Where were you in ’82? I got out of high school a couple of years earlier and was driving a rusty and dented ’74 Dodge Van. I would have loved to have this 1982 Toyota Hilux diesel pickup, but its $7,178 original cost was worlds away from what little money I had from my job parking cars at an indoor garage. This diesel Hilux is listed on eBay with bids of over $7,000 and the reserve isn’t met! It’s located in Lakewood, Washington.
This truck is in amazing condition. The seller says that the “paint and body panels are all original there is no rust or repairs on the truck “. This thing is truly in amazing condition.
Being from snow country, a 4WD pickup would have been nicer, but come to think of it, my ’74 Dodge van wasn’t 4WD and I, and thousands of other people in my hometown, seemed to manage. We just put on snow tires and put sand bags in the back. We’re getting spoiled as a nation, or world, maybe it’s time to get back to the basics again (yeah, right).
In addition to parking cars (where I learned how to back into parking spaces), I worked for a cleaning service. The owner had almost this exact truck, but in yellow and without the diesel. He had a similar topper, too. It was a great truck to drive and was drop-dead reliable. The topper for this truck was also purchased in 1982 and it’s in as equally as perfect condition as the rest of the vehicle is in.
The seller mentions two small cuts on the door panel and they’re visible in this YouTube video. You can see them on the passenger side door panel at 1:42, and 2:53 into the video. Unless I somehow missed it, there was no mention of cracks on the dash top, or why the dash top cover was installed? Most of the time it’s to cover up cracks, not prevent them from occurring.
This is Toyota’s 2.2L inline-four diesel with 62 hp and 93 ft-lb of torque. It was rebuilt 500 miles ago, but that was in 2007, one decade ago. According to the seller, “since the rebuilt the truck get started once a month goes around the block and back into the garage it’s always garage kept. Total miles on the truck 100,667.” Have any of you owned a diesel Toyota pickup? And, even more importantly: where were you in ’82?
This truck has the same engine as my HiAce project. Not too many of these old diesels left on the road in this kind of condition, if any. Great find!
This truck was my first viehicle when I turned 17, it ran like a champ!
Wow, a time capsule if I ever saw one. 1982, yeah ( fading into cloud dream) just got married, had a decent trucking job, had life by the a$$, what could possibly go wrong??? (needle screeching across record) Yeah,,, the rest of that story could be said by many, I’m sure. I had this exact truck, only an ’84, sans diesel. My ex-BIL bought it brand new, had absolutely no options ( he had to go to 3 dealers to get one like that) he religiously changed the oil, and it had 231,000 miles when I got it, and all he did was brakes and tires. I’ve known people with diesels like this, and they couldn’t pull an empty boat trailer. BUT, these motors spun for hundreds of thousands of miles, as long as you were in no hurry. I still can’t believe the condition of this. No thanks on the diesel. Gas motor was more civilized, more power, and almost as good mileage.
I agree. I had a Diesel IH Scout with 101 hp and it was like riding a snail down the road. And it smelled! My other Scout with the 345 was a far, far, far better and more enjoyable vehicle to drive.
Great find/unique truck. About 7 years ago I drove up to New Berlin Wisconsin to look at an AMC Jeep Cherokee PU with a Renaut diesel.
I was 12 yeas old ,had a lot of cars ,they were hotwheels and matchbox 🚙🚗🚓🚘
I was right there as well.
I graduated high school in 1982.
Granted, I don’t know a lot about the Toyota 2.2 diesels, but why would a diesel engine need a complete rebuild at 100,000 miles, especially in a vehichle that appears to be so well cared for?
Just rebuilt my 2.2 Lengine at 500k miles. was still running great, just bad oil consumption.
This truck is in amazing shape! I never cared for diesels, I’m a gas guy! I was a freshman in high school in 82′.
I had a lot of these go through the shop over the years. I agree with the above comment(s) about a lack of power; they left something to be desired. The motor can be expensive to rebuild. A lot of these trucks found themselves in the salvage yards because of that alone. The governor thrust washer in the injection pump tends to wear out, causing the motor to ‘hold’ at mid-range rpm and take forever to come back to idle. A Bosch washer for a VW or a Dodge/Cummins will fix that. The throttle shaft and bushing also tend to wear prematurely, mostly causing fuel to leak out like a sieve with holes in it. The fix to that is to modify the cover to accept a sintered steel bushing (again, courtesy Bosch) for a VW application. It’s got a timing belt but it seems to me that the motor is free-running so it will just quit (non free-running motors will quit too but the damage is severe) and stay that way until you install a new belt. Other than that, the motor should be good for 200 to 300 K miles; it should outlast the truck….
Funny; the injection pump was the source of 90% of the running issues on mine. One injection pump rebuild later, everything is roses.
