Before they called them Tacoma‘s …

They were sold without rear bumpers then. But with a little weight in the back they would go anywhere. I drove my 1985 2wd thru a 12 in snow to work and no one else was there.

 

it was a truck like this back in high school that made me want a Toyota pickup.


So now i have one.

 

I had a girlfriend who's parents got her a 86' Nissan 4x4 truck and "at-that-time" it was peculiar for a girl to have a pickup much less a 4x4.

 

I loved this truck , I drove it for 10 years! Sold it for 2x more than I bought it .

 

My previous Toyota Pickup (1983 SR5 Longbed) and current ride

 

In the USA Toyota also called the truck a HiLux until the mid 1970's or so.

And don't forget just because Toyota didn't badge these earlier trucks they did have an internal code name/designation. Can't recall what it was/is.

 

The title had Hi-lux on it, but I don’t remember any badging with it. It had a couple stylized T’s, but it was really a cost cutter vehicle. It had a manual tranny, lock-out hubs, and a lever transfer case for hi & low 4wheel drive, and a straight front axle. These were the “pretty” wheels and tires (32”), I had some 7” wide Super Swampers for winter - it was a tank. The little 22R(?) had a Weber carb, and headers, axles came with 4:10’s, it was super basic, but a good first truck. The t/g rotted away first, then the two piece bed rusted at the panel joint (upper & lower sides) due to Ohio salted roads.

 

Ruining perfectly good toyotas since 2012






Photo of my first vehicle, a great shape 1985 pickup.

 

Yeh the Sluburban was a family friend's and the Burnt Orange GMC was my mom and dad's to carry their 9' camper. It was a lot of fun from camping in the woods or parking at the ski hill for a weekend. We had a lot of fun and made lots of memories in both campers. A few important lesson I learnt was to never have bottle beer in the fridge when travelling the logging roads and always remember to put the pin latch in the fridge door before driving. LOL! What a mess!

 

T-100 otherwise known now as the parts whore now.

 

My first Toyota, an 89 Pick-up, 22RE 4cyl 5speed. Bought new in Oct of 88 for $11300. Had this truck for 14 years and I put 545000 miles on it, yup you heard that right 545000 miles. Other than routine maintenance I replaced the cam shaft at 350k cuz a lobe went flat and a new radiator. Also replaced the clutch twice. Sadly a rod knock led to it's demise.

I've been a Toyota fan boy ever since. I've had 5-Tacomas and a 4Runner.

My 89 Pick-up:



My current ride, 20 Pro:


My 11 4Runner

 

Way back when. This was my 1988. Don’t know if this road is even around anymore. Dos S ranch on the Beeline highway over to Bartlett Lake in Arizona

 

As a kid, I remember going to the MG dealership where my uncle worked - it happened that it was also a Toyota dealership.

Must have been some 5-7 years before I could even consider a driver’s license. I knew I liked the MGB and drooled all over a few of those…

I recall also sitting in a brand new, bright Red, single cab Toyota Truck (maybe a 1980, if I had to guess?) that caught my eye.
I noticed that, that like the MGB, I could reach the (3) pedals and see out the front we’ll enough to drive it home right then.

I unexpectedly drooled significantly over that particular little truck!

Later on, I went on many long adventure trips driving friends’ Toyota trucks from that era… we had a lot of fun in those little trucks!

I went the speedy European sedan route myself when the time came. -Had to wait until ‘21 for my first Toyota truck…

 

My first two were toyota pickups, both bought brand new.

86 4X2 with the 22r and a 4 speed manual. It had no options, not even a radio or rear bumper. I drove it cross country once with a boom box and a ton of batteries.

91 4X4 DX single cab with the 3.0 V6 and 5 speed manual. It had a radio but no AC.

Since then I've had three Tacomas, 99, 04 and now the 16.

 

Here is my 1979 Toyota 4WD Sport Truck, first year of production. Main loom for wiring harness was hand wrapped with black electrical tape.

 

Dealer charged you $45.00 to roll up the windows?

 

Most important thing in that last picture is that they were estimating yearly gas total at around 70 cents a gallon.

 

After a months long waiting list, Schaumburg Toyota(largest in the Chicago area at the time) would not sell these trucks without their polysomething paint treatment included. The trucks were hard to find and the dealers had the upper hand. Not shown on the sticker but Rusty Jones rustproofing was another required purchase.

 

Looking back, it was probably well worth it.