people use "light year" as a unit of time?

If Toyota actually means that it is a significant distance ahead (of what, I don't know), I'll tolerate the hyperbole.

man, if that ramp would have been like 1 inch further away, that landing would have been far less than pleasant.

@brandegee: 79 horses? In that little soupcan? Even though it's dipped in a vat of Eau du Malaise it'll probably out-drag a new Yaris.
Of course, maybe if the Yaris had its name emblazoned in vinyl on the rocker panels, it too would be a rocket.

Isn't longitudinal+FWD bad?

@smalleyxb122: I'm generally against lay people using scientific terms at all, as they almost always mess them up.

I'm also against engineers attempting to speak English, as most of them have a severe deficiency in the entire language. I can't tell you how many times per day I hear the words "Matrixes" and "Radiuses".

And yes, I'm an engineer.

I wonder how they fit all of that in the engine bay with the engine not being transverse, like every other FWD car.

Okay, cheesy commercial, but Tercels were a pretty intelligent choice at the time.

And Murilee, the clear advantage of the longitudinal engine is that it put the starter in a nearly inaccessible location facing the firewall.

But I don't care; 1Gen Tercels will always and forever be subarashii [great, wonderful] in my book.

@jeremyc: Wonder how many takes that shot took? I would love to see the blooper reel of the tercel Smashing into the Chevette. Is this the last time Toyota considered a Chevy subcompact serious competition, at least before they built them for Chevy/Geo?

Anyone notice the Frickin' Lasers at the end? That alone makes me want this car!

@philibuster: It's not great packaging, especially in this one as it probably has the tranny in front of the motor. But having equal length driveshafts will reduce torque steer (so does having a 79hp motor).

@thm73: Toyota Exec to Ad Agency: "I have one simple request, to have Tercel ads with frickin' lasers in them. Remind me again what I pay you people for, honestly? Throw me a bone, here!"

What the hell is a Tercel? Truly one of worst nonsensical car names ever in my book. At least Celica had a bit of ring to it, even if it doesn't mean a thing as well.

@TurboBrick: If memory servers, the Tercel had the transaxle mounted behind and below the motor.

@thechoop: Tercel = Hawk.

@smalleyxb122: could mean distance in this use. anyhow it's the 80s. everything's cooler with lasers.

@Tanshanomi: Tercel = Turd Sell.

Seriously, these were the PLAIN Yotas and that was saying something.

@brandegee: The 1AC engine (the start of the A family?!) put out a scant 62 hp. The 70 HP mark was not broken until the 4AC arrived in the mid 80's corrolla, nova guise.

The early Tercels had the ultimate junk yard badge in the flying hawk. Think early design for the Atlanta falcons insignia. Yeh the falcons suck but the Toyota Hawk was sweet.

The longitudinal engine in my opinion was genius. Virtually ANY A series engine would bolt direct to the transmission so a popular swap in the early tercel was to drop a 4AF (dohc with a carb so no efi swap was necessary) and get 100hp out of the little tin box. Plus longitudinal engines score higher on the Jalopnik car meter so good on Toyota.

ohh a citation...now that was a car...whooo...my buddy had one and let me barrow it one time...the tranny was like a mystery bag of gears...oh you wanted 2nd? have 4th instead...

barrow=borrow damned hooked on phonics...gets me every time

@philibuster: Not bad, exactly. It's not the most efficient packaging for an inline engine, but it should allow for better access (even moreso with a V6), and maybe a smaller turning radius?

CORRECTION ALERT!!!! The Corolla Tercel didn't come to the US until 1980, half way thru the model year. So it is a 1980 in the ad. 1981 & 82 had a slightly sloped front grill where 1980 was upright. My father bought a first shipment example, a 3 door SR5 Black Edition. The "Tercel" nameplate had a "Corolla" sticker above it so the Corolla association was a last minute thing. I inherited it as my first car. It was black, matching interior w/ grey plaid inserts in the seats, 5 speed, folding rear seat, aluminum 13"rims which I added raised white letter tires. It even had a factory orange fade backward to red 5 stripe band on the bottom sides that ended in the stylized "T" in Tercel that looked a little like a hawk attacking from the side (were the black TERCEL wording is on the car in the commercial.) That hatch was the rear window, all glass and a good lift to get my golf clubs in. I even added the good old Sparkomatic AM/FM/Cassette w/ 5 band equalizer and Pioner TSX-20 3-way box speakers on the hard rear cover. It wasn't a bandit T/A, but I enjoyed the HELL out of it. My next car was/is a 1987 Oldsmobile 442, yeah my father's Oldsmobile, but that's another story.

I love the fact it has a long-get-tunadle engine according to the voice over.I had one of these indestructible little beasts years back,I'd completely forgotten the engine/trans setup.Hey after close to 50 (if not over) mostly forgettable cars in the 27 years since I got a license,the memories tend to fade (age and beer consumption also help fading memories).At least I've slowed down on the car consumption,only had 3 "daily drivers" in the last 5 years,two of which I still own and drive....

They should have had the "Feeling" spot under the flying Terc, but nooooo!

@Tanshanomi: I guess that explains the flying stunt a little more. Thanks for the clarification. It seems that later Tercels did incorporate Blackhawk into the name from some quick web search results. I still think it's a weak moniker for a car.

Someone down the street had (and as far as I know, still has) a 1980. I know, it's an economy car, but I love the looks of it. Very clean lines, simple, basic... a great car for the city. It doesn't exactly compare to my 3-series, but I secretly want one. Shhh, don't tell anyone!

Beercan. Disposable. Fly it into a pile of rocks, then walk away.

haha i havent seen this car on the road for like 12 years

CHEVETTES CHEVETTES CHEVETTES! IMAGINE THAT!

My mom's first (of many) Tercel was a '79 hatch.

All but 1st gear died after 450K on the original everything, in a car that's oil was changed perhaps every 50K or so and never washed in Chicago winters.

It went to a family friend who owned a junk yard who ripped off the hatch and used it for a parts getter for another 5 years or so.

I love the malaise decal on the side