Rust-Free Northwest Truck: 1994 Toyota Pickup
Having 74,436 miles, this isn’t an extremely low-mile truck, but that’s only about 2,500 miles a year over the last three decades. These Toyota pickups are known to go a couple of hundred thousand miles without much trouble and some go much longer than that. The seller has this 1994 Toyota Pickup listed here on eBay in Portland, Oregon, there is no reserve, and the current bid price is $8,100.
This truck was made in Fremont, California’s NUMMI (New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc.) plant that began making Toyota pickups in 1990. That plant was a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota from 1984 through 2010 and is now a Tesla manufacturing facility. Make mine a Toyota pickup, please. I even like this “Bright Blue” color, but anything would be nice. This truck looks solid and in good shape overall.
The tailgate is one of a few areas that look well-used, but hey, this is a truck, it’s meant to haul things otherwise why not just drive a car? The fifth-generation Toyota Hilux, known as the plain ol’ Toyota Pickup here in North America, was made from 1986 through 1997, although 1995 was reportedly the last year they were sold in the U.S. market due to the introduction of the Tacoma here. The seller has uploaded several dozen photos so you can see every square inch of this truck, including inside the bed.
The interior looks almost like new and that’s the beauty of the Pacific Northwest area, it typically doesn’t cook the interior and doesn’t create a lot of rust from salted roads. The best of both worlds. I don’t see a flaw inside anywhere and the five-speed manual is nice to see here, although the middle seating position might be a little awkward. There are a few underside photos and it appears solid with just some normal surface rust from three decades of being on the planet.
The engine is Toyota’s 22R-E, a 2.4-liter SOHC fuel-injected inline-four with 113 horsepower and 140 lb-ft of torque. It’s said to run and drive “amazing” and the five-speed manual is said to work “perfectly.” It sends power to the rear wheels on this example and I’m wondering how high the bids will go on this truck? Any guesses?
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Comments
Just an ideal little runabout. Cheap to own and operate, and functional. 5sp only makes this nice unit better.
i bought a new one and never had any problems they run forever
I’d like to have another one of these. I bought one from an old guy at a yard I used to work at. He drove it in and was going to scrap it, but “only if it brought $300”. We were paying about $10/hundred lbs for scrap autos at the time, and I believe the truck was going to bring $270. I asked if he had the title with him and he confirmed that he did, so I told him I’d just buy it from him myself for $300. That truck had 280 thousand something miles on it. It had dents in every panel, concrete (that I busted out with a hammer) in the bed, and so many cheap cigar ashes in the cab that when I cleaned it out I found two cupholders that I didn’t know existed and 19 bucks in pocket change. You know that grimy patch that gets on cloth console lids or door panels where you rest your arm? The entire driver side of the seat had that grime/goo on it. Not sure how you do that unless you drive around naked, but I digress. My wife would NOT ride in it until after I cleaned it. I removed the seat, washed inside, washed the seat, etc. Lots of degreaser and Lysol were used. The carpet, oddly enough, was already removed. Probably a good thing. I put the seat back in, replaced every door handle inside and out (they were all broken somehow), made makeshift door panels that looked decent (although not factory), replaced the leaking radiator, replaced a bearing in one of the belt idlers (the old guy assumed that racket was the timing chain dragging, and I honestly wasn’t sure myself until I got the truck home), put tires on it, and stuck a radio in the dash. I changed the oil and coolant and then drove it for about 10k miles and sold it for about $1600. One of my coworkers commented that it was the ugliest truck he’d ever seen, and it was pretty ugly, but the AC worked and it got around 25 mpg’s. I wish I’d have kept it just to teach my kids how to drive a stick.
If that exhaust system has new parts, why is the system on my ’91 Mits still all orig & good with double the mileage?
Back in the 90’s I worked for a company that sold pool and plumbing supplies. They had a Toyota one ton with a flatbed. I reckon that truck had close to a million miles on it by the time they got rid of it and still ran strong.
