Around my area in Knoxville Tn few people have said minitruckin is dead! My opinion is that back in the day when minitruckin was prime! We had a ton of rides rolling around but not a lot of quality rides! I think today's minitrucks are our generation of hotrods! Most hotrods guys drove a c10 or nova to high school that's there hotrod car! I drove a minitruck to high school a 94 toyota with the torsions all the to rubber stops! I think minitrucks are modern day hotrods the thought and fabrication that is involved in today's trucks is crazy!

 

I'd say minitruckin isn't mainstream like it was in the 90's, but it's far from dead. When I got my toyota a few years back, first thought was ok, how do I get this thing scrapin the ground. It didn't take long to find this site and lots of others still going strong on mini's. It seems every generation has their "hot rods".

I drove an 83 s10 with dropped coils, blocks, and 15's with 50 series tires to high school.

 

Every time someone asks about my truck they ask is minitrucking coming back because they use to have a mini and would love to build one again, so I tell them the sooner u build one the sooner there mainstream again, ( like they ever left!!!!!)

 

I agree my last mini was in 2003 I've built a few for others here and there but not my own! So I bought a house with a huge garage and already had another yota so it didn't take long and it was under the knife! I went with extensive metal works 4 link and the rest of my stuff was ebay and avs! eBay has tons of minitruck stuff! I believe it's alive and well without all the true enthusiast!

 

We are not dead----and we refuse to go away!!!

 

Were, not dead, we just smell that way cause the windshield leaks!... Uh. That didn't come out right.
There's a few "non-mainstream collector/enthusiasts" vehicles that seem to strike a bond with people who drive them. Mainstream collector cars, in America at least would be Mustangs, Camaros, Corvettes, Pickups from the big 3 from the 50's through the 70's, ect.
The non-mainstream ones being 2wd Toyota pickups, Chevy Chevettes, ford pintos, and other "driver" cars and trucks. They may not be the fastest, most expensive or best preserved, but they are what most of us ended up with as a first car. (and first real love, at least for the guys) We may have dreamed of a shiny 69 Boss 429, but we drove to school in a Ford Escort.
If you are broken down on the side of the road, the rich owner of a vintage corvette will just give a smug smerk as he passes by, but I've found that someone who owned a Toyota pickup... Even if it was over a couple decades ago, will more often than not, stop and try to help. Along with telling a story about the pickup he owned of course. For us, its about bonding with the vehicle, not showing off that you own it. We show it off, of course, but its the labor of love that went into it that were proud of. The looks, stance and performance. Not the initial price that were proud of.
Does it make us... The REAL car enthusiasts "better" than the Barrett-Jackson crowd, that drop six figures on a car, just so they can brag about how much they paid for it and not about the car itself? I'd like to think so, but in reality, no, it doesn't. Its just that we can remember being that goofy, teenage kid on the side of the road... Cause that was us at one time.
I loathe the day that our generation becomes the baby boomers. Financially secure in elder years that we start scouring the barns and auctions with fat checkbooks and driving up the price of whats left of our childhood cars until they're unobtainable to the very people who actually owned and loved them.
The day that some unrestored 80's Toyota pickup or "Wane's World tribute car" crosses the auction block for $300,000 will be a sad day in my opinion.
But it shows the cyclical nature of car enthusiasts.
So to make a long story... Long. Minitruckin isnt dead. Its just hibernating.

 

yea... since i started with the lowered street scene here in san diego, the number of trucks has only doubled, tripled and so forth through the years. more people got trucks and more people keep getting them. granted, the trucks may not have 6+ years into them or $30,000 dollars into the truck but they are all mini truck enthusiasts and mini trucks with style none the less.

that i know of, there are at least 40 to 50 trucks i can name off here in socal in the circle of people i know alone. back when i started, i think i may have known only 10 trucks down here total. so no, minitruckin' is NOT dead by no means.

 

I for one, kind of wish the minitrucking and classic Japanese car scenes would die or at least stay in a state of induced coma. The problem with fads and mainstreaming with imports is that prices go up and supply goes down. It's not so bad for domestic cars because there is enough demand that replicators pop up as soon as prices go up.

Not so for J-tin. It just makes it harder to find/buy stuff.

 

I think now that the better quality/better appointed trucks are old enough to be cheap mini trucking and japanese car modifying in general will continue to expand.

In the 80's & 90's the only trucks with any aftermarket were American crap. Cookie cutter s10 dorkmobiles were everywhere. Nissan/datsun and toyota didn't have much going for 2x's just 4x's. The older trucks didn't have much off the shelf at all so it was only the most dedicated of builders that used them.

My first mini was a 79 courier long box. Fun truck but zero aftermarket in the mid 90's when I had it. I'll build another one once I'm bored with toyota. I've had nothing but toyota's for over a decade so the courier may have to wait.

 

Do I think its has big as it was, no. When I was in high school most had muscles and classic trucks, but minis were starting to pop up everywhere. I remember when it even spilled onto sport compacts. But I don't think its dead, its just not like it was. You saw them more back in the day cause they were everyone's daily driver, where now most have other vehicles.

 

The one thing of minitruckin of the 80s I hope stays dead, dead, dead is the "skateboard style". You know, 195/50s stretched over 15 X 10 wheels with 5+ inch lips and spacers sticking way out past the fenders and the trucks sitting on all four bump stops.

 

I was never a fan of slammed trucks that can't make it over a speed bump but since I was in high school. I have all ways wanted to build a sport truck that could handle just as any car on the road and well here I am today and loven every min of it


and alot of people like my truck cause it's not like an every day honda thing

 

funny you should mention that.....

 

If u came to hawaii u guys would see mini truckin isnt dead. Lifted or bagged or static the islands here love them. We hold cruises every year for trucks and atleast 300 trucks show up and thats the people who. Could make it.

 

I think it was pointed out best when he said that its not people's every day ride anymore. There aren't new ones. And aftermarkets usually drop off with older stuff. I come from dodges, so other than motor stuff you're screwed anyways. So I intentionally built an oddball old 78 long bed to build.

I'm 25, and from the Seattle area. It's never been huge, I'm usually the lowest truck in town and about the only one that's got some power. I see a few lowered Junkers here and there, but most the stuf I see that's "cool" is newer or totally random old rats.

Mini truckin started as being a way to build something cool and unique for a cheap entry fee. They're just pickup trucks after all. I have seen lots of parts companies die off the last few years. But I think it'll all come back around. The once staple minis will fade out but more people will seek out the classic minis or do totally new things to break the same mold of what every other has looked like.

But in the end, I think we all just like to be recognized for our hard work how every car guy does. A simple thumbs up while cruisin

 

Almost. You need the 2"~3" spacer as well to get some tread out from under the fenders.

 

The 808 is blowing up when it comes to lowered mini's !! MT'ing will never die!

 

I think it's just an island thing in Hawaii. Easier to build the rigs already there than have new ones shipped in. It does create some very cool build schemes though.