The paint code reads 3D7, which Toyota refers to as “Red,” a pragmatic name for a pragmatic truck. Huge tires seem to be popular with these little trucks, giving them a bit of extra clearance for anyone who actually takes their truck off-road. This 1987 Toyota 4×4 Pickup is listed here on eBay in Clermont, Florida; there is no reserve, and the current bid price is $6,800 with four days left on the auction.
This truck has reportedly been painted once in its lifetime, and the current owner’s family has had it since 1987. It’s a fourth-generation truck and, unfortunately, they’re right in the mix of when Toyota was having issues with rust, specifically frame rust. The seller isn’t hiding anything, so kudos to them for providing so many great photos. There are some dings and you can tell that the body has been repainted, such as the spot behind the rear wheel seen above.
Florida isn’t exactly the desert southwest for dry weather, and if this was a Florida truck for the last four decades that the family has owned this 4×4, it may have helped contribute to the incredible rust shown underneath. They say the frame is solid, and it appears to have been coated, but you can see plenty of rust holes underneath. Frankly, I’m surprised at the bid price given the issues that show up in the photos. It goes all the way up the exhaust, with holes visible in the pipe and the muffler, not to mention the underside of the bed, which there isn’t a photo of to show how it looks from the top side, unfortunately.
Cosmetic issues continue inside, and I’m sure another Barn Finds writer could have easily focused on the good things rather than the bad things. My apologies for that, to the seller and the readers. Having grown up in Northern Minnesota with rusty vehicles my whole sad life, that’s all I can see. Maybe it’s a PTSD thing. This is the only single-cab 4×4 1987 Toyota pickup that I could find on the Barn Finds archive here; is that possible? You can see that a lot of the soft things inside are cracked and in need of repair, and I wish they had left the body and paint original, as they tout the originality of this truck, other than that one repaint.
The engine bay thankfully looks pretty clean, and it shows Toyota’s 22R, a 2.4-liter SOHC inline-four with around 100 horsepower and 133 lb-ft of torque when new. Backed by the transfer case and 5-speed manual sending power to all four wheels as needed, the seller says it starts, idles, runs, and shifts as it should, and this one has air-conditioning, although there’s no mention of whether it works or not. I’m guessing since it’s in Florida, it works, but we don’t know for sure. The seller claims that this Toyota 4×4 pickup is a holy grail. What do you think?
Had an 86 just like this, red, even same American Racing aftermarket wheels. Bought it brand new, had tan vinyl interior, and along with the wheels I put a gold pinstripe along the bed and cab, a slider back window, tinted the glass, and upgraded the stereo. I loved that truck. My pride and joy. Got married in 88 and sold the truck in 89 because we needed a car, and the car my wife brought into the marriage was a tired, money pit of a Volvo sedan she had bought from her older brother that loved playing the game “Guess What Can Leak This Week”. Since it was hopeless that my bride learn to drive a stick and I tried, oh God did I try, to teach her, my beloved little red rooster was sold with just over 40K miles on the ticker. Good news is I still have the wife, but I still miss the truck. Better than the other way around I suppose.
That thing is so shiny that until you see the engine pics, I thought it was a toy being filmed using forced perspective optics.
I believe he meant Holey Grail. Salt water will do that to a truck. I know, I grew up there and drove on the beach. Watched other people surfing in their cars and trucks as the tide came in.
How many vehicles come with an expectation of spinning no less than 7 digits on the odometer? If a guy owned one of these, and a Corolla of the same vintage, he’d never have to buy another vehicle.
Not the best seller rating, 93.8. If interested, it would be wise to inspect it in person. There is enough rust in the undercarriage pictures to be concerned there might be more lurking out of frame.
Steve R
I had same truck,lost to KY Road Dept. salt/Brine..
Weeeeell, the term “Holy Grail” means a lot of different things, but I tend to use that term for a more grander item, than a Toyota pickup. A more accurate term would be “The Smoking Gun”, considering what they did to our economy. Great trucks, and the world was going that way anyway, so lower your guns. Not exactly sure why Asian vehicles don’t appeal to me, you don’t think my old man and his war stories had anything to do with it. You’re darn tootin’ it did. Not to say people that bought these didn’t have fathers that slogged through Japan, just not as “vocal” as my old man, I suppose. I had several friends that bought these, while possibly superior mechanically, didn’t do them any good when it broke in half from rust.
Yeah, Toyotas frame recall,,,this blew me away, to date,,,Toyotas massive frame recall has cost the automaker close to 3.4 BILLION( with a “B”), affecting almost 1.5 million trucks. That’s incredible. I had a friend who had his Tacoma frame replaced, when he got it back, every warning light on the dash was on. Nice,,
My dad born 1916 and a Army vet felt the same way.His favorite saying was my social security check doesn’t say Bank of Japan.