I’ve always driven Fords but Toyotas are very good vehicles. I think the asking price a bit steep but if he can get it good for him.
God Bless America
Why oh why can’t we get something like this again in a new truck? People all carp about CAFE rules, but I think that is hogwash, I think it is because they can mark up a big four door monstrosity for hefty profit. A small 2 door long bed like this is all I would ever buy again if I were at an age for a new truck.
I want to know why 1 can no longer get an ALL blue or green or red or tan interior even for a million dollars! – when u could get 1 even in a $1995 pinto back in the day!
I honestly don’t think many people would buy them if they offered something like this new. Once you have twice the power, twice the room, and twice the comfort, it’s hard to go back unless maybe it’s for half the price….and it wouldn’t be. A new Tacoma is around $31,500 if you get a two wheel drive, extended cab base model. In 1994 a base model regular cab 2wd was about $10,500. The only real difference between this and a new base model is the little extra cab behind the driver seat, some overall bloat of the vehicle’s body, a couple of turbos, an automatic trans, power windows and door locks, and probably some safety related electronics. That’s a fair amount of extra stuff over what the older truck had, but it’s not like it really cost that much for the manufacturer. My point is, if they made a new truck like this old one, they’d probably ask in the mid to high $20k’s for it. I doubt most of Toyota’s sales come from base model trucks. I see way more “TRD offroad” crew cabs, so I guess that’s what most people want.
The trouble is, I have no idea when you could last buy a Toyota truck off an American lot without a back seat, so we’ll never know how many they would sell. They make trucks a lot like this for other markets, I’m sure, and in 2024 mid 20s isn’t that much. But I’ve accepted that we’ll never get a new truck like this again, and in 40 years of buying cars and trucks, I’ve never bought a new one yet, so as long as there’s one or two like this out there, I won’t give up hope.
This is EXACTLY what I want from a truck. I had two Toyotas of the same spec, 4 cylinder, 5 speed, 2WD, crank windows and no AC. The first was an ’84 that I bought in 1996. It had 176,000 miles on it when I bought it. I drove it for five years, including after my boss almost cut it in half with a V plow. (He fixed it.) The second was a ’93 that I bought in 2001. I don’t remember the mileage, but I did tow a U-Haul from Glens Falls, NY to Red Wing, MN and back with it. I wanted something tough, that got good gas mileage, had a cab that warmed up fast, and had a low bed for my motorcycles. If I were shopping now I wouldn’t hesitate to buy this one at this price. And I disagree about it not being low mileage; as a Toyota, it’s barely broken in. I would replace the timing chain tensioner, though.
Great buy. Won’t die. They still run all over the Phoenix metro area and beyond.
I have never heard of anyone that owned one of these not liking them. As much as many of us would love to see trucks of this era made again; well we can forget about it. By the time they upgrade it to the safety standards of today and stir in all the features that the modern consumer expects you have a Toyota Tacoma 2025 style. This Toy has a ways to go price wise. Sadly rust killed these at a prolific rate. If you take care of it you can’t kill a 22R. Finding one as nice as this ain’t easy anymore. GLWTS.
My neighbor bought a 95 T100, single cab long bed with a 4 cylinder, automatic with AC, New. I purchased it from him at 190,000 miles. In the last 15000 miles it’s only needed tires and a battery. Doesn’t leak anything, AC blows cold, has no problems at all. Clear coat is going away but that’s to be expected in West Texas, The seat looks new and no cracks in the dashboard despite never being garaged. and continues to run great. I wouldn’t mind a new truck, but this thing won’t quit. Will probably out live me. The 95 T100 was the last Toyota pickup to be made entirely in Japan. Guess that says something. Would buy a new one if they still made this simple T100.
These trucks will run longer than you’ll probably live. Better buy it now before a border crosser sniff it out and sop it up like log cabin on a pancake. There’s a reason you don’t see many like this anymore you know.