Photo: Vanguard Motor
To advance from being a contender to winning the title of world's largest carmaker, Toyota was almost obligated to offer a pickup truck for the American market. It started doing so in the 1960s, when, after playing around with something called Stout, the Japanese company introduced its first stand-alone offer for the segment, the Hilux. Since then, the lineup suffered a wealth of transformations, and presently the Japanese are selling the Tacoma and Tundra locally.
Both are rather successful here. According to Car Sales Base, the Tacoma sold close to 250,000 units last year, while the Tundra ended 2019 with 111,000 units. Not half bad, given what the American competition is throwing into the mix.
But those are the numbers for the new, fancy pickup models. Fans of the old Hilux, as it used to be called, have to dig around quite a bit before finding one worthy of a closer look and possibly even purchase. We tried to help and, as part of our Celebration Month coverage, we uncovered a 1981 SR5 last week. And now comes a 1991 model.
The thing going in favor of this pickup is that for the entirety of its life, it was owned by a single family. As a result, it is an all-original machine, “meticulously cared for” and packing all the goodies the carmaker had to offer three decades ago.
The truck’s red body rides high above the ground thanks to the 15-inch polished aluminum wheels wearing 31-inch General Grabber tires. It moves along under the power of the 22RE inline-4 engine, in its turn controlled by means of a 5-speed manual transmission. The powerplant shows 69,000 miles of usage (111,000 km).
The Toyota pickup is for sale, and at $44,900, it might not seem cheap, as it is about ten grand more expensive than the 2021 Tundra ($33,675). That doesn’t seem to be discouraging the selling dealer, though.
But those are the numbers for the new, fancy pickup models. Fans of the old Hilux, as it used to be called, have to dig around quite a bit before finding one worthy of a closer look and possibly even purchase. We tried to help and, as part of our Celebration Month coverage, we uncovered a 1981 SR5 last week. And now comes a 1991 model.
The thing going in favor of this pickup is that for the entirety of its life, it was owned by a single family. As a result, it is an all-original machine, “meticulously cared for” and packing all the goodies the carmaker had to offer three decades ago.
The truck’s red body rides high above the ground thanks to the 15-inch polished aluminum wheels wearing 31-inch General Grabber tires. It moves along under the power of the 22RE inline-4 engine, in its turn controlled by means of a 5-speed manual transmission. The powerplant shows 69,000 miles of usage (111,000 km).
The Toyota pickup is for sale, and at $44,900, it might not seem cheap, as it is about ten grand more expensive than the 2021 Tundra ($33,675). That doesn’t seem to be discouraging the selling dealer, though.
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