This 1986 Toyota Hi-Lux (yes, that was the model designation for these units, although the title was dropped from the badging many moons ago) actually visited my old shop for some exhaust repairs. My customer base ran the gamut from multi-millionaires to independent artists to the homeless. I’ll let you figure out the demographics for this one.

From the terminally overloaded utility bed (my lift protested under the weight as if it were a Diesel-powered quad-cab “dually”) to the interior, decorated in Early American Squalor, this put-upon little workhorse really appears to be the automotive equivalent of a construction site functional alcoholic.

Typically, many of these little guys got called upon to do full-sized duty, and due to their outstanding construction, they actually hung in there at a level well past any other mini on the market.

Less molested versions still command a pretty fair price on the used market, as they can be repaired and rendered roadworthy time and again.

Examples like this cat, however, have just about used up all of their nine-odd lives—with maybe one left…

…at which point we’d call it “NO-LUX”.

Expertly collected and commented by Phil Coconis, this is the second of many BODACIOUS BEATERS and road-going derelicts, an assemblage of the still driveable near-dead.

Phil has written features and columns for a number of automotive periodicals and web-based information companies. He has run a successful Auto Repair Business in the past for many years (See “Memoirs of an Independent Repair Shop Owner” on this ttac site). He can be contacted through this very site, or http://www.linkedin.com/