Disclosure: This site may receive compensation when you click on some links and make purchases.

Rebuilt Reliable Ride: 1977 Toyota SR5 Pickup

The owner/seller is the first one to admit that the current paint work may not be “show car worthy”, but sometimes it’s nice to own a little pickup where you aren’t worried about every goofball parking next to you or every rock chip. This 1977 Toyota SR5 pickup is on eBay with a current bid of $3,900 and there is less than a day left on the auction. It’s located in Fitzgerald, Georgia.

I always think, and sometimes say, that white is the easiest paint color (or, tone) to touch up, and a few of the loyal Barn Finds readers have disagreed with that. I think they were right, there is no real easy color to touch up. This truck looks like it may have had bodywork, or at least has been fairly well used. It should have been used, it’s a truck for cryin’ out loud. I always have a thing for perfect original or restored vehicles but I equally like one that is nice but not perfect so a person doesn’t mind using it as it was intended.

I’d want to add a bumper, a pickup without a bumper seems odd to me. I love the look of this truck, the red wheels set it off perfectly in my opinion. This truck has a “new brake system all around” as well as new “tires with fresh alignment and balance”. SR5 stands for Sport Rally 5-speed.

Speaking of that, here is that 5-speed. The seller has taken fantastic photos and I really shouldn’t complain at all since they’ve included all sides, a great interior photo, and even an engine photo. It’s always nice to have an overabundance of photos when it doesn’t cost any more to post them to an eBay or CL listing. Other than what I assume is a cracked dash top, the interior looks quite nice. How that seat has survived for over four decades is beyond me. Bonus: new carpet so it doesn’t “need to be deep-cleaned”! (if we can’t make fun of ourselves than something is wrong)

Here’s another big bonus, a rebuilt 20R Toyota 2.2L inline-four with a “Weber Carb and Headman headers installed, with new exhaust and muffler”. I’m guessing that it’s now a bit over 100 hp as opposed to normally being a bit under 100 hp. The seller says that this truck “is a DRIVER, and will take you anywhere reliably”. I like this seller and I really like this truck. Could any of you use a reliable but not-too-perfect small truck to actually use as a pickup?

Comments

  1. Avatar geomechs Member

    Looks like a good truck for someone to have and use. The imports got their act together fairly well by the mid-70s so there isn’t a lot of risk to having something like this. Myself, I’m more into the full-sized trucks and I’ve got plenty of those to keep from getting bored. I do admit that I had thoughts of trying to buy my old ’71 Hilux back from the carpenter I sold it too all those years ago, and restore it to driver quality. But I understand that his youngest boy has it, and is doing a resto-mod on it. Probably for the best because I’d have to wear a paper sack over my head so no one would recognize me driving it. And that’s because I proclaimed that I’d never go near that truck again as long as I lived. But despite it all, I had a lot of fun times with that truck….

    Like 0
  2. Avatar mbrad

    I believe the import trucks from Japan under a tariff law were sent without rear bumpers so they qualified as not being finished and had to be final assembly done here with a bumper. The bumper was bought here and so i did see trucks without rear bumpers often.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Jaygryph

      It was the rear box. On the gunwall of the box, behind the cab you can see a sticker from a third party installer who got the trucks and bolted the boxes to them. Most trucks still have the sticker since that’s a hard area to repaint without removing the box. The bumper may have been part of that but I do know the box itself wasn’t shipped with most of those trucks, not to the US anyway.

      Like 0
  3. Avatar erikj

    This looks to be a great little truck nothing fancy,used,but well taken care of.Simple! As a full size truck kind of guy, i still have had many small trucks and for whatever reason-they are just plain fun! and useful. I give it a full THUMBS-UP.

    Like 0
  4. Avatar angliagt Member

    I bought a ’77 SR5 Longbed like this new,in Sept. 1977.
    Drove it for about 62,000 miles in less than three years.Traded it in on a new 1980 SR5 Longbed.I bought it in Medford,Oregon.It was bright Yellow.
    About 25 years later,I spotted an identical truck in Central Washington,
    which I ended up buying.When I looked up the paperwork from the first one,
    I noticed that it was ONE serial number different from the second one!The
    second one was sold in Grants Pass,Oregon.

    I ended up selling the second one not long after I bought it,as it was a
    great truck for my needs in ’77,but as I got older,it seemed underpowered,
    & not a lot of legroom,& couldn’t tow much.Sold it for $1250,with a rod knock,
    which I informed to buyer about.
    I love these trucks,but don’t think I want another one.

    Like 0
  5. Avatar Beatnik Bedouin

    I get the impression, Scotty, that you’re in the market for a pick up…

    These were nice, pretty much bulletproof trucks, although I though SR stood for ‘Super Responsive’, at least in Toyota’s home market. It could also mean ‘Serious Rust (he said with tongue firmly in cheek).

    Like 0
  6. Avatar Rube Goldberg Member

    Another great find. I had an ’84, very similar, that truck had a quarter of a million miles on it, never opened up. I’d be concerned the Weber and header may make drivability suffer, especially in the cold, something this truck clearly hasn’t seen, but just didn’t see these for long up north, 10 years max.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Beatnik Bedouin

      Interesting comment, Rube, regarding the change of carb and the header installation.

