My Corolla is older than your Tercel, 27 years, diy’er maintained and repaired by me the whole time. I’ve never had any difficulty finding parts at my local non-chain auto parts store. I’ve never had to purchase body parts though. I’d expect that would require a trip to the auto parts recyclers (wrecker yard). If rocker panels are the only rust problem, just havenew ones fab’ed by a body shop. If rust problem is affecting considerably more, might make sense to buy a newer used car. A friend of mine recently sold here circa 2005 Corolla. 125 k miles, in nearly perfect condition, no rust problem at all, for less than $3000. If frugality is your goal, spending $3000 now on a similar used vehicle and selling the older Tercel will probably be less expensive in the long run than repairing the rust on your Tercel. I’m able to get away with it on my Corolla b/c I do the repair and maintenance work myself. If I had to pay the professional mechanic labor fees I’d do the same thing.
Finding a eust free 14 year old car in Pittsburg is akin to looking for a unicorn, The rocker panels or rocker boxes on this car are the only thing is has for frame rails. Getting them fixed would likely be expensive and likely only give you a short time before another part gives way to rust.
My son had a car about the same age as yours and a trailing arm rusted through and as the rear axle tried to leave rearward it stretched the emergency brake cable and spun his car like a top. Brake and fuel line failure as well as gas tank straps are probably ready to go also.
We have had more than woman without much money come here looking for a way to keep a car running that is not economically feasible to keep on the road. It is very sad, but sympathy doesn’t solve car repair problems. The best advice I can give you is to not spend any money on this car until you get it assessed to see if it is worth fixing from a safety standpoint.
Perhaps moving to a place on a bus line would be better for you. No insurance, registration,gas or repairs and many cities have reduced rates for senior bus riders.
There is a section of this website called the mechanics files where people can review and rate local mechanics. There are a little over 90 shops on the list for Pittsburgh that i can see. A few are more import oriented but you’d want to talk to a shop yourself.
The shop that my mom is fanatically loyal to here in Olympia Washington earned her business 26yrs ago when they gave a more than fair quote on the 30k service for the 1990 Mazda Protoge she bought brand new and kept for 19yrs before upgrading to a new car.
OHHHHH… so very helpful…
thank you…