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The Honda S2000 Was the Perfect Sports CarThe Immortal Toyota Hilux Pickup
When you want the toughest, most rugged, long-lived, and reliable of pickups there’s just one choice, the Toyota Hilux.
The Toughest of Trucks
The trend in pickups, going back decades, has been that bigger is better. More towing and payload capacity, higher ground clearance, and more passenger room all necessitated your average half-ton trucks getting larger and more ungainly by the year. This is the price of progress (or profitability for carmakers?). And while we obsessed over size, a key attribute of the pickup trucks of yore, their never-say-die dependability, began to erode.
But automotive history held a secret for those savvy enough to see it. A little pickup from Japan proved that you didn’t need to go big to get big results and dependability was a matter of dedicated engineering. Over the years, the Toyota Hilux has been called indefatigable, unflagging, and nigh unkillable. It is the benchmark for reliability. Its durability has become the stuff of legend. Jeremy Clarkson and Top Gear famously put a fourth-gen Hilux through a comically brutal gamut to test the truck’s famed toughness. Despite being soaked in sea water, smashed with a wrecking ball, burnt, having a caravan dropped on it, and even demolishing a building around it, the Hilux still started.
Though it remains popular across the globe for its unquestioned toughness, the Toyota Hilux hasn’t been sold in the US since the early 1990s when the Toyota Pickup, as the Hilux was marketed here, was supplanted by the larger Tacoma. That makes the Hilux a rare, imported bird here in the States. Which is why we were excited to see a 1987 Toyota Hilux listed on Carsforsale.com. This diesel-equipped pickup is doubly rare for its double-cab configuration and doubly cool thanks to its vintage ‘80s decals. If you’re looking for a restoration project or just a little pickup to thrash around the farm, this Hilux needs to be your next truck.
The 4th-Generation Toyota Hilux
The Toyota Hilux debuted in 1968, when Toyota and Hino Motors partnered to replace their respective light pickups with a new, more capable model. The Hilux (or “hi-luxury”) was an ironic name for the rugged little truck. Despite its small size, roughly 2,300 lbs., the mighty Hilux could carry nearly its own weight with a maximum payload of 2,000 lbs. Having seen a full eight generations, the Hilux remains in production for international markets while we in the US, with our bigger is better obsession, still get the larger Tacoma instead.
The fourth generation of Hilux, of which our featured listing is an example, spanned from 1983 through 1988. From the factory, the Hilux was highly configurable, with 20 variations to choose from. The truck could be had with two-wheel or four-wheel drive, as a regular, double, or extended cab (the “Xtracab”), with a long or short bed, and with either gas or diesel engines.
The engine options for the Hilux were extensive. Gas motors included the relatively new Y-Series 2Y-J (1.8L) and 3Y-J (2.0L) inline-four cylinders (for the 1983 model year) as well as the tried-and-true R-Series which dated back to 1953. The 2.4L 22R four-cylinder came in carbureted, fuel-injected, and turbocharged versions, the latter introduced in 1985 with 135 horsepower. Toyota’s L-Series diesels were also available and included 2.2L and 2.4L versions, also with a turbocharged option. For 1988, the fourth-generation Hilux added the 3VZ-E, a 3.0L V6 making 150 horsepower. Transmission options included four- and five-speed manuals and three- and four-speed automatics.
Its fourth generation saw the Hilux adopt several new innovations. The “Xtracab” variant added six inches of additional storage behind the front seats, along with additional windows. It’s this version that catches Marty McFly’s eye in Back to the Future. In 1984, Toyota created an SUV version in response to their rising popularity of that body style, thus spawning the Hilux Surf aka the 4Runner in the US. In 1986, the Hilux traded out its solid front axle, still a favorite among off-road enthusiasts today, for an independent front/torsion bar suspension. The fourth-gen Hilux’s simple design and rock-solid four-cylinder engines made it a legend of durability that remains relevant even today.
This Hilux Needs a Home
It’s not too hard to find sports cars, even old ones, with low mileage as they are frequently garage-kept machines driven only occasionally. The Toyota Hilux sits at the exact opposite end of the spectrum, tasked from day one with tough, arduous work and mile after punishing mile. Their durability means Hiluxes tend to accumulate mileage as few vehicles can. So, when you find a nearly forty-year-old example with less than 200,000 miles, you take notice.
The 1987 Toyota Hilux we tracked down on Carsforsale.com is, in fact, rare three times over, it’s a Hilux in the US, it’s a double cab configuration, and it has a scant 137,323 miles on it. This example comes equipped with the 2.4L diesel four-cylinder making 83 horsepower and 122 lb.-ft. of torque and paired with the five-speed manual transmission. If you’re looking for your next project vehicle or just a little truck with a lot of heart, this legendary Toyota Hilux might be right for you.
