My neighbor is going to sell her 1988 Toyota PU and she bought it in '88 from the factory here in town with the custom cab I think its called. Its really cool and it has a big seat inside with a roll bar. I'm thinking the dealer put this on as an add on probably from some aftermarket cab company. I appreciate any info you can find about it, I'd really like to help her out. Any idea on what a selling price would be? These seem pretty rare. Mileage is legit too.

Details:

Clean title
1988 Toyota PU
5 spd
3.0 EFI
65,000 original miles
runs great
could use some work on the interior from leaky window seals and needs paint.

Thanks for the help

-John

 

Welcome to Yotatech.
Custom Cabs are a unique truck. From what I understand there were 2-3 companies converting them in the 80's. They were not converted by the dealer, but sold through the dealer network.
I test drove one in '86. Very long wheelbase.
As far as pricing, hard to say. It is low mileage, but paint is faded and interior is not bad but not great. Since it is a niche market, it kind of comes down to what you want to pay and can negotiate with the seller. I have seen 2wd versions priced as low as $700, rough 4wd 83's advertised at $2500.

Good luck!

 

I would buy it, there very rare, a local guy who worked at the SIA plant had one and it was red here in Lafayette Indiana and it was the only one I saw in the whole state and I drove local semi truck all over the state, and it finally bit the dust when the frame snapped in two from that evil midwest rust and was scrapped at a local yard and it was a 22R-E and a manual, that one there in your pics is a 3.0, not very peppy as a 3.4 but you could always do a swap. Would be cool to have a 3.4 and a SAS, Would be sweet!!!!Where you located? What's her phone number???? J/K I already have a truck :}LOL

 

Oh yea sorry, Welcome to YT!!!!

 

This is my truck





As far as I know fab-co was the only company chopping these trucks up and piecing them into this monstrosity but there are rumors that there was more then one company making these for the dealership. In anycase they were created to market to those who wanted a doubble cab which existed in other parts of the world but but in the US. In order to get one you had to order it from the dealer then the dealer would send that info to the manufacture in Japan. From there a truck with all of it odd Japanese parts were sent to fab-co or whoever else did these trucks up to make a normal truck into a custom cab. Then they would be sent back to the original dealer it was ordered from to be sold to the customer who custom ordered the thing. This is why it has a right hand drive shifter. The shifter its self seems odd since its meant for the your left hand. In the end from the information I have, there was only 1700 produced by Fab-co

I personally like the right hand shifter. At first it seems to be FAR AWAY. It turns out easier to use over the normal truck shifter once your used to it. All in all, it functions the same and does not make that big of a difference.

The truck your looking at, appears too be in much better condition over mine. I have a completely gutted interior. I have a 22r engine. The truck you are looking at has a 3.0, wich is so much nicer. The truck does have a long wheel base, but its not bad. I have not taken it wheeling, but I have driven a long bed verses the custom cab. My brother claims it's like driving a grey hound bus, Parking lots are not fun. It is 38 inches longer then a standard cab pickup. U-Turns can only be preformed on 3 lane roads.

As far as pricing goes!!!
I payed $3,500 and got mine for a steal. I was searching for a Custom cab specifically and found most of them to range at $4,500 to $5,000 +. The guy who sold it to me, was offered almost twice as much as I payed for it. he did not want to sell it to the guy who offered more money then what he was asking. He wanted the vehicle to go to someone who knew and appreciated what the vehicle was. The day after I purchased the truck I was called by the guy who sold it to me. I was told there was someone else who wanted it and was offering an extra $200 from what I payed. I turned it down especially when I just bought the thing. I was told the guy may even be willing to pay more. I still said no, I wanted the truck I was looking for I found it I bought it and its mine. A week into owning the vehicle I got 2 offers from people with in my own neighborhood, asking if I would sell it. Since then I have had other offers. I work at chevron and I seen a customer with a custom cab. I couldn't help but tell him about mine and this customer offered to buy my truck for $4,000, with out even seeing what it looked like. He offered such a price even after finding out my truck was rear ended recently.

Hope this helps. I hope this gives you an idea of what you were wanting to know.