I remember when I bought my ‘71 Toyota HiLux. I was only drawn towards it because of the size and no one in North America built compact trucks back then. But I went to pick up the mail and I stopped at coffee shop. The usual gang was there and with my truck being new and different the questions flew. I don’t know who actually said it was a Japanese truck but one guy just gulped the last of his coffee and stormed out.
I asked if I said something wrong and another just said that the guy’s brother was killed at Pearl Harbor.
I knew a number of veterans who fought the Japanese and they never got over it; if you stopped in at any of their places you better be driving American or you would NOT be welcome. Some never got over it.
Personally, I’ve only had (3) Japanese vehicles in my life; my ‘71 HiLux; my mother’s ‘72 Corona, and my wife’s ‘02 Honda CRV. My HiLux will go down as the worst POS I had in my entire life. The wife’s CRV did the job, but my American vehicles did everything I needed, and more.
I was a mechanic for 50 years and worked on everything mechanical, no matter where it was built. Nothing was designed to fail.
Back when they were realitively new in the Northeast, Toyota was paying to have the seams along the pickup box redone because of rust.
Tacomas have always been real reliable either with the 22R or the 3.5L V6. I owned the latter. It’s the frames and undercarriage that suffer due to rust. While in the Great White North, you have road salt, especially the newer liquid type which seeps into about everything on a vehicle. Here, in Florida, people drive their vehicles onto the beaches and then don’t thoroughly wash out the undersides. That’s where the rust manifests here. Clermont is outside of Orlando, so, that coupled with the vehicle’s almost 40 yrs. old, it’s no doubt, there have been a few owners. Just my $.02
This is not a Tacoma.
Oh, sorry for the technicality. It’s a Toyota truck. Durable powerplants, known for rust, serious rust.
I had to do a double take with those first few photos. I thought it was model. Toyota pickups were very popular where I grew up. I also remember those seams rusting on the bed fenders not too long after they were new. Buy mechanically, these are great trucks. It’s a shame about the rust issues, but I give the seller credit for taking photos of it. I was a little surprised by the condition of the front seat compared to the outside. It’ll be interesting to see what it sells for. Thanks Scotty. I enjoyed it.
With a/c on and the bigger tires it would struggle. I have one of these and they are great trucks, but a/c and large tires are a real performance killer.
Better jump on this one. It’s a Holy Grail not just an everyday Common Holy Grail but a genuine Rare Holy Grail according to the seller. As others here have noted some of the photos make it look surreal-is it possible to “Photoshop” something to look like this? Regardless, the rust looks real enough especially the holes underneath. Not being well versed on Toyota trucks was the chain an option for holding the spare tire carrier in place? And as you mentioned Scotty someone might cover the seat area with the old Southwest blanket seat cover trick but the missing passenger kick panel doesn’t help define this as the Holy Grail let alone a Rare Holy Grail.
But I’d trade him my brothers 23’ 1970 ChrisCraft Lancer that’s been out in the desert sun for 17 years with a seized Mercury Marine 302 inboard/outboard.
I had an ’80 that I bought new at wholesale in Baltimore when my wife was working for Toyota. I totally loved that truck, mine was yellow with the factory red stripe running down the side front to back and I put a white aluminum cap on it and deep dish white wheels with big BFGs on it, and it was my main driver for ten years. The only reason I sold it was due to rust issues along the sides of the bed at the seam. I’d cleaned it up and repainted the bed once but it started to reapper and since we were moving to AZ I figured it was best not to take it because it would probably be worth less than I could get for it there. Anyway.. I’d really love to have another one that isn’t all rusted out.
Close friend bought one new in 1985 and was a good performer off road but did not swim well as it floated too easily. Same with wet roads, it hydroplaned no matter how carefully you drove and tires made no difference whatsoever.
The biggest letdown was the rust, within the year it was losing paint in any area two places met from either spotwelds or flexing. But for what it was a cheap alternative to Jeep pickups did quite well until the tinworm began to visit then stay. This one being in F L A I would bet heavily that this one has allot of camouflage on it or has 0 miles been in climate control ever since it got off the boat.
Most of these we called 5 year trucks back then as after the thing was paid off it was on a hook headed back to japan as shredded metal.
Sold on 7/29/2026 for a high bid of $9,100, there were 49 bids from 15 bidders.
Steve R
Thank you, sir!
i think this is getting to the ‘end of the line’ B4 the ugly grill, tundra (the early was still 4 cyl/2.7).
We have 1 on ‘either side of the line’ and 2 more well after.
The 8 sec Starlet has the 2.7 or 3RZ.
They R nice lill p/u.s and a great worker for on the property. Neither is modified as boss is more into the strip. As such they can get in some wood, pull stuff or haul. Not any severe off roading like my bronk tho (as to WB & articulation).