Hey guys, this is my first post, just bought my first japanese minitruck last weekend at a farm auction. '71 Hilux. Won it for $100 and now im slowly getting it back on the road. I'm smack-dab in the middle of the rust belt so seeing ANY Toyota truck on the road pre-85 or so is a very very rare sight, and this is hands down the oldest Hilux ive ever seen (although there is a '68 Stout nearby) so i had to have it. Frame isnt bad and the body although kinda rough is in phenomenally good shape for this part of the country. The floor on the other hand is basically non-existent so i have my work cut out for me. Two of the drums are totally seized up (sat in mud for the past 31 years) and the clutch/brake systems need a total redo as well as a tranny rebuild, but miraculously it fires up and idles about as well as it could after i cleaned the points and replaced the cap and rotor (got a bunch of NOS toyota ignition stuff at the auction too)...anyway long story short its gonna be a loooong term project but im super excited to dig this deep into something like this. Already making it look how i want (i dig original patina and not really into lowered/stanced stuff at all) so at least itll be nice for me to look at while i slowly get it roadworthy. Thanks and excited to have this forum as a resource along the way!!! Ill try to post pics in the next post as a thread like this is worthless without photos!

 

Here are some pics of it as ive been giving it a makeover this weekend. Ive always loved the more hot roddish look of 70s 80s west coast minitruck stuff so thats basically my inspiration. Final pic shows it with my other love, my 90-inch '68 Chevy panel Van. Cant wait to get the Hilux back on the road!

 

That's quite the deal. Thanks for saving it and welcome to the forum.

 

Good deal! Welcome to TM

 

Not a bad deal. Welcome and good luck with your project


Steve

 

Nice find bud welcome to the page

 

Hey bud.. Just found your thread.
I'm in the rust belt '71 game myself. We must be the same kind of sick.. Anyways, you've definitely got the edge on me body wise, I'm a huge fan of patina myself, but I've got some holes in mine. Good luck on it. I've learned a lot off of these forums and had to find some stuff out along the way on my own. But.. Hopefully you enjoy this one as much as I do mine.
I'll be sure to keep tabs on your build, maybe have a question or two to bounce off of you along the way.

 

Nice! Can't wait to see how it turns out!