Rare Rides: A Toyota Pickup From 1983, Extra Clean and Rust Free
The Rare Rides series has had a couple of bouts with ancient, excellent condition Toyotas in the Tercel Wagon and 4Runner. Today, we have a look at a little orange truck which pre-dates either of those.
It’s a Pickup, from way back in 1983.
First, some Hilux history. The Toyota Hilux started out as a brand new offering from Toyota back in 1968, and came to the North American market as the Hi-Lux starting in 1969. It was a replacement for the unpopular Stout truck, which we featured on Rare Rides in 2017. A second generation debuted for the 1973 model year, and brought with it additional modernization.
The second generation underwent a revamp for 1976; it grew larger, had more standard equipment, and larger engines were available. These were all characteristics requested (or perhaps demanded) by North American customers. The changes also brought a new naming convention for Toyota’s truck offering — in 1976, its name transitioned from Hi-Lux to Pickup in the North American market.
For 1979, the third-generation Pickup arrived, bringing with it the most truck-like of truck characteristics: optional four-wheel drive. Toyota was getting the hang of American desires now, and for the first time a three-speed automatic transmission was available to complement the four- and five-speed manuals. A range of inline-four engines were available, all of them between 1.6 and 2.4 liters of displacement. Toyota reserved four-wheel drive for engines of at least 1.8 liters, to the chagrin of cheapskate customers.
Today’s SR5 Pickup is from right at the end of the third generation’s life. Trucks with four-wheel drive ended production in July of 1983, as Toyota wound down the old model in preparation for the fourth-gen model (which took over in North America for 1984).
This example draws power from the 22R carbureted engine; it was the largest on offer, with a displacement of 2.4 liters. A long-lived Toyota design, the 22R was produced from 1981 through 1997, and in original guise produced a raging 97 horsepower. 0-60 time? Yes, it has one.
Information on the listing is scarce, but the Pickup is exceptionally clean, and has travelled over 160,000 miles. Everything looks original, right down to the paint and tape stripes. The clean interior has all of its trim and even wood applique. Luxury!
Currently listed on eBay, the Pickup’s owner is asking $18,500.
[Images via seller]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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The tin worm does its magic in the Rust Belt. Same thing happened to my wife's 77 Accord. I kept the body up but the undercarriage rusted so badly that my mechanic told me that the next big pot hole I hit might break the car in 2. Great running car but the tin worm did it in.
Wrong site :) but I'll have to vote CP because my 6'3" frame just doesn't fit in these little toy trucks. Give me a full size regular cab truck any time and leave these undersized toys to the kiddies.