What actually CAUSED the famous, Toyota frame rust problem???

This. Every day I see at least one 1st Gen on the road, usually two or three and all hauling trailers, landscape shit, actually working (not mine, too pretty ).

I am totally amazed to see "99 Tacomas still buzzing around en mass around town. Puts a smile on my face.

And I even like to see the 3rd Gens..cuz they just make our 1st Gens look even better.

 

No need for popcorn. I am just making a statement and observation as a guy who has owned and put significant miles on dozen Toyota trucks. Take or leave my personal experience, I'm not here to convince or debate anybody or discount anybody else's opinion.

 

That lawsuit targets Kobe Steel, a Japanese company, and the vehicles included are Land Cruisers, Lexus vehicles, and Priuses. Not one word about Tacomas, which are assembled in the US, or Dana, the US steel company that makes Tacoma frames.

 

Darn, no tacoma's.

 

Comes down to These Simple Facts.

Who rolled the Steel ??

What specs were given to the Steel Manufacture ?? The specs most likely came from Dana Dana Has never made steel they just built frames

Ford / Kenworth that I can know for sure Having hauled Coils into Dana Reading and Frames To The Ford plant In St. Paul and Kenworth in Chillicothe Ohio

Who inspected the steel ?? Every Coil comes with the spec sheet no paper work more often then Not the coil is rejected

It might have been industrial sabotage ??

 

I think the reason we see a proportionately high number of older Tacoma's vs. domestic stuff is because they hold their value so much better and are worth repairing.

To back this up, we don't see nearly as many older 2wd Tacoma's.

 

Still see quite a bit of 1st gen's in Tx. Alot of hunters and contractors use em. It suits their needs just fine and they know, from what they say, that these tacomas last if taken care of.

 

One guy saw my double cab at advance auto and he wanted to know what I would sell it for. I told him I couldn't put a # on it because of the amt of work I've done to keep it going and that there was no way I could sell it for less at this point.

 

That's not a fair comparison. A dodge vs anything is like comparing Stephen hawkings IQ to a potato.

 

LOL!

You're right there is no comparison, I traded a 98 Dakota with 58k for a new 2000 Tundra which I just got rid of (drowned up to the steering wheel) for my current 03 Tacoma.

My point remains, Tacoma's are worth fixing because they're worth more - a lot more. It's easy to "total" an older S10, Ranger or Dakota with a clutch, transmission or head gasket issue. We still see older Mustangs and Camaro's but no Pinto's or Vega's.

But I agree completely, the Tacoma has a much higher IQ.

 

Plenty of Rangers around here in Milwaukee, actually. You don’t really see a lot of older cars as daily drivers here, period, but the Ranger seems to hold up really well, all things considered. Weirdly I see plenty of early-nineties F series running around, but the late nineties ones seem to have rusted way worse and have dwindled recently. There is a Chevy Silverado about the same age as my Tacoma on my block with an obviously busted frame, and some of the trucks driven by junk collectors around here look like they’re held together with duct tape, and probably are. Let’s not even get started with Dodge. That said, I think it’s obvious our frames are especially vulnerable. The deceptive thing about the Tacomas is that, at least for the later 1st-gens, the bodies don’t really show obvious rust around the wheel wells and rockers. A neighbor of mine had a pretty clean-looking double cab that just disappeared one day. I asked him about it and he apparently was oblivious to the frame rust thing until it was too late. After all the publicity, I have a hard time understanding why you wouldn’t put some effort into protecting the frame, or at least take a peek down there once in awhile.

 

Kind of off topic

In my area 99% of the 95-2000 tacomas were bought back and the 2001 - 2004 received a new frame. Do you think the 01-04 trucks will be collectable?

 

we'll probably see a rise in value as they age like the old Toyota pickups have in recent years. but i doubt they'll be "collectible" for a while..

 

Depends how you define being a collectable ?

Like a 66 Corvette ??

The Point where even a battered used Tacoma with 200,000 miles brings like $ 50,000.00

 

It will never be "Classic"

I agree with @Empty_Lord i think the price of them will rise and they will be treated like the early 90's trucks in my area.

There are NO 80's trucks at all in my area, the 90's trucks are quickly bought when the odd one comes up. To get a 90's truck you would have to bring it in or buy 4 or 5 parts trucks and knit a truck out of the parts.

 

I wouldn't count on never for the classic part. but definitely wont be one for a long time if it is ever considered classic

 

1st and second gens. will be collectible to Millennials because that's what was new and desirable as they entered adulthood.

maybe Generation Z (or whatever nickname they aquire) will covet the thirds.

Seems like every popular car from the past has rust issues because people want them to last forever. Camaros, Mustangs all had to be brought back or stored dry, even from the 80's and 90's.

It takes great care to make a daily driver last but is possible (the guys fluid filming every year) I know a few guys still drive their early '90s Chevies to work every day.