Over the years, plenty of trucks have found themselves converted to off-road use, especially if the manufacturer in question has a reputation for building capable 4x4s. What’s less common is to see a truck roll out of the showroom straight into off-road duty, but that’s what the seller of this 1985 Toyota pickup here on craigslist claims happened and is the reason behind it having only 22,000 miles from new.
The seller says the truck is far from perfect, as you would expect for a vehicle used on off-road trails. The body still shines nicely, but no word on whether that’s original paint we’re looking at. I’m not even sure how to grade this truck as it’s so far from stock that it would take a significant investment to bring it back to survivor-grade condition. Given the interest in 1980s Toyota 4×4’s, it could be worth the investment. Equipment-wise, it’s desirable – a non-fuel injected 22R motor with a 5-speed and last year of the straight axle.
While I wanted the interior to be the best evidence of its survivor-status, the modifications unfortunately didn’t stop on the outside. There’s diamond-style plating and aftermarket pedals and steering wheel. Those can easily be removed, however, and the seating surfaces and door panels do look clean enough to support the mileage. The seller claims there is rust on the truck but doesn’t elaborate where; he is selling it for his uncle who lived on the beach.
As the seller mentions, this is the “Marty McFly truck,” for any of our Back to the Future fans who are reading. Replicas of that truck command a strong price, and that may be the best use for a ‘Yota like this. The seller has listed a price of $6,700 or trade for a vintage trailer, an ask that I would say with some caution is fair if that 22R motor wears less than 30,000 miles. Overall, I’m not sure where I stand on this unusual survivor – what do our readers think?
Well, it sure looks cool, that’s for sure. IDK, pretty hard to argue with a 6 figure speedo. Seems pretty crusty for 22K miles, that’s a lot of off road miles, and dirty inside. I can just see this thing bouncing over logs and boulders. ( and btw, I don’t know who Marty McFly is or was. Never saw that movie.) http://i44.tinypic.com/2luct9h.jpg
Marty Mcfly truck
they are all used up here in s.w. Oregon.
Oregon *loves* these trucks. They part out very well. Some day these will hold some substantial value in restored form because nobody really reproduces the soft plastic and interior parts that always got broken and removed, so clean examples are rather hard to find.
hmmm… One interesting clue as to why it is so rusty… “Uncle lived on the beach”……. So were many of the off road miles spent blasting up and down the salty beach water? This could mean some very serious rust issues deep within..
22,000 miles, all off road?!? Color me a bit skeptical of that dubious claim. If true I find that far from a selling point as in terms of wear and tear, water intrusion, rust, nicks, scrapes, bangs, and outright blunt force trama, ect, ect that would be the equivalent to what….a couple million road miles?
It’s just a beat-up, 4×4 Toyota truck and looks nothing like the McFly truck. Pass.
Well as a off road lover I wouldn’t mind making a offer, it actually doesn’t look all that bad if you can get it cheap, heck that lift kit and shocks can cost plenty by itself. Besides look at some of the total rust buckets with no motor have been featured here and people are shelling out big $$$ for them. If it wasn’t all the way over on the west coast I would definitely take a personal inspection and make a offer. These early Toyotas were pretty cool trucks.
I bet the speedo was not recalibrated for the big tires and so it will show on the truck many less miles than that what was actually driven
Lived on the beach ….AKA rust
Chassis is probably rotten in places , if its anything structural then forget it …..be parts only unless you have a galvanised chassis sitting about
Even with coastal rot the frames on these trucks hold up remarkably well. I had one on which the body was so rotted that when I tied a fence to it the wind blew the gate open and collapsed the cab enough that the doors wouldn’t close and the windshield fell out. Even with all that body rust the frame itself was very sturdy.
If this truck went through high salt water, that might be a different story, but coastal air won’t do much to the frames on these.
There seemed to be a switch over on these trucks where in the 70’s and 80’s the body would rot to pieces, but the frames held up very well. Later in the 90’s and 2000’s the body would look great, but the frames were falling out of them. The spare tires on some were known to break off on the highway and fall out from under the truck due to rotted off cross members under the bed. Toyota actually did a recall on these trucks for an at company cost entire frame replacement. Not sure if that recall is still open or not, it’s been a number of years ago. I know they swapped a lot of bodies onto new frames though.
The places these trucks tend to rust is the lower corners of the front fenders, the floors of the beds, and the A pillars at the top and bottom around the lower corners of the windshield. I have noticed the A pillar rust tends to show up before anything else so that’s the best place to look. Problem is when that A pillar rots out, then water runs inside the truck and will do bad things to the floors.
I think you’re going to see a lot more of these trucks from this era show up and start being worth some serious coin. The old guys won’t get it, but the 30 and 40 year old folks that grew up with these trucks and can now afford them are going to start throwing money at them just like their parents did with 40’s and 50’s cars.
For what it’s worth, these trucks are remarkably capable. They’re VERY popular in Oregon as trail runners and rock crawlers even today. I dunno about this over lifted monster, but I bet it’s sure fun to drive.
I’ve seen them on the road with the sheet metal flapping in the wind. Very durable even when rusty.
These trucks were pretty much Indestructible with that 22r motor .Unfortunately rust was always an issue .But you still see these things around 30 plus years later,still running and usually covered in mud.
Poor truck…. :(
My 85 Yota Last year for a solid front axle and first year for fuel injection. If there is a rust free Yota,Datsun/Nissan,Ford Courier or Chevy LUV it has been painstakingly taken care of. Most imported truck didn’t have rust preventive, or under coating. I’ve heard of some having rust thru in less than 10 years. my 2 cents. Oh and i wasn’t aware that my truck is rated as a 1/2 ton pu.
Actually, that first picture makes it look like it has NEVER seen off-road! Kinda like the classified ads that say “never been raced”. Define “off-road”. Maybe run up and down a long beach somewhere, no rocks or rutted trails in sight. I would expect a lot more beating in that time frame.