I Can’t Believe These Are Classics Now: 1987 Honda CRX vs 1988 Toyota Tercel

Good morning! Today we’re looking at a couple of little cars that are going to make you feel old, if you’re in my age group. Remember the little Japanese car that your sister’s roommate or roommate’s sister drove? The one with the plastic lei wrapped around the rearview mirror and Ace Of Base blasting out of the tape deck? Yeah. It’s a classic car now.

Friday’s pair of pairs are classics now too, I guess, but they’re not something you saw on every street corner 25 years ago. Hell, one of them you didn’t see here at all except in magazines until they became legal to import a few years ago. And the other you didn’t see anywhere except golf courses.

I am absolutely not surprised in the least that the pair of Paos won this round. They’re cool and unusual little cars, not the trying-too-hard fever dreams of a couple of old men. What might surprise some of you is that I agree; I don’t really want even one TC, let alone two. If I ever go looking for another Chrysler turbo, it will be a Shelby Charger or a Daytona Turbo Z.

Time catches up with all of us; that’s no secret. So we shouldn’t be surprised when the things that filled our younger years show up again years later, labeled as collector’s items and wearing inflated price tags. But it can be hard to reconcile our memories of something being dirt cheap with the new realities of its “classic” status. It’s even worse when you had one, or know someone who did; you can’t help thinking “Man, that thing would be worth a fortune now.”

But if all of them survived, none of them would be worth anything. It’s the scarcity that creates the perceived value. But it also has to be something people want to collect. Do these little imports qualify? Let’s see.

1987 Honda Civic CRX – $5,000

Engine/drivetrain: 1.5-liter overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Vancouver, WA

Odometer reading: 191,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

It’s surprising how much of a difference a trim level can make. Two versions of the same basic car, with different suspension tuning, gearing, and other small details, can feel like completely different machines. Such is the case with the Honda CRX, especially this first generation. The Si model, with more power and fatter tires than the base or HF models, was celebrated as a fun, tossable little sports coupe, while the base model was largely ignored, except when discussing fuel economy. But then, it’s not really much more than a less-practical Civic.

Not that it’s not a fun car to drive; all Hondas of this era are lively, delightful cars to drive. It’s not fast, with only a 76-horsepower CVCC engine fed by a three-barrel carburetor, but it also weighs next to nothing, so it doesn’t need much. This one is rapidly closing in on 200,000 miles, but as is typical of ’80s Hondas, you’d never know it from how it runs. The seller has receipts for a bunch of work done recently, including the all-important timing belt.

Inside, it’s all stock except for the stereo, and in respectable shape. The driver’s seat has seen better days, and I bet the bolster padding is pretty well shot, but at least the upholstery is intact. The seller says it has all the components for air conditioning except the button on the dash to turn it on. Maybe someone tried to add it, and didn’t finish the job?

It’s nice and clean outside, too. If this were a Midwest car, I’d worry about rust under the plastic lower body cladding, but in the Pacific Northwest, it’s probably not much of a concern. I always did like these with the silver lower body cladding instead of the Si’s matching cladding, though I personally prefer them in dark blue instead of red.

1988 Toyota Tercel – $5,500

Engine/drivetrain: 1.5-liter overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Rogers, MN

Odometer reading: 92,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives but “idles weird”

For two decades, when someone asked, “What’s a car that’s cheap to buy, cheap to run, and as reliable as a hammer?”, the answer was simple: Toyota Tercel. It never was an exciting car, but if you needed something that would get you where you were going, year-in and year-out, while costing you as little as possible while doing it, there was no better choice.

This is the third-generation Tercel, when the drivetrain layout switched from a longitudinal engine with the gearbox underneath it to a transverse engine with the gearbox next to it, as had become the standard. It’s a single overhead cam four, with three valves per cylinder (two intake and one exhaust, if you’ve ever wondered). This one has had some recent work done including a new clutch and a new carburetor, but apparently it still needs some tuning, because the seller says it “idles weird.” These engines are also prone to carbon buildup, I’ve heard, which can also cause a bad idle. Maybe it just needs a good Italian tune-up.

Tercels are basic cars, but I had forgotten just how basic until I saw this instrument panel. A speedometer, a fuel gauge, a temperature gauge, and a few idiot lights are all you get. I suppose that’s all you need. It’s not quite the plainest Tercel you could get, though; it has air conditioning and a fifth gear.

It recently came to Minnesota from California, so the Midwest winters haven’t had a chance to do it any harm. The paint is still shiny, the vinyl upholstery is still in decent shape, and even the basic steel wheels look good – a true survivor.

Obviously, these two aren’t much good for their original intended purpose. Yes, they still get awesome gas mileage, and they should still be reliable (once you get the Tercel’s idle problem straightened out), but compared to modern cars, they’re about as rigid and safe as a Mountain Dew can. I mean, if you like to live dangerously, I guess you could drive one of them daily, but considering what’s out there on the roads nowadays, I know I wouldn’t feel all that safe in them. But for occasional jaunts to car gatherings, or trips to the ice cream shop on Saturday afternoons – you know, classic car stuff – they could be fun. Which one is your pick?

(Image credits: Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace sellers)