This will be all the historical information about this car.

I have been in contact with the 2nd owner of the car, who has
had it from 1976 - 2006.

The history of the car and where its been is amazing. 48 states - only one minor accident - only one breakdown....

He will hopefully get some photos for me to put up.

Until then, here is what he sent me so far.

His name is Ed also, and he sent me a story of the car. Im glad I met him, and look forward to hearing and reading more about it. I just did a cut/paste, so the story is all him... (also in his story he talks about the stickers on the car...I have always planned to leave them just where they are because I think its neat that this car has been all over the U.S., and these stickers are like mile markers. So dont worry Ed, those stickers will always be there (although I dont have AAA)).

I think sometimes we forget that these can be more than just
cars... they can be parts of our family, parts of our sadness, parts of our happiness and parts of our lives.

Toyota memories

"A Deserted Comedy"

Around 1977 I decided to take another driving adventure from Florida to California and back. My little brown Toyota had performed faultlessly on one previous cross-country trip. One begins to build a bond with a trustworthy machine that performs reliably, and in my mind's eye, the little brown Toyota was a little engine that could, as it eventually chugged its way all across all the lower 48 states. It seemed to be a tough little boy and I named him "Mongol".

Before that trip I found a manual on Toyota engine maintenance. The engine in the Toyota is a small 18,000 cc engine called the 18RC. The engine was so small that when I opened the hood I could easily see the ground on either side of the engine. In any case, I was excited to learn to work on the engine and that instruction manual taught me how to change the oil, various filters, gaskets, as well as how to adjust the points and timing etc. The beginning of the comedy was the exploded view of the engine which showed how to take apart the entire engine.

I drove all the way from Sarasota to San Francisco in what was a long and beautiful adventure and on the way back towards Florida, as the trip seemed to be getting longer, I found a distant primitive campground somewhere in the desert in Utah. This was way before the days of Internet and GPS and this campground, which was off a major interstate, just had a sign that requested $2 cash to be put into a little box per night. The sign said there was only periodic maintenance to this site but that it was observed from air patrols. The first night I got some badly needed rest and not a single plane or car went by. There was just nobody around. Somewhat bored but wanting to rest for a little while longer before resuming the drive, my attention drifted to the Toyota maintenance manual and once again I saw the diagram of the exploded engine. I had bought all the tools I needed to work on the car and was excited about having learned to do routine maintenance myself. So I had one of those ideas that seemed to only make sense at the time, which was that I had a couple of blankets and plastic sheeting to protect parts from the sand, and that I could take apart the engine just like the diagram showed. So that was how I spent the rest of the day: taking apart the engine as deeply as I could without requiring heavy shop tools and placed all the pieces carefully on the ground on blankets and plastic. And towards the end of the day, I looked at all the parts all around the car in a fleeting moment of pride before a sinking feeling hit me; what if I couldn't put it back together again properly?? I had not seen any sign of a soul for two days and it didn't feel like company was coming. It was just getting dark and I had a hard time falling asleep wondering what I would do if I could not get the car working properly again, since there was no telephone at this primitive campsite, and of course it was way before cellphones. I am happy to report, however, that next morning, piece by piece I put the engine back together again, reconnected the battery, and, lo and behold, Mongol purred back to life on the first try. Relieved and refreshed, I jaunted back to Florida and I knew that I would be having more adventures traveling with Mongol.

This was the second of 5 round trip cross country tours I took with Mongol. On the next trip my girlfriend accompanied me and we had a trip we will always remember. On the next trip, I drove to Southern California to go to graduate school. On the last trip I drove from New York City to San Francisco where I lived for 2 years before returning East. From the photos I see on the website devoted to Mongol's restoration, I still see the bumper decals from the neighborhood parking in San Francisco. From an even earlier time I still see the parking decal from my college days back in Florida.

That little Toyota was my only car for 30 years, and it always worked reliably except for only two times; once when a radiator hose broke in Los Angeles, and once when the rear wheel axle bearings broke while driving through Minnesota.

I was so sad when I had to let it go in 2006 because I needed a larger van type of automobile for more space to transport my equipment. But I was thrilled to learn that the trusty little machine was "re-in-car-nated" and looks better than ever. It feels so good that the little car that always started and never failed for 30 years is rewarded and continues to operate well and look great. To me, it's a small symbol of justice in the universe.