Hey y'all...proud owner of a 1988 Regular cab, short "Japan Bed" pickup, 22R, 4-speed, pretty Plain Jane...until now.

My sweetheart bought her in 1990, when she was two years old. We've owned her for 23 of her 25 years. My darlin' passed away in July of last year, and I am having our sweet "Li'l Truck" completely re-done in her honor and as a memorial to my sweetie. Getting Li'l Truck all fixed up was something that we both wanted to see done for a long, long time.

She's in pieces at the moment. Her motor and transmission are at Rising Sun on South Lamar (motor still solid at 171,000...just needed to get sealed up and cleaned), and her body is at Longhorn Collision, just a few blocks down the street from Rising Sun.

She is being taken down to metal, and repainted a whole new color: a 1959 Ford Truck color called "Indian Turquoise". I have bought (mostly off eBay) brand new chromed door handles, mirrors, front and rear bumpers, and chrome side lights and taillights, new chrome grille, and several other new pieces, including the tail-gate clamp handles.

Also bought all the parts to install the original Factory AC! Li'l Truck has never had AC in all its life, and this is all the original parts to do it right, and have it come through the dash vents. Uses the same controls, everything. Also found a "Dash Cap" that is molded to go over the always-split right side of the dash. The body shop/paint guys are going to paint it so that it finally matches the dash vinyl over the instrument panel...it's never been the same color, always been a nasty, faded, split mess.

I'm having the seat and door panels re-done, as well, and her wheels (stock) will be powder coated the "Indian Turquoise" the same as the body. I am trying to find some plain chrome "Baby Moon" center caps that would just fit over the hubs, and leave most of the Turquoise wheels showing. Kinda hard to almost impossible so far. If anybody knows of a brand/source for Baby Moons that would fit the stock '88 wheels, please let me know!

My biggest dillema in planning the re-do is those darn "B-pillar" black plastic cab vents. None of the platers I've talked to will touch 'em, they say that any type of "chrome plating" would not stick. So I'm searching for alternatives. I am also looking at the "diamond plate" chrome bed rail toppers, since the new chrome bumper I bought is "diamond plate". Had a friend just suggest that I might find some local metal fab guy to make me "new" B-pillar vent covers out of Diamond Plate, and punch enough slots in the right place for proper ventilation.

I've started a (primitive, just text and pictures) website to chronicle "Li'l Truck"'s transformation into a Turquoise and Chrome jewel. The text there fills in a lot of the back-story of Li'l Truck's long life. Here's the URL for it:

It's not as bad as it looks...

It's only three pages at this point, but I'm going to re-do it and add more pics as more gets done. Li'l Truck is going to be painted this coming week, and then they will roll her back into the assembly room to put her all back together. At that point, they'll remove her wheels and tires and have the wheels sent out to be powder-coated Turquoise.

So I've still about about a month or so until she's "done"...and then I start looking for the right stuff to finally install a killer sound system.

Started this whole process in November 2012, just as she officially turned TWENTY FIVE...she rolled off the assembly line in November 1987.

So howdy, and hope you folks enjoy following the story of Li'l Truck's journey and transformation into a little Turquoise and Chrome gem. Great to find a forum dedicated to "Li'l Trucks" !

Thanks for lettin' an old guy with an old truck ramble!

 

I just skimmed through the 3 pages and was impressed with your progress. Since our members frequent this message board to see, read and learn about their trucks, it might be easier to cut n paste what you already posted on your site here.

 

Nice to see what you've got going for yourself. Plenty big pictures too, helps us see what you're working with

 

Thanks y'all...I tried to post in the "build" thread, but ended up posting it in the wrong sub-forum. I'm hoping that an admin/mod can move it to the right sub-forum.

I will try to keep updating as soon as I have new pics!

I'm excited about getting closer to "the finish line" with this...she'll really be somethin' to see when she's done!

 

i cant wait to see it painted!

why couldnt they dip the tailgate handles chrome? too many moving parts on them or what? i see no reason why they cant be.

 

Yep. They said that they'd have to completely disassemble them, and then plate each piece separately, and that the plating may not survive the re-assembly process on some of the smaller parts (like the "bale" wire loop). I'd hate to have 'em turn out bad. I'm OK with 'em being painted. The paint guys said that painting them would be no problem, and that they'd turn out nice.

I can't wait to see it fully painted, either...that test panel turned out so beautiful!

 

Welcome! It's really nice to hear that your '88 Toyota is being re-done in her honor Thanks for sharing this story.

Good luck with all of your projects!

 

Nice progress on the truck and nice high quality pics

 

OK, finally sat down and read everything. I'm impressed with the love you're giving this truck. It would have been cheaper and easier to start with another truck but you stuck with this one

 

Many thanks...it's a "Labor Of Love", indeed!

Just resized some photos of all the AC parts I was able to find, and added them into the third page...I've even got the heater/AC controls with the original green AC button and the cables that work everything, a real nice faceplate and the digital clock, too.

I'm pretty sure I've got everything I need, but read in a post here that there might be a vent missing (all non-AC trucks didn't have a vent under the steering wheel). So I wrote back to the eBay guy I bought the parts from and he's gonna go look on his truck and he'll yank it for me if it's there.

I'm hoping that everything will just bolt in and work with a re-charge of the system. My 22R has a carb, and it's got the "pollution pump"...I'm pretty sure that extra pulley he included should solve the fan belt problem I've been wondering about.

Believe me, I'm almost more excited about finally havin' AC than the rest of it!

 

Living in SoCal, I wont own a truck if it doesn't have a/c. I'm in the process of looking for an earlier truck and finding one with a/c is starting to be next to impossible.



BTW, every time you update your page, on your post here, start with "Update" and we'll go to your page

 

A vehicle without AC in Texas is pretty much only driven in that one or two week period we call "winter"

ANd will do with the "update" idea...thanks!

 

How low are you going to go?

Steelies with moon caps

1994 Custom Toyota Truck Front Left View Photo 1

 

Ha...Li'l Truck will keep her "upright matronly" stance

That's one fine truck!

Where'd you get baby moons that would fit????

If the Michelins on mine weren't almost brand new, I think I'd hafta look for some whitewalls!

 

I cruise mine 24/7 365 no ac

 

Guess I'm officially "old"...I likes me my "creature comforts" now.

 

Nice build!

 

yea plan on getting back to blowin frost out my vents maybe vintage air or somthing aftermarket one day

 

I remember the days of wanting to be bagged and body dropped and wanted to be in severed ties when i saw that truck i did mine the same way but in beige/cream instead of red and peanut butter interior

 

Howdy fellow Texan! Awesome build...I love seeing these type of builds. Keep the pics coming!