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…
I’d love to see that Crown you’re talking about. In 1969 my dad traded in a 1964 Plymouth Valiant Convertible (225, 3-speed on the floor) for a brand new Toyota Crown. It had the 2M 6-cyl. with 4-sppeed on the floor. That car had a full frame and a 4:37-1 limited slip diff. We hauled a 20 ft boat seasonally to the Poconos, 200+ round trip, every summer until I started driving in the fall of 1976. It was at that point my dad gave me my first car. I had well over 200k miles on it when a school bus skidded out of control in a snowstorm and plowed hard into left drivers side from front bumper to rear quarter, and continued his crash & slide until his rear bumper took off my rear bumper. Sad ;<{ the way that bus slammed into me, but I do believe that having a full frame under it prevented totally crushing the car. After receiving the insurance $$ my dad went right out and scored a '72 Crown with the 4M 6-cyl., but with an auto trans. We/he ran that one until after the Cressida came & went, then traded it in on a Lexus, blah blah blah. Merry Christmas!
Nasty collision! There’s a lot to be said about cars with full frames. That Crown earned its keep.
The Crown that the family friend had was actually a leftover after the year’s inventory was sold off (the guy was actually the local International dealer who picked up a Toyota franchise on a whim). It seemed that the Crown, at least, out west, was Toyota’s Edsel; it wasn’t a good seller but it was reliable…
I want to see that Crown! Is it the MS6 or MS7? My name isn’t “Crown” for nothing.
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…
Geomechs, if you ever wrote a book. I’d buy it!!! And I’m not much of a reader if that says anything!!!
-Dave
Had just graduated from high school and my friend bought a ’76 SR5 Longbed. He bought a cap for it, and we drove cross country camping in the back of it. Not long after getting back, he rolled it. Found a cab from another wreck and fixed it. He sold it to another friend and moved up to a Land Cruiser.
Me, I bought a ’77 Celica GT coupe. Toyotas were in high demand then. The dealership I got mine was in direct competition with a west coast dealership, it may have been Cabe. Every week the ad in the Sunday paper printed each dealers sales figure as the jockeyed back and forth for the title of highest selling dealership in the country. My dealer was Gateway Toyota in Toms River, NJ.
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
I see it has the venerable Weber carb fix. I remember those original carbs being basically 80/20 unfixable!
Sure, Toyota in the early 70s could be easily labeled subpar for many reasons.
But the difference was, they listened, they went back to the drawing board and they regrouped. By the late 70s they had our attention and by the 80s, well you know the rest.
There are a few things which immediately stand out about this particular vehicle. The most obvious one is the body-colored grill which possibly is missing an emblem. Under the hood the rubber bumpers along the fenders have been painted as well. The front valance is a little rough compared to the rest of the vehicle.
The claimed mileage is a chuckle with an annual average of less than 200 miles. The paint looks too nice and damage-free with not a single scuff in 51 years. The same can be said of the upholstery. These were shipped with either a bare floor or a rubber mat. The carpet may have been dealer-installed or a later addition just like the steering wheel, carburetor and quite possibly the upholstery.
This truck has been for sale for quite a while. It was featured here in early November. At that time a craigslist ad offered it for $12,500. The truck is offered now at autotrader for $21,495. The eBay auction’s high bid is now $6,000. Each ad featured the same fuzzy images.
This truck looks like a quick flip which hasn’t paid off. Like the old carny said : You pays your money, you takes your chances.
Color matched grill was the way they came. What stands out to me is the underhood VIN plate condition with rusted screws doesn’t match with 9,000 miles.
Also, sure don’t remember painted door latch hardware inside the doors.
’74’s had body-colored grilles.This one has obviously been
repainted in a non-stock color.They also painted the taillight
surrounds body color.
You are correct about the paint. I had a ’73 in the same color (I loved that truck, BTW). The grille and taillight surrounds would have been silver from the factory.
Grilles were Silver in ’72-’73,& body colored in ’74.
I had an 18RC in a 74 Celica GT and it was faster than my sisters 75 Celica GT with the 20R but the 18RC was prone to timing chain and valve burning issues. Toyota’s body work was better than Datsun offered during those years but many of these rusted easily and required care to keep the bodies preserved. Still, this is a really nice truck. Wish it was in my garage!
Chiming in on the 8RC, which powered my ’71 Corona MkII. Bought it at age 15 from my Mom’s VW mechanic as a lien – owner threw the upper timing chain at about 65K, owner abandoned it at his shop after he bought all of the parts (including a timing chain cover, which was blown apart whenever it threw a chain).
My parents paid $150 for it in 1978, had it towed into my driveway. All the parts, including the head were in the trunk. (head has to be pulled to replace the timing cover. Not a great design, but at least it wasn’t an interference engine).
Reassembling that engine was the beginning of a life-long love of wrenching. I blew through two more timing sets between the Corona and the ’74 Celica GT that followed, 1978-1985…got really good at pulling the heads on the 8- & 18RCs. Rebuilt one of them at a shop work study. Except for the timing chains, they were a solid little powerplant.
As far as the timing & pinging: I found pretty early on that setting the timing to factory spec left it running sluggish & hard to start. I’d bump it 6-8-degrees advanced & it ran great. Also paid attention to valve timing adjustment.
Ended at $6K.
Reserve Not Met.
19 bids.