New member from Nevada, been reading around the site for quit sometime and decided I should finally register. I live in Northern Nevada and am the proud owner of a RUSTY Yellow 1978 Toyota Pickup. It sports the short bed and a 20R with the optional 5 speed. This is my second 78. Funny story how I ended up with it. I originally bought a white 78 pickup (2wd, short bed, 20R w5speed), couldn't tell you how many times the odometer had flipped and it ran like CRAP 2 days after I bought it. Got it for a DD, smoked like a train/crop duster from the carb going bad. I was stopped at a stop light in South lake Tahoe when a guy on a Harley pulled up next to me. He said he was selling a truck just like mine and it runs WAY better. I was intereasted so I pulled over and talked with him, he gave me his address and phone # and said to come take a look at it. And then he said he only wanted $300. The next day I decided to go take a look at it, I was expecting the worst considdering the $300 price tag. I figured I could use the parts to fix up my current truck. When I got there to look at the truck I was pretty amazed. It had some seriuos rust going on and then I found out the history of the truck. The couple recieved it as a wedding gift from the brides parents, brand new right off the showroom floor. They lived in Napa at the time and rarley drove the truck. They moved to Tahoe in 2009 and brought the truck with them. He did a full brake job and then the truck wouldn't pass smog. He said he had an old Ford Curriur pickup that he had to get rid of for the same reason and he was pissed that he did. So he told himself that he would let the truck sit untill the county made him git rid of it or it rotted away in the yard. So there it sat for about 2 years...untill he saw me driving my truck crop dusting away. The truck only had 48,000 miles on it, the interior was all there aside from the head liner. When I opened the doors the hinges were in good shap and the window could be rolled up and down with 2 fingers and ZERO effort. There was some minor front end damage (grill, passanger fender, hood and bumper smashed). I was very impressed at this point, and then I asked him if he could start it. He put a random battery in it and pored a little gas down the carb, 2 cranks and it fired right up. Sounded AWESOME!! No exhaust leaks and super smooth and it was bone cold. I gladley gave him the $300 and took the truck home. Truck drives, runs and shifts great. I swaped the good body pieces and front bumper from my other 78 on to it and had a decent looking truck. I've since sold the white 78 and have put 10,000 miles on the truck with a new set of tires and regular oil changes. I live in a NO SMOG county so I ditched the cat and added a cheap header and a thrush muffler w/turn down at rear the rear axle. I left the stock tail pipe in it's original location from the axle back, gives it a sleeper look when it's parked cause you see the the punny stock rsty pipe hanging out behind the rear wheel. Here is a picture of the truck the first day I got it home...
Man I can never find stuff like that, I always end up looking at piles of rust! Great find man and welcome to the site!! Beautiful mini by the way!
here's the current flavor on it, sanded the letters w/220grit to bare metal. Running with the "Rust" theme....
here's a shot of my first 78 I used parts from and sold... suspention was shot to shiat and the interior was thrashed and was plagued with electrical problems as well...
Awesome find, bro ... Welcome to TM ... From what you're saying in the back ground story, you and that truck were meant for each other ... Doesn't really look like you have much more cosmetic work to do ... What's your future plans for it, lower or leavin' it stock ???
It's my DD so the engine will remain basically stock. I have a 32/36 weber I'd like to put on but I need to do a rebuild on it first. The paint needs to be finished (3 black scallops over yellow) and at some point the top is gonna come off due to all the cancer it has. I'm slowly gathering pieces to get it lowered, I'm aiming for a 2/3 drop. Slowly but surley, I got a build thread going but I posted it in the wrong section
Welcome! Thanks for sharing your story! I'm glad to hear that you were able to save this RN20. Most of them when they cannot pass smog any longer gets scrapped. Rick
