Confession of a die-hard Land Cruiser guy......I bought a Trekker and I love it. (1 Viewer)

[c2dfj45]

As the title says, I'm a long time Land Cruiser guy....spend most of my time over in the 70 section as I'm obsessed with those trucks. First Toyota was an 86 4Runner way back in the day and that got me into an FJ40.....then it went straight downhill from there. Ha. So many LCs now....but that first 4Runner did something to me. I loved that truck. I've been looking around at early pickups...never owned one. What really appealed to me was the Trekker. Might be that 4Runner connection....and it's an early truck....so it's a great fit. Did my usual ebay search one day and that was that.....found one.

1982 4wd SR5 truck....112k miles. 2 owners(original owner had it for 35 years). Mostly unmodified. Recent paint(not really what I prefer), lift, too tall of a tire on aftermarket wheels(original wheels came with it though), seemed pretty clean in the pics. 4.88 gears. Later IFS front hubs for what I would assume allows better calipers and FJ60 rotors. Old Man Emu lift. Some small issues according to the seller but no big deal. Found a few things online when I did a VIN search but nothing of significance....mostly old pics from an old listing.

Some of the listing pics.....the truck looked like what I remember as a kid growing up in Southern California in the 80s...it brought back all the right memories.

 

[c2dfj45]

Interior was clean....kind of. 80s Winnebago build quality was probably not very high.....but for 37 years, I think it's pretty good. Pretty cool how that "rollbar" made it's way to the 1st gen 4Runner. That was one of my favorite parts of that 86 I had I think. Interesting too that the seat folds flat into the floor on the Trekker....I recall the 86 having a seat that did that same thing....mine was not an SR5 so it had a solid rear seat. I think the nicer trucks got a split seat?

Uncut dash....mostly unmodified. Door panels suck but I can fix those.

Motor is clean and thankfully no mods.

 

[c2dfj45]

This was the truck before the 2nd owner painted it....wish it would have had the original paint when I got it. It's a marginal repaint...could have been blocked a lot better but I would have to think that even out of the box, these trucks did not have very straight fiberglass areas on the bed and topper.

Interesting to note on the stripes....this truck appears to have charcoal, medium grey, silver in these pics. I thought I read where Trekkers had copper, gold, silver.....different from standard Toyota stripes. Sure looks like the stripes had been on this truck a long time.

Story goes that an angry girlfriend expressed exactly how she felt about something.....obviously not good.

Perforated material on seats.....OEM. They were not recovered in the same material. Kind of bugs me a little.

 

[c2dfj45]

Loaded up in CA

I thought this was pretty cool.....seller sent me this pic he saw on Marlin Crawler's FB page..

7 long days later....it was delivered to FL with a torn right front mud flap and a rear cargo area full of water. Neat. I usually never ship open carrier but CA to FL is a pricey trip. Either the rear tailgate never got latched correctly or one of the OEM wheel/tire shoved it open...the driver said it was inches from falling out. Great. He said he had no idea what happened to the mudflap. Anyone have a 1982 4wd right front mudflap they can part with? Hard to believe that flap lasted this long only to be torn in half.

 

[c2dfj45]

First impressions. I've bought a lot of trucks.....sometimes I'm happily surprised....sometimes I'm not happily surprised. The Trekker was probably closer to happily surprised I think. A few things are a problem for me(I'm horribly picky) but for the most part...it's a really good truck. The biggest issue(and what caused that mud flap to tear) was the tires were far too big for the truck. The seller noted this and I knew I was going to have to do something. The 35s sure do look cool on it.

This truck is so small compared to the LCs that we have around the shop. Even on it's big bad 35s I don't think it's as big as my daily FJ60 on 33s. I've been bitten hard by my 60 and have had a hard time driving anything else but it. The Trekker may help take me out of the 60's driver's seat. For a little bit at least. No AC in the Trekker. No AC in FL is not a good thing.

 

[gnob]

Very cool.

 

[ferg]

Not without the A/C!

 

[c2dfj45]

Not without the A/C!

Exactly! Need to get that AC going.....collecting parts now...not so easy to find.

 

[steffan]

that thing is great! i've had a couple cruisers as well before i got my pickup and same story, i'm hooked - it's like driving a little sports car around except it has all the practicality of a truck

 

[c2dfj45]

that thing is great! i've had a couple cruisers as well before i got my pickup and same story, i'm hooked - it's like driving a little sports car around except it has all the practicality of a truck

It's a different experience from a Cruiser for sure. It's like a little toy. I can't help but think how cool it must have been to own one of these when they were brand new. The Cruisers are always a throwback(I have some real old stuff) but this thing FEELS like I'm in 1982. Not sure what the deal is but I dig it.

