An enthusiast from Nevada restored a 1981 Toyota Pickup 4x4 from the ground up refreshing the bodywork, the cabin and the chassis but not touching the good old 22R inline-four under the hood. Despite having some mileage on and otherwise not being a flashy restomod, it nonetheless found a buyer earlier this week who paid $37,000.
For starters, the whole body of the Japanese import truck was dismantled and thoroughly sand-blasted. The same was done with the chassis and the individual suspension parts, which were then recoated. The exterior ended up with a tasteful four-color livery in red, orange, yellow and white – not something you can get from the factory these days, not anymore.
For the footwear, the owner settled on 15-inch six-spoke wheels shod in 30-inch BFGoodrich all-terrain tires. Rancho shock absorbers made their way into the suspension, and the steering was overhauled with new knuckles and a stabilizer.
Quite a bit of work was done in the cabin as well. The only bench seat wound up with fresh upholstery, the dashboard was updated and a new AC was installed to keep things comfortable. As for the radio on board, the listing said it was still in full working order.
Unlike some posh restomods, this Toyota Pickup stayed true to its original 2.4-liter 22R engine rated at 90 PS (89 hp / 66 kW) in tandem with manual transmission. It may not look like much, especially with nearly 80,000 km (49,000 miles) on the odometer, but this engine has proven itself to be among Toyota’s most reliable powertrains of the era, so whoever bought it must have realized it was a cool old-timer.
