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Publica Pickup: 1971 Toyota 1000 Pickup

Monster truck fans, this one’s for you! This is a 1971 Toyota 1000 Pickup and it’s one rare vehicle, especially being left-hand drive. It also has the fender/wing-mounted mirrors, which is normally a Japanese market thing and I don’t normally see those on left-hand drive vehicles. This Publica pickup is listed on eBay in Stamford, Connecticut with a Buy It Now price of $11,800 or make an offer.

The Toyota 1000 was, for the most part, a Toyota P30 Publica for export markets. The 1000 pickup, designated as the KP36, was only offered with a 1.0L engine until 1972 when a 1.2L engine became available. This particular pickup is completely original and has no accident history, according to the seller. This truck appears to have had the wheels painted at some point and the seller mentions a small dent in the rear which I have yet to locate. It looks about as clean as can be, but there is some rust to think about and with the recent paint work I’d want to check it out very, very carefully to check for bodywork.

Isn’t this a cute pickup, though? I know, those two words don’t usually go together, cute and pickup, but they do in this case. No, you aren’t going to be hauling the lumber to build your cabin with a truck that weighs 1,500 pounds, at least not all at once.  A unibody pickup like this is more suitable for very light loads, like 1,200 bags of marshmallows, etc. The seller mentions that this pickup was repainted in its original color at some point and that it’s showing some light surface rust in the cabin and in the rear bed.

The interior looks good overall, but you can see that there will be some upholstery work to do here. At least the seat fabric and pattern isn’t something that can’t be replicated like some intricate fabrics and patterns are. Some areas of rust-through are visible under the seats, which is a little worrisome, but not the end of the world. The next owner will most likely have the seats and the floor covering stripped out for repair and/or replacement anyway and the floors can be repaired at that time. I would definitely add some dynamat here to cut down on road noise a bit, but that’s a good idea in any vehicle. And, no, I’m not a paid spokesman.. The dash, steering wheel, and manual shifter all appear to be in fantastic condition.

Here’s where the “1000” part comes in. This is Toyota’s 2K, a 1.0L inline-four that would have had around 45 hp. Some detailing would do wonders on the presentation of this engine. The seller assures us that this pickup “runs and drives with no major mechanical problems”, but they say that it’ll need new tires due to flat spots. Have any of you seen one of these rare little pickups?

Comments

  1. Avatar Mr. Bond

    Neat little truck, but that would be 66,000 miles, not kilometers. Probably even rarer to have a speedo in mph.

    Like 0
  2. Avatar Brian Member

    Scotty, this thing is just plain cool! It looks even smaller than a Nissan Sunny pickup! Great find!

    Like 0
  3. Avatar angliagt

    I saw a 1975 Toyota 1000 pickup in Grants Pass,Oregon,
    back in the late ’70’s.It came from Mexico.Guy wanted $3500 for it
    I thought that was WAY too much money for it,but wished
    I’d made an offer on it.I wonder what ever happened to it.

    Like 0
  4. Avatar Racingpro56

    Kinda like a Japanese homage to a Falcon Ranchero? OK…maybe not. Very cool though. With 45 raging horses under those wing mounted mirrors, no surprise there is no trailer hitch attached!

    Like 0
  5. Avatar Leon

    eBay sellers dream. Perfect for hauling bubblewrap and foam peanuts. Lol

    Like 0
  6. Avatar packrat

    Could use some detailing… is that the kind way to point out that the air intake looks like it was pulled out of a 50 lb. bag of driveway salt?

    Like 0
  7. Avatar RoughDiamond

    This little Toyota pickup is way cool! I guess it’s just a matter of perspective, but I was thinking this is rust free compared to most Japanese vehicles I’ve seen of this vintage.

    Like 0
  8. Avatar geomechs Member

    First one for me. When I saw ’71 Toyota pickup, I was expecting a HiLux like the one I had. This one is very different. You’d have to get out and push to get this one rolling. But it looks like something you could have a lot of fun with…

    Like 0
  9. HoA Howard A Member

    Ummm, $11,800??? Good heavens, in ’71, you could probably buy 10 of these( or a bakers dozen) for that. Still, never saw one, and that certainly gets the meter spinning,,,for some. I’d think, for my small town, this would be perfect, groceries don’t weigh much. Good luck on any other kinds of roads. Some 4×4 behemoth will be snarling down your back in no time. It is cute, but not worth a year of Social Security payments tho, to me anyway. I’d have to think parts would be pretty universal Toyota stuff. You could buy a pretty nice side-by-side ATV for this, but where’s the fun in that? As usual, cool find.

    Like 0
  10. Avatar RAGTOP

    Looks like one of those trucks Godzilla flattens on the way to rearranging Tokyo.
    How did this one get missed?

    Like 0
  11. Avatar 68 custom

    first one I have ever seen. love the 1200 bag of marshmallows comment! :)

    Like 0
  12. Avatar gerry Member

    Nice little truck they are even smaller than the Nissan Sunny pickup the 2k was preceded by the 800cc aircooled two cylinder pancake engine.
    Right now here in Japan these are rare and I only located three on line for sale all in the 11-15K range
    The interior rust behind the seats looks like a bad rear window leak and probably means the back seam where the floor meets the wall is probably not good.
    My daily has a 3k 1200cc version of this engine and its been bulletproof good thing I can still get parts through NAPA and Rock auto cause I can’t get parts for it here as cheaply.

    Like 0
  13. Avatar angliagt

    This is exactly what most of the people who have
    4WD,crew cab diesels actually need to haul nothing around.

    Like 1
    • Avatar Dave

      So true

      Like 0
  14. Avatar John S

    What did. Miss? You said it’s “completely original” then a few sentences later… it was repainted and has some rust… in my book, completely original means no new paint… rust or not.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Scotty Staff

      That’s my fault, John. I neglected to say that the seller mentions that it’s “completely original”. I agree, it seems like there are quite a few meanings for “original” these days. I prefer “original-look” or “restored-to-original” or something along those lines.

      Like 0
  15. Avatar wjw

    how much do 1200 bags of marshmallows weigh; more than a ton of feathers?

    Like 0
  16. Avatar Scotty Staff

    This auction ended with a no-sale at $11,800!

    Like 0
  17. Avatar chad

    Less than 1/2 that for the sale to last less than a wk…

    Like 0
  18. Avatar Ray Mon

    Hi. I live in Costa Rica. These small pick ups were very popular in my country during the 70s and 80s. It was my first car, I bought it brand new in March 1978 and have it for 12 years and 225,000 kilometers ( 140,000 miles ). It hurt me to sell it but I needed a 4 passenger car at the time. An excellent car, it would go for ever !!! I´m posting a photo of one that I saw recently in my country.

    Like 2
  19. Avatar Abdul

    hi gents . please need your kind help on where i can find parts to bay online for Toyota Pickup 1000c Gentleman model 1985.

    Like 0
  20. Avatar ROCO STCTRO

    Toyota 1000 or Nissan 1200 (Datsun)
    Were the most popular pick up in Costa Rica Back in the 70s early 80s

    Like 0
  21. Avatar Terry

    I have one in the uk

    Like 0

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