Recently, a friend told me he went to check out a Toyota T100 pickup that was mechanically mint and looked pristine on top. However, when he told me how much he paid, I realized something must be very wrong underneath; sure enough, the frame was absolutely trashed. Finding a clean Toyota pickup is nowhere near as easy as you’d like to think, given how many are sold annually, which makes survivors like this 1994 Toyota Pickup DX here on eBay a bit of an item.
The seller is asking $16,750 for the truck, which shows just 108,000 miles on the clock. It’s incredible to think that if you bought the base-spec truck in 1994, years later you can still ask over $15,000 for it with more than 100,000 miles on the clock. I doubt the original owners of any of these pickups thought it would be possible, but scarcity drives the market for Hilux and Tacoma pickups. This one features the DX trim with a V6 and optional automatic, plus the extended cab, so it offers many of the options Toyota truck enthusiasts want.
The seller notes he gets compliments every day, and I’m not surprised. It shows original paint and decals, which makes it a survivor right out of the gate. The interiors in these pickups were generally robust, so I’m not surprised to see one with low miles still in good shape. The carpets are clean and the upholstery on the seats shows little in the way of wear and tear. The A/C still works, and I like that with the DX trim, you got manual windows to practically eliminate the limited complexity these trucks had. Photos show that it also retains its original AM/FM stereo – no tape deck!
The frame is immaculate, and that’s really what you’re looking for on one of these. The seller discloses a very small amount of body rust, but it’s so inconsequential that I wouldn’t worry about it (it’s described as being on the “…inside lip of the tailgate,” which is a nothingburger as far as I’m concerned.) Lots of recent maintenance has been done, including new tires, muffler, spark plugs, EGR vacuum regulator solenoid, distributor cap and rotor, and more. All of this should ensure the 150 b.h.p. and 180 lb-ft of torque, 3.0-liter V6 runs reliably for years to come.
Apparently, it never snows in W.Virginia. This is pretty unusual to see, they were without question, the most popular import pickup truck. Every contractor, worker and builder had one. Practically standard issue, and for good reason. They were simply the best. Oh, they had a grim downside however, they rusted horribly in the very environment they were intended for. It was not unusual to see these broken in half on a hoist. I highly doubt this truck ever saw a flake, and never cared for the V6, the 4 cylinder was a much better motor, I thought, and in a twist of opinions, it’s too bad this doesn’t have a stick. It certainly wasn’t used as a truck very much. Great find.
RE: Frame issues. I had a friend with a Tacoma, I think, that was included in the frame replacement recall. When he told me that, I had to see for myself, yep, there it was, a brand new primered frame. He said, when he got it back after a lengthy repair time, every warning light on the dash was on, and it rode awful, with rattles it never had. That class action suit cost Toyota almost $3.4 BILLION to do.
Trust me – it DOES snow in West Virginia! If you go North of
Lewisburg,WV,there are some skiing areas.