81 Toyo

iTrader: (1)

Here's a great picture from 1979, showing bed inventory at the California Toyota Manufacturing facility, some beds were shipped to other assembly facilities in the US by railcar. What stands out for me is the factory green with black tailgate lettering, I've yet to see a 1st gen truck in that color.


I'm thinking of making a copy to frame and hang in the shop....more garage art.

81 Toyo

iTrader: (1)

And here's the finished product out the door to the anxouisly awaiting Dealers in 1979....

slacker

iTrader: (1)

that's a cool pic you posted ...


here is a "green" one for ya .. it was a full custom resto mod with one of our fiberglass beds , in the factory color , done by a customer of ours . frame was also galvanised





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snobdds

I can still hear them rusting now.

I would pay good money to buy a truck like that now. However, I(we) have proved to be to small of a demographic for anything like that.

I guess that is why we spend so much money preserving what we have...

slacker

iTrader: (1)

ohh yeah ... and considering , those sold for 4K each !! (retail) .. + paint and decals , no wonder they went by rail


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kawazx636

iTrader: (3)

I just drooled a bit...

81 Toyo

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for that pic Slacker....I'm liking that color, would like to find a stock original in that shade but I imagine it wasn't as popular as the other colors so probably not many produced and still around.

gillesdetrail

iTrader: (1)

Wow, great pics, I might make some garage art out of that too, I wouldn't be surprised if there were rust starting on some of those beds in the pics lol

donomite49

makes me miss my 79.

i remember when a few 1st gen friends used to hang out and there was a red,a white, a blue and a yellow toyota 4wd pickup in front of the house.

wish i had a picture.

gillesdetrail

iTrader: (1)

Yeah cool story I would've loved to see that, around here when I went to my friend's cousin land for camping and trailing which is in a farming town where everybody has always had pickups, when the owner of the land saw my truck he said ''yeah I remember those trucks, they were really good, really really good, but after 5 years they were rotten to the ground''.

donomite49

not in california where i used to live

old yota's will last practically forever if they don't rust away in the salt and snow.

81 Toyo

iTrader: (1)

That is true......they are still out there in CA.........my brother lives in Sacramento and I'm always amazed at the vehicles still out on the road there when I visit.

gillesdetrail

iTrader: (1)

Yeah I've been told california and arizona is a great place to keep cars (and things) for a while. Here with the salt they put on the road from december to april after 5 years usually all is stuck and rusty on newer cars. In the past 10 years I've sen 4 first gens including mine (my friend had two) and I saw my first original bed (or what's left of it) two weeks ago. My friends 2000 tundra that has been well taken care of will need frame repair soon since it's so rotten.

Hey toyo do you have other nice pics like that which could serve as garage art?

81 Toyo

iTrader: (1)

[QUOTE=
Hey toyo do you have other nice pics like that which could serve as garage art?[/QUOTE]

A great source of original pictures is in the brochures that the dealers gave out for each year, I've collected one from each year 79-83, most I found on ebay for a couple of bucks each....they are a good source of info and options for each year as well as great pics.

shlobeck

Very nice photos. My '83 has a small decal on the inside of the bed near the driver door which states "assembled in Long Beach." Obviously referring to the bed. Yeah there's some nice rig still out here. Mine has a little surface rust but nothing serious.

81 Toyo

iTrader: (1)

2 of my trucks still have the same decal also.....on a side note I really like that terra cotta color on your 83...looks super nice with the SR5 stripping.

shlobeck

Yep that's the one...thanks for the compliments, medium blue is my second favorite color. Per Toyota reference there are two green colors which were available for79-83 trucks..But I've never seen one..

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

I remember seeing those trucks new and all over town. Now I do good if I see one a month and they are in bad shape at that. Enjoy seeing the pictures.

DieselSurf

Thanks for the pics. So cool to see.

I too am a fan of the terracotta color. We never did get that here. Anyone know where I can pick up say a gas cap lid etc so I will have a reference when I try to recreate the color on my bland white

slacker

iTrader: (1)

color code on the vin tag would be better


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