Hi everyone. My name's Shaun, I'm English and I live in Portugal. I am now the proud owner of a 1988 Toyota pickup SR5 special. I am very happy and daunted by the work ahead of me! It has 108,000 miles on the clock. I bought it from the original owner who imported it from Canada to Portugal 19 years ago and left it standing next to the Atlantic. As you can see from the pics there's some of it left after the rust has had its way!


​​​​​​Above the SR5 sticker there is/was a sticker saying "Special", however before the owner delivered it he decided to give it a jet wash and all but removed it. Does anyone know this model/edition? I've not heard or seen it anywhere before.


So I'm guessing the red interior makes it "special"? All the carpets and centre console are removed to get a better idea of what the damage is.


Bumper was smashed into by a forklift the morning of delivery! As you can see from this pic I've taped a makeshift side "window". This is because the whole frame has been completely eaten away! It's impossible to find a panel replacement in Portugal (or parts for that matter), however, I'm wondering, does anyone know if the panel from a 90's Hilux would fit or not?


not really sure what's going on here or what to do with it? Any help here would be awesome!

Ok, so...the rust!




These pics do not do justice to how bad the rust is. Everything is rusted out!!

So I'm thinking stripping and sand blasting?

Tell me what you guys think and thank you for your time.

I hope to be a helpful and valued member of this forum, but i think I need a bit of help and advice first! ✌️

 

What is your ultimate goal with this truck? Full on restoration? Cosmetic and mechanical freshen up so you can park it in a residential driveway and not have the neighbors complain? Or just get it reliable and safe with looks ignored?

I have never seen any documentation of a factory made special edition for these trucks. There was the base, DLX, and SR5. It's possible that a special edition was a dealer package or also it could just have been a decal someone bought at Wal-Mart which actually means nothing. Red was an available interior color although one of the less common options. The stripes indicate SR5 trim level. The interior looks to be the normal SR5 stuff, bucket seats, center console and shift surround, fancy gauge cluster with tachometer, cloth door panels with map pocket, probably some other details I forgot.

I see lots of surface rust, and the body is getting eaten up, but I don't see any real frame rot in the pictures you posted. Common rust prone areas of the frame are around where the front of the rear leaf springs mount, especially on the gas tank side. The factory coating on the frame is pretty tough. If you remove it and use some sort of store bought paint in a can, it's not going to be as durable. I'd recommend just spraying the frame with Fluid Film to preserve what's left. If you want to clean up the loose rust before, then go for it.

I do have a couple questions though. What's going on with the fuel pump and filter setup there? Is this truck EFI or carbureted? And what's that rear axle? It's not the factory axle for these trucks. Someone else may be able to ID it. Land Cruiser? It's got extra gussets on the bottom against the center portion, and the backing plates are shaped different. Disk brakes?

 

Welcome to YotaTech!

It is an SR5 with adjustable seats, cruise control, airco(?), complete radio (I would like to buy if it is for sale), sliding back window, and apparently the cargo light in the back of the cabin roof (covered with tape), but manual mirrors, manual windows and not sunroof. I do not see the reason it is a Special Edition.

"So I'm thinking stripping and sand blasting?"

It depends how far you want to go. Toyota Fiberglass in Canada sells almost all body parts your pickup needs. The owner is a forum member, he knows our Toyotas a lot and he is very professional.
http://toyotafiberglass.com/

 

Thanks for the replies! 😁

My plan for now is getting it serviceable, after that yes, a full resto jobby! The special sticker was definitely original. Same font, colour and material used. It's efi and yeah, I have no idea what's been done with the fuel pump. I thought the same with the axle. Here is the only code I can see


145 maybe?
Yes it's got disk brakes

 

Adjustable seats check ✔️
No air con
No cruise control
Cargo light check ✔️
Tape is there as the whole edge has rusted through.

Thanks I'm gonna check them out 👍

 

Odd that the truck came from Canada if its in Miles, not Kilometers. May have been a US truck first?

That looks like a land cruiser rear axle, possibly even with link tabs on the top?

 

Yeah I thought the same. It's says it's in mph but it may have been changed when it was imported to Portugal?

Rear axle is from a land cruiser kzj90. Also has limited slip auto locker in it apparently
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If the model number on the firewall plate ends in “K” it’s a Canadian build. “A” is USA. By build, I mean which country Toyota built the vehicle for.

Special could have been something done by the distributer before it got to the Dealer. Just like SouthEast Toyota or Gulf States Distributers here in the US.

 

From the US then, not Canada. Although apparently it was imported from Canada.... interesting 🤔

There's nothing really "special" or out of the ordinary with truck. All extras can be had with the SR5 package. Although I did read that usually a red interior would go with red paint, blue with blue etc. This is really the only thing I can come up with.

I'll post some more pics tomorrow and I'm gonna delve deeper into the history of her.

Thanks for all your comments everyone 🙏

 

Don’t put too much on the word Special. Typically it was different decals, maybe rims. Could have included a rear bumper or slider window. Nothing deep. Odds are, whatever they did is long gone by now, or at least most of it.

You can run the VIN through the Toyota USA database and get a build sheet. Pretty useful. Some things are coded, like paint and trim. But it’ll give you a order date/production date, as well as the dofu (date of first use).

This will show how it was built by Toyota. It may show what some of the Region/distributers added, but definitely not the what dealer added
Toyota VIN look up.

 

all of Canadian trucks came from Japan , there was no toyota manufacturing plant here in Canada back then .
that has a USA bed on it , so it was imported from the USA by most likely a single individual .
Dealers we NOT aloud to import , but lease compinies we're ... I worked for both , 20 years total .

I am also , the owner of toyotafiberglass.com (28 years) ... and will absolutly be able to help you out , if you so desire

 

I've tried entering my VIN on the owner site a few times and it's never worked, the latest error is 'System Unavailable'

 

By “k build” or “A build” I meant what country (market) Toyota built the vehicle for. Yes, all USA Toyota trucks and 4Runners were built in Japan back then. I think the only USA-built vehicles back then were some Corollas.

 

It seems like a lot of work. How is going now?