This 1974 Toyota Hilux seems like it should be a bigger deal given it supposedly has under 10,000 original miles, but it doesn’t seem to be taking off just yet. These early trucks are humble yet mighty, even if they’re not a properly equipped 4WD version. My heart is warmed by the color choice, as it’s a great shade for the era and it appears to be the same color as my departed Toyota HiAce project. The pickup certainly presents like it’s barely been used, which would seemingly trigger stronger bidding. Will it clear $10,000 before the auction ends? Check it out here on eBay and thanks to Barn Finds reader T.J. for the tip.
The era of compact pickups that could take a serious amount of abuse is making a small resurgence in the U.S.A. after years of not having many options. Of course, the jury is out as to whether these newcomers like the Ford Maverick will still be on the road 30 years from now with hundreds of thousands of miles on the clock. The Toyota sports California blue plates which certainly supports the narrative that it has seen limited changing of hands over the years. Small details like the uncracked taillight lenses and the original wheels center caps still in place – and what looks like zero rust – are all high points of this survivor truck.
At this point in its history, the Hilux was powered by a 2.0L, SOHC engine generating about 108 horsepower, but I can’t make that claim with total confidence as a smaller 1.6L 12R engine was also offered. Regardless, either engine will outlive most of us with the most basic of servicing, and its limited performance potential will ensure it lives a fairly slow-paced existence. The seller doesn’t say much about maintenance history, but it would still be good to know if it has received the occasional oil change or belt service. Even though it likely runs fine, those details show it wasn’t neglected while it saw limited use over the decades.
When you see how mint the fragile plastics and other interior materials are, it certainly looks like this truck is the real-deal. The seller is quite direct that the miles are authentic, and there’s likely a good story behind it. The dashboards and seats in older Japanese products are extremely susceptible to cracking, so it’s great to see undamaged materials in here. The market for original small pickups like this isn’t exactly hot, but there’s a dedicated following for old-school Toyotas and I’m sure some of those folks are watching this listing. In my opinion, when you have a survivor like this on your hands, it behooves you to over-index on the details.
Wasn’t this one featured a short time ago?
I don’t know why I’m commenting on this. I had a ’71 HiLux which was and still is the worst POS I ever owned. I don’t think I ever loathed and despised a truck as much as that one.
Couldn’t start it below zero unless it was plugged in. Couldn’t run regular gas; it pinged and detonated on premium. Heater was dead useless; if it got down to zero, you could keep an 8 inch hole in the driver’s side of the windshield and a 4 inch one on the passenger’s side; your feet froze.
Piston collapsed at 32K miles. Parts were over $400. At the same time I overhauled a Ford 360 engine; bought all the parts over the Ford fleet counter. Rebored, got the crank turned, valves done. Cost just over $400.00. The Toyota, I had to wait for EVERYTHING to come from Japan. And it was a patch.
Sold the truck to a local carpenter who wanted it for a gopher truck. He had it for years and loved it. Go figure.
Today, the carpenter’s son and grandson have it. They are currently restoring it. Again, go figure…
But I have to say that, other than the engine, the truck was well put together, and handled well. Put a couple of old cylinder heads in the bed, a pair of groundgrip tires on the rear, and it would go anywhere.
And that’s believable testimony, folks. If Geo says it was a POS, rest assured, it was. Results varied greatly depending on many factors. We must remember, in 1974, these were bought by a group solely for the gas mileage. These had big shoes to fill, and people like me and Geomechs liked our big US pickups to ever be swayed. When we closed the doors, we wanted that “Kelvinator” sound, not some tin can. Not to say we didn’t try them, but generally not impressed. I too went this route, a ’78, I think, bought from my BIL strictly as a $100 beater, with 240K miles, and aside from brakes, tires, and religious oil changes, he never did anything else, HOWEVER, the trade off was all the things you mentioned, poor ride, lousy heat, crappy seats, BUT, boy howdy, they got great gas mileage. Not sure if the author meant “belt” as in timing belts, these had a chain.
Sorry, “California seller”, but you’ll have to do better than that. While I do think it’s a 109K, and entirely possible kept out of the sun, I think they detailed a clean truck to begin with.
Once again – I had a ’72-1/2 that I bought from our neihbors
that was about 6 months old.Same truck with the 18RC engine
that needed 4 valve jobs in 62,000 miles.After that I swore that
I’d never buy another Toyota,then I drove a ’76 SR5 Longbed &
ended up buying a new SR5 in ’77.
The 20R in the ’75 + trucks was pretty my indestructable.
The best gas mileage for the ’72-1/2 was about 25mpg,as it had
a 4:11 rear end in it.
I got a kick out of other owners who would tell me things like
“I was towing a 10,000 pound trailer at 75 miles per hour in the –
mountains & got 35mpg”.
The 18RC was a vast improvement over the 8RC. My mother had a ‘72 Corona with the 18RC. It ran so much better than that pickup of mine with the 8RC. And you could burn regular gas.
If it would’ve had an automatic transmission that didn’t have a porous case and sweat ATF everywhere you went, it could’ve been a great car.
A friend of my Dad’s bought a Crown, with the 6cyl. version of the 18RC. 300K miles and (2) timing chains. Back in those days you didn’t bend all your valves when a chain went, and over 100K on a chain was pretty good. Anyways the family still has the Crown, a bit faded and some rust, but still runs, 53 years later…
Coffee shop Fantasy. There was more grain hauled; more gravel hauled; full-sized cars that the owners picked up at the factory and got 45 mpg on the way home—then the dealer replaced the carb and now the car only gets 18 mpg. Those stories florished until the local mechanic walked in.
“Can you do something about my lousy mileage?” “My truck won’t pull a limp ‘noodle’ out of a pail of lard!” Interesting how the topic of discussion would change in the opposite direction. I could write a book on the coffee shop alone…
The bidding is tepid because no one believes it gas 9269 miles, the seller doesn’t even try hard to push that narrative. If they had put TMU instead I’d bet the bids would be higher.
Steve R