Hi Jeff. The injection pumps on those were made under (Bosch) license by Nippondenso. They were a VE type, essentially the same as the ones that fuelled the VW Rabbit/Golf/Scirroco. Yet they seemed to lack in some areas, and that was their downfall. Where the pump needed to be solid it was every bit as good as its Bosch counterpart but in areas like the governor and throttle shaft, they were poorly made. Modify them to fit the Bosch pieces and they were fine. Just don’t add water…
They should have been made available with the 2.4 litre turbo diesel engine.
Wow, ’82. I was 21 and just bought my first house, needed a garage to put my front engine dragster in :)
I bought a used 82′ SR5 longbed in 1983 with factory cruise control, tilt wheel, and factory air conditioning . Rare in the day to find these options. Cost me $6500 Great truck
An old man up the road from me had one of these for over 20 years.
With the mileage posted on the tail gate of his “Lil HoBo”.
After every trip he took he would change the mileage it had, He would be gone for weeks at a time, Trips from Pennsylvania to Alaska where his favorite. I believe the mileage was almost 700,000!
And if you were behind him, he was NOT in a hurry!
1982 – I was 7 years old, dreaming of getting my driver’s license.
super nice truck!
I had the ‘ 81 version for 4 years and it never felt slow or smoked …I credited BP diesel fuel at the time. It revved up fast and kept up easily with traffic.
It was tan with a special decal package. My farming mates didn’t like the furrin junk, but it was unstoppable and cheap at the pump.
I remember the whitewalls getting harmless little cracks in them at 12k miles and when I went for the first valve adjustment they replaced them for no charge.
Wish I had it now….but it’s probably returned to the earth here in the NE.
In 4 years the rust had started but not enough to make it difficult to sell.
1982, two things I always will remember. Reached the age of 16 years and went two weeks later to the German Democratic Republic for a week, alone…
I always get a kick out of East Germany calling itself the “Democratic German Republic”. Not much was Democratic nor was it much of a Republic.
Those dash-top covers are extremely common here in Australia. We use them as a preventative measure. With our harsh climate and high UV count, dash plastic takes a fair old beating. My 20 year old Ford utility spends all day in the sun when I’m at work. It has a dash-top cover, and under the cover the plastic looks brand new.
I put dash top covers on my only 2 vehicles with plastic dashes to protect them from sun damage. Not to cover up anything. The rest of my vehicles all have metal dashboards.
I was 9 yrs old in 1982, way too young to drive a car. I remember being fascinated by the diesel engine that was powering the small truck. I was hoping that the diesel engine would stay on the U.S. market for longer than it ended up being. Sadly it wasn’t.
My father drove one as a company truck for one summer. It too was white and RWD. Ahh, good times.
Was it diesel powered like this truck?
Auction update: this truck was a no-sale with a top bid of $10,000.
In 82? I was just beginning a marriage that failed 36 years later! LOL, my Mustang caused the divorce and I am so glad! LOL, let’s think about this a minute! A woman who gripes and complains or a beautiful classic that is as beautiful as the day I married her? My car won! LOL
I have and daily drive a 81 Toyota diesel pickup. The bed is long gone and now has a flatbed. I rebuilt the engine about 10k miles ago. Parts were available for the rebuild but cam, crank, and heads are nearly impossible to get. I had to get the pistons and sleeves from Australia and the crank bearings from Lithuania. The 5 speed was easy to get parts for, same as the rest of the truck. Rust is a constant problem. It is a fun truck and have never seen another one in person. As long as the glow plugs fire, it will start. It was 18 degrees F this morning and Curtis cranked right up!
Hi Scott, I also have an 81 and it smokes a lot. I have sourced valve stem seals and am considering pistons and sleeves. Tell me more about your rebuild.
Lencho,
I put new sleeves and standard pistons. Very easy to do. I was able to get them from Precision International out of Australia. Most othe parts valves ect… i was able to get on eBay. I hope that helps. I took pictures of the rebuild and posted on Instagram.
Scott
I owned a twin to this pickup for a few years in the 80’s. Mine also was a white ’82 long bed diesel with a white (Lear?) fiberglass cap. My Dad was the original purchaser and sold the truck to me in ’85 with less than 50k miles registering on the odometer for $4k. About two years later I traded it in with only ~ 80k miles for a $1,750 allowance toward a ’87 Acura Integra. Sure wish I’d still had it now. Even 35 years ago it was rare for me to spot another one on the road. Mine was very good on fuel (30-40 mpg) and fairly reliable (but I did have to replace an alternator/injection pump, timing belt, water pump and noisy transmission bearings. Bottom line, at ~ 62 hp she was simply too under-powered and stiff-riding when there was no weight in the bed. My Integra was a lot more fun to drive!
I remember when Toyota offered 2.2 litre diesel engine and 2.4 litre turbo diesel engine. I was way too young at the time to drive. Had I been in my 20s at least in the early 80s, I might’ve been able to drive one, maybe even enjoy it. I consider it damned unforgivable that the Toyota Diesel wasn’t on the market for very long. Although not without its disadvantages (smoke, slow as they come, expensive to maintain, not the best service network), I would think people would appreciate its advantages (better fuel economy, more low end torque (turbo), long lasting with maintenance.