BartMaster1234's CRAPMOBILE - 450,000 Mile 1998 Tacoma 5-Lug v6 Manual [Build Thread]

Really one of the big reasons I chose to buy this truck is because I can essentially 'practice' on it without hurting anything of value. I plan on rebuilding the engine and transmission eventually when I have time. If I do something wrong, big deal. Only paid $600 for it. Lol.

Most definitely going to have to replace the clutch when I'm done learning how to drive it.

 

Money isn't real! Buy it!

 

So just digging through the papers I found, I can decipher a couple things.

The first owner was an Engineering Firm, who is no longer is business. I'm guessing when they liquidated they sold it off to owner #2. A husband and wife - eventually they divorced and the name of the title went to the wife, while the husband still was listed as a 'lessor'. The wife became owner #3 judging by the parking ticket I found AND an invoice from the Department of Child Services. Then something happened after that and it was sold to Owner #4, who drove it into the ground (literally) guessing this was some gardener or contractor judging by the cured concrete, nails, and manure I found in the bed on top of the rusty fifth wheel hitch from when it was owned by the engineering company.

And then owner #5 came along, who was the man I bought the truck from who was selling it for his cousin. The cousin lost the title so I only had a bill of sale. And I become owner #6, a whole 20 years, 450,000 miles, and $600 later.

The things you can find out by looking at a few decrepit papers is amazing.

 

Found the original key tag from when the truck was still brand new in the dealer lot. Guess this blue color is called "Cool Steel"

 

Gotta get you some genuine Toyota keys cut for it too. Did it for the Taco the other day and it's smoother than all the copies from the long lost original.

 

Definitely, I had one cut for my daily driver. The new key set I bought came with three WalMart keys. The Toyota keys feel a lot better.

 

Really been wanting to get something like this lately, soon..

 

A cheap high mileage 5-lug?

 

Yes, or the older Toyota pickup. Then clean it up nicely

 

This thing needs a serious amount of cleaning to resemble anything near a "clean tacoma" it's like totally the opposite lol

 

wow this is an undertaking!

 

Oh yeah. I haven't even begun to start any body work or anything. This thin has gone through hell and back.

 

So this stock bumper is too far gone. Brackets are done and there are too many dents to be salvageable.

I picked up this fiberglass rollpan which will be replacing it. Looks a lot better on these 5-lugs than the stock bumper with how low it is to the ground IMO.

 

So I've seemed to run into issues getting a clean title for this truck. I bought this truck will a bill of sale, and it goes back two owners without a title so I couldn't just apply for a duplicate title as the old owner's contact info is long gone. This is what kept the last owner from getting it registered and why I bought the truck for scrap value.

I have three choices at this point. Apply for a CA Bonded Title by obtaining a Surety Bond through a firm, which requires paying the fair market value of the truck and sitting on it for three years. After three years I can get my money back and a clean title for the truck. What sucks about this option is Tacomas hold their value so goddamn good so the KBB value on this truck to a private party is a whopping $3,000. For a truck that went half a million miles and looks like it drove from hell and back.

Option two is I ask a favor from my buddy who's father is the chief of police in a neighboring city. He can run the VIN and give me the address of the last registered legal owner and I can contact him and get a duplicate title through him. This will require both the PD and owner to cooperate with me. I prefer this option but it may be difficult to get both parties to agree.

Option three is I chop the truck in half and make a trailer out of the bed, plus part everything else out. I really do not want to do this as this truck is perfectly fine and I'd rather restore it.

I'm going to be calling some bond companies and seeing exactly how much I have to put into it. Otherwise...

 

Noooo choppy choppy

 

If I have to pay a $3,000 bond and sit on it for 3 years I'm going to have to go with my original plan of making a trailer. Just won't be worth it to me to lose that much cash for three years.

 

you gotta at least try going route 2!

Doing sketchy things is fun!

 

We'll see what happens. Maybe an officer on here can help me out

 

So there is some hope. I found a temporary driver's license and a moving violation issued by the CHP among the garbage I found in the truck.

Both have two different owner's names and address on it. I'm going to try calling each one and seeing if they're the last registered owner.

 

My friend's father is the Chief of Police for the city next door. Unfortunately in the 90's someone disclosed information regarding a person from the CHP database and that person ended up dead as a result - so a bill was passed where law enforcement or any automotive entity cannot disclose any information about vehicle ownership or contact information, at least in the state of California.

He could, however, tell me if the truck was stolen or not. I sent him the VIN and here's what I heard back.



So here's the next step. The ticket I found ended up being a lifesaver. It had the name of the driver and the lessee. The driver had the same last name as the wife of the man I bought the truck from, so the seller's story that his cousin owned the truck was true.

At this point he got the ticket for driving the truck on expired tags and no registration or insurance - he never transferred the title to his name so the original owner is still listed on the ticket and an address.

I did a background search on the owner I found and three different addresses came up. A street view on one address revealed the truck parked in the driveway of the address on the ticket.

Further research shows that the owner moved sometime between the street view imaging sometime in 2014 and 2018.

My choices are either try to contact the owner and have him file a duplicate title certificate, or file a Lien on the truck (since it's value is under $3,000) and obtain the title through the DMV after 30 days.

What do you think I should do?