That quality control...

With a prius 1.8 liter engine in it.

 

Old Man Tan trucks are cool...

 

No TacomaWhinersworld.com

 

Is it powered by a flux capacitor for time travel ?

 

I had one of those.Boy does that bring back memories.That fucker rusted away to nothing in 4 short years.But I still miss it.

 

Crap I had a Nissan truck back then and it half way rusted out on the drive home after I bought it from the dealer. They sucked for rust.
I never saw a vehicle rust through (holes!) so fast.

 

You wished it was, those old trucks were bare bones and a lot of fun.

Typical toyota buyer today would have hated them.

 

Yep, Japanese built Toyota trucks, the ones people are pining for.

I had an 86 and had rust holes on the bed over the rear wheels after 3 years.... in Southern California.

 

Haaa!
I delivered pizza in an 83 4x4 Pickup, it was faded red/orange with the cheezy decals, tons of rust.

 

FTW

 

It also had a Celica motor.... for those that hate trucks with car motors.

Damn things ran forever if you could just keep the body intact.

 

Back in the day Toyota trucks were shipped cab and chassis, no bed. A company made the beds here and they got attached at the port of entry, that's why the beds rusted so much faster than the cabs.

 

According to this, the beds were manufactured in Japan and assembled upon arrival.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/car...otive-engineering-failures-toyota-truck-rust/

It was the two piece design that suffered the highest failures, the single piece bed design was available in the 89 redesign.

I owned both versions, the 86 which began to rust within a year or two of buying and 91 that never had a rust issue.

 

I got that info from a Toyota rep in 1989 when I lived in Oregon. He said the beds rusted because they were made here with cheap American steel.

 

We don't have to have the trucks built in Japan. We just have to import the QC department. Or pay the QC staff minium wage and give them a 50 dollar bonus for every screwup they catch. I would love to sit in on their ISO meetings where they have to document these issues and work for resolutions.

 

I had an 89 and it was a well built and reliable truck.

 

I know the trucks were shipped without beds but my understanding was the beds were shipped as "parts" so they could skirt the tax tariff.

Not surprised a Toyota rep would knock "American steel" to boost the image of an import.

I don't doubt what you're saying but my information was the "two piece bed" was Japanese design and manufacture.

 

Why would the bed rust faster than the cab if they were both produced in Japan and what would the advantage be to assemble them here? Im not doubting you, I'm just trying to figure it out.

 

Toyota should be ashamed

 

According to the link I posted:

"Because it lacked this environmental testing and experience, Toyota designed its truck beds with a seam-welded horizontal joint about two-thirds of the way down the bed. Road vibrations caused the paint in the seam to wear away, which provided a great place for water and salt to accumulate and fester, creating rust. Once rust gained a foothold, it quickly consumed the mild steel used in the bed sides."

Here's a couple of pics showing that seam over the top of the rear wheels and the rust that developed.
.


In the 1989 change of the truck exterior they eliminated that two piece design on the side panels and went with a single piece.



The "Chicken Tax" imposed a 25% tariff on fully assembled light trucks so they were shipped without beds attached and were subjected to only a 4% tariff. Once a bed "part" was located they were then assembled.

Once Toyota built manufacturing plants in the states, they moved production of the trucks here and were no longer subjected to the tax.

Tacomas have always been built in North America.