 

[Manhattan]

That might be the coolest vintage Toyota truck - period. I had no idea Toyota and Winnebago partnered on a truck.

My '84, that I'm restoring didn't come with AC. I mentioned to the guys at ACC Garage that I might start sourcing the parts - since it was a factory option. Brian (ACC's owner) said "Nah, go with Vintage Air. Easier, and so much better - it can turn the cab into a meat locker." So, if you're doing a purist restoration - it might be worth looking at both routes.

I can't wait to see that Trekker on the vintage wheels. Keep posting!

 

[c2dfj45]

That might be the coolest vintage Toyota truck - period. I had no idea Toyota and Winnebago partnered on a truck.

My '84, that I'm restoring didn't come with AC. I mentioned to the guys at ACC Garage that I might start sourcing the parts - since it was a factory option. Brian (ACC's owner) said "Nah, go with Vintage Air. Easier, and so much better - it can turn the cab into a meat locker." So, if you're doing a purist restoration - it might be worth looking at both routes.

I can't wait to see that Trekker on the vintage wheels. Keep posting!

We do AC conversions in our LC trucks with Nostalgia air units as well as Old Air products. Nice stuff for sure. I was hoping to go with something a little more OEM. Performance wise it would be way better to go with the aftermarket An under dash unit like what FJ40s had would probably be pretty good and look cool. We'll see. Not too worried about AC right now....at least for the next 7 months. Maybe next May I'll revisit it.

Interesting story about how these trucks came about. Toyota commissioned 3 different companies to create a small SUV out of them. There was the Trekker, the Trailblazer and the Wolverine.

Here's the Winnebago sticker that is under the dash....pretty neat.

 

[c2dfj45]

And here she is on stock wheels with 33s. SO much better.

 

[pappy]

And here she is on stock wheels with 33s. SO much better.

View attachment 2085201

Good gawd I'm in love. That truck is giving me a woody. Glad to see it's been rescued and in a good home.

 

[Manhattan]

Moderators, can we close/lock this thread. I find the images inappropriate - as they're making me like my '84 Pickup and '06 Land Cruiser a lot less.

Seriously @c2dfj45 that is absolutely one of the coolest trucks Toyota ever made. The 33s and correct wheels look awesome!

 

[c2dfj45]

Good gawd I'm in love. That truck is giving me a woody. Glad to see it's been rescued and in a good home.

Ha. Yeah....its a cool little truck. It's great that it wasn't too heavily modded....part of the reason I bought it. I want to refinish it just enough that it looks original without being over the top. Right now I'm just kind of going thru things, getting familiar with it and thinking about where I will go with it. The biggest thing will be the carpets and the upholstery in the rear....it needs to be redone but I don't want it to look redone....so there will be some time in finding the right materials.

 

[pappy]

Moderators, can we close/lock this thread. I find the images inappropriate - as they're making me like my '84 Pickup and '06 Land Cruiser a lot less.

Please use the "report" button where I can officially ignore you.

 

[pappy]

The biggest thing will be the carpets and the upholstery in the rear....it needs to be redone but I don't want it to look redone....so there will be some time in finding the right materials.

Without looking … I believe Rockauto.com has carpet kits for early trucks. Factory looking stuff.

 

[c2dfj45]

Moderators, can we close/lock this thread. I find the images inappropriate - as they're making me like my '84 Pickup and '06 Land Cruiser a lot less.

Seriously @c2dfj45 that is absolutely one of the coolest trucks Toyota ever made. The 33s and correct wheels look awesome!

I agree with you one of the coolest trucks made. I can't get enough of it. All the Cruisers are jealous of it I think. New kid. Ha.

 

[c2dfj45]

The rear bumper was bugging me as was the hitch so I yanked all of it off. It was kind of a joke(brackets from the frame to the bumper were horrible). The bumper looks to be off of a 95 Taco or something. Not sure. It was crooked too. It also covered up the really cool rear roll pan with license plate bump out. A seriously 80's design.

SO much better without the bumper but I can't roll around like this. Thinking I will do a cut down 1st gen 4runner bumper(no step). I've seen it on another truck and it's perfect. I was hoping to find a tube bumper but not much out there.

Rear bumper as delivered.

Way cooler without a bumper