Tacoma Stalking, er...uh, Spotting, with Charlie™ (1st Gen Edition)!

Vin look says I have the DLX trim but someone put sr5 badges right behind the door!

Otherwise it had the 60/40 bench (4runner swapped seats now) manual door locks, manual windows, A/C, cruise control, tilt, tach, and the ADD.. + 2.7 with the 5spd I've owned alot of trucks and this is by far my favorite

 

According to my VIN readout, my truck is a 98’ LX/SR5 package.

Bucket seats, 3.4l V6, 5spd MT, power windows and door locks, cruise control, pass air bags, tilt steering wheel, tach, intermittent wipers, sliding rear window, color matched fender flares, OEM AM/FM cassette player, A/C, clock, tinted extra cab windows, carpet and manual hubs.

non factory mods- no extra charge:

Bent front and rear bumpers and RH front frame horn(very slight looked like the PO hit the tow hook on a rock when he go it stuck in a creek), no front skid, or any skid plates, Warn hubs, hot rod lift shackles, no jack, and best of all drywall screw holding in the rear speaker grills.

Wasn’t exactly what I was looking for but, a TRD pavement princess would have been the ideal. it was what I could get at the time, close to what I had been looking for, and best of all available when I had to replace a vehicle 3200 miles from home.

It was somewhat abused, but has been successful at making my wallet thinner, yet providing a good value, versatile platform for my current and future needs.

May not be the prettiest truck around but I will take function over appearance any day.

 

My ‘04 SR5, split bench manual windows, locks and mirrors and 16” wheels

and yes it is spotless.

 

I’ll jump in on this thread. I’m the original owner of my truck and bought it new off of the showroom parking lot in 1999. I really wanted the TRD package on my truck, but couldn’t afford the vehicle payment at the time. I have the SR5 package:

60/40 bench seats
Manual windows/door locks/mirrors
Adjustable tilt steering wheel
Cruise control
Intermittent wipers
Tachometer
clock
Passenger airbag
AC
ADD 4x4
5 speed manual transmission
3.4L V6 engine
OEM radio/cassette player (currently replaced with 2 DIN head unit)
Cloth seats & interior (tan)
Sliding back glass window
Tinted extra cab windows
15” OEM 6 lug steel wheels ( currently replaced with OEM 15” x7” Chou Seiki aluminum alloy wheels)
OEM chrome emblems
No ABS
No sunroof
No flares
No E-locker

 

Back in showroom days, clearly the LX trim model was as arbitrary as it comes

 

I spotted this 1996 RC 5-lug 5-speed when I drove into the parking lot to photograph the 1990 ES250, and then went back to chat with the owner after taking pictures of the Lexus...

The owner of this little black Taco was very nice and was quite impressed with my truck; He told me that his black '96 had about 150K miles on it, that the frame was original, and that other than the A/C needing a recharge the truck was in perfect working condition (note that it passed PA inspection right before the COVID-19 outbreak)!


June 20th, 2020:

Bensalem, Pennsylvania

 

So I just sold my truck two weeks ago on FB marketplace, and I marketed it as a TRD OR. Due to my extreme taco withdrawal I ventured here and joined the forum yesterday. While poking around learning new things I decided to look up the VIN for the truck I just sold (something I had honestly never done before). To my shock and surprise I did not own a TRD OR w/SR5 trim like I thought, but in fact a DLX according to the VIN.

"What is this voodoo?" I asked myself, confused how this mysterious DLX which I had never heard of came to have TRD OR and SR5 badging in multiple places on the truck. And voila, here I am resurrecting this thread. Yes, I did read all the previous posts, and I am still confused.

VIN: 5TEWN72N03Z283940

TRUCK:


ME: wtf?

So, my question is, did I just rip this poor guy off? Or did I sell something magical and unicorny that I shouldn't have? (noting that @black_dog_lila already told me "never sell your taco" ...lesson learned, perhaps?)

 

So I ran your Vin and you do have the off road package. You didn't mislead anyone. Here is the breakdown, I hope it helps.

 

1996 Tacoma LX in Evergreen Pearl. Purchased it brand new in 1997 it was the Pacific Northwest show room vehicle. Only modification is I swapped out the chrome fenders for black ones, added side steps, swapped out the cassette player for a cd and added some dirt.

Mine has the following, many of them were options not standard.

Transmission 4-speed automatic w/OD

Air conditioning Yes

Partial floor console Yes

Power windows Yes

Cruise control Yes

Tilt steering wheel Yes

Power door locks Yes

Power steering Yes

Front bucket seats Yes

Cassette player Yes

Rear step bumper Yes

chrome door handles Yes

Bedliner Yes

Chrome bumpers Yes

Variably intermittent wipers Yes

Trip odometer Yes

 

July 26th, 2020:

Exton, Pennsylvania

 

Lowered 1995 Taco 2.4L/5-speed with only 70K original miles and an intact, functional A/C system!


August 8th, 2020:

Carlisle, Pennsylvania

 

After asking the owner if I could get some shots with the doors closed...


August 8th, 2020:

Carlisle, Pennsylvania

 

1999 Xtracab 4x4 (Auto, and appears to be 2.7L based on lack of "V6" badging)...


August 8th, 2020:

Carlisle, Pennsylvania

 

August 17th, 2020:

Warrington, Pennsylvania

 

August 26th, 2020:

Willow Grove, Pennsylvania

 

^ Not mine, but she looks good!

 

August 30th, 2020:

Easton, Pennsylvania

 

September 5th, 2020:

Pottstown, Pennsylvania

 

September 6th, 2020:

Telford, Pennsylvania

 

@Taco critter


October 4th, 2020:

Pottstown, Pennsylvania