      My experience is that the changes improve drivability, performance and fuel economy, although I’ve never lived in the Snow Belt, stateside.

      The swap is still popular with mini truck builders, to this day. My grandson did a few, including his own late-’80s Mitsubishi crew cab he owned a few years back. The ’73 Datsun I posted elsewhere, yesterday, had the same carb and header set-up, albeit with another brand’s header system.

      Like 0
  7. Avatar Boatman Member

    Did they really design the body so that the box didn’t line up with the cab at the bottom? Or has the box been changed?

    Good for you, Scotty! If you can’t laugh at yourself…….

    Like 0
    • Avatar Rube Goldberg Member

      These came from Japan without a box, and the box was added later here in the states.( pretty sure, or they all had the same supplier in Japan) All Asian pickups from this era, Toyota, Mazda, Datsun, you’ll notice, all had the same box ( with those hooks) and I never saw these with back bumpers. That was extra too.

      Like 0
      • Avatar Jaygryph

        The import trucks don’t all have the same box, each brand had their own that fit their body lines. They were installed after arrival though, the Toyota ones anyway have a sticker on them from a place in California that did the install when they came off the boat.

        Like 0
  8. Avatar RH FACTOR

    Had a 74. Great engine, very uncomfortable and it rusted faster than I could pay for it.

    Like 0
  9. Avatar Classic Steel

    Wowsa, I never seen one not rusted.

    Mine was half Corvette with the rockers sporting so much bondo and glass it was a good thing it was a truck to haul the extra weight 🤠🤡🤣

    The eninge was great but body rusted as you drove off lot .

    Like 0
  10. Avatar Ben T. Spanner

    I bought the same truck in the same color as a new 1978. The bed was made by Long Beach Metal Products in California. My friend had a brown 1977. At least his hid some of the rust. I had mine three years in Central Ohio. The bottom of the bed rusted first screwing up the grounding for the rear lights. The beds also rusted where the two panels of the bed side rubbed together at the horizontal seam. I fixed that but noticed the A pillar on the right side had rust bubbles coming from the inside. I sold it.

    Like 0
  11. Avatar Tom Justice

    Bullet proof engine and the classic example of a work truck. These were called sport trucks, as I recall, as they had the rare at the time 5 speed in a car but crazy in a truck. I talked one of my teachers into buying one of these and in 1975 western NC, driving a “Jap” truck was frowned upon. He loved it.

    Like 0
  12. Avatar Gay Seattle Car Nut

    Lovely looking truck. I remember when compact trucks were small, compared to today’s “compact” trucks. My dad had a 1978 Toyota SR5 truck. Its seats weren’t very comfortable, particularly during the hot summer months, but there was plenty of interior space to be comfortable in that sense. It had a 20R 2.2 litre engine. While it wasn’t fast in terms of 0-60 acceleration, it did its job reliably, and allowed the truck to work reliably. I’d buy another one if it was in decent condition, with very little patina, just enough to show that it was used. :)

    Like 0
  13. Avatar BillO Member

    A few years after my dad died, we sold his 1972 Chevrolet pickup and bought a 1974 Toyota pickup (basic model, I know, big mistake). It wasn’t a great truck, and since it had 4-speed and my mom couldn’t drive it, she traded for a 1978 GMC Sierra Classic diesel (yeah, second mistake) about the time I left home. I borrowed the GMC a few years later (third mistake) and while it was in my possession, water got in the tank leading to an expensive repair that I split with my mom. I swore I would never borrow the truck again. So I bought a 1979 Toyota SR-5 pickup. That was the new body style. It was a great truck.

    Like 0
  14. Avatar Bob c.

    Looking at how the bed doesn’t line up with the cab at the bottom reminds me of the reverse effect of the early 60s Studebaker Champ pickups with the outsourced Dodge bed.

    Like 0
  15. Avatar Scotty Gilbertson Staff

    Auction update: this truck sold for $4,050.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Andre A.

      Great little truck I drove from Stone Mountain Georgia to pick her up. Drove back home in 3.5 hours not a single issue. Perfect truck for my needs I plan to keep very close to the original condition. She is not a speed demon but I researched power output prior to purchase.

      Like 0
  16. Avatar Gay Car Nut

    My stepdad had a 1977 Toyota SR5 Pickup. It was powered by the 2.2 litre 20R 4 cylinder engine. It was an awesome truck. Although its seats weren’t very comfortable, there was still plenty of working space in the cab of the truck. I loved driving it. I’d buy another one if I could find one in decent condition.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Gibrown

      I got 1 for sale in California

      Like 0
  17. Avatar Car Nut Tacoma

    Sweet looking truck. My stepfather had a 1978 Toyota SR5. 2.2 litre 20R engine.

    Like 0

Leave A Comment

RULES: No profanity, politics, or personal attacks.

Become a member to add images to your comments.

*

Get new comment updates via email. Or subscribe without commenting.