Here's an article on that sweet retro Tacoma Toyota had on display at last year's SEMA show sporting an 80-series SFA --> Toyota's Tacoma Truck Concept: The Truck Toyota Should Bring Back To The Future - PickupTrucks.com News
Retro Tacoma w/ 80 series SFA from SEMA show tested
- Thread starter YOTAFAN
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sigh......if only.
murf
Lifer
I like the 80 series suspension concept on a mini. The rest is all stickers and bolt on stuff that I could do without.
I think I just threw up a little.
The rear multilink setup is one of the strongest points about the 80's suspension. I suppose leaf is cheaper and easier, but why throw that away?
(Yeah yeah, different goals than rock crawling.)
They probably kept the leaf suspension because it was far easier to adapt to the frame. Seems odd that they bothered swapping in the 80 rear axle as well and transmission and transfer case. Wasn't really needed at all as the stock rear axle is probably close to the same width as the 80 front axle anyway.
I doubt they were trying to copy the 80's overall design. To do that, they'd have to start from scratch, including dumping the garbage Dana designed and made C-channel Tacoma frame and put in a real 1 ton frame. Like maybe one from a "real" Toyota like the Hilux.
I wonder how many holes they blew through the frame trying to weld brackets to hold that axle in place and frankly I wouldn't trust that rig off road, if my life actually depended on it. And it sounds like builders agree as they say in the article, they wouldn't trust it for more than just fire roads. If that's the case, then what good is it? I'd rather have the stock IFS Tacoma if it's limited to just flat dirt roads.
Now, I've seen those axles mounted on "real" Toyota mini-trucks like the '95 and older versions and I had an SAS mini-truck myself. It rocked and they worked awesome. I used an '85 front axle on an '89 IFS mini-truck, but I always dreamed of bolting in an 80 front axle for the extra width.
Then I decided to just buy the whole thing instead. And never looked back. Sorry don't mean to be a party pooper. This just hit a cord with me, that goes back to when Toyota seperated their real truck, the Hilux and created the cheap non-Japanese designed version called the Tacoma. I'll get off my high horse now.
I doubt they were trying to copy the 80's overall design. To do that, they'd have to start from scratch, including dumping the garbage Dana designed and made C-channel Tacoma frame and put in a real 1 ton frame. Like maybe one from a "real" Toyota like the Hilux.
I wonder how many holes they blew through the frame trying to weld brackets to hold that axle in place and frankly I wouldn't trust that rig off road, if my life actually depended on it. And it sounds like builders agree as they say in the article, they wouldn't trust it for more than just fire roads. If that's the case, then what good is it? I'd rather have the stock IFS Tacoma if it's limited to just flat dirt roads.
Now, I've seen those axles mounted on "real" Toyota mini-trucks like the '95 and older versions and I had an SAS mini-truck myself. It rocked and they worked awesome. I used an '85 front axle on an '89 IFS mini-truck, but I always dreamed of bolting in an 80 front axle for the extra width.
Then I decided to just buy the whole thing instead. And never looked back. Sorry don't mean to be a party pooper. This just hit a cord with me, that goes back to when Toyota seperated their real truck, the Hilux and created the cheap non-Japanese designed version called the Tacoma. I'll get off my high horse now.
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It's a concept.
[inmydreams="on"]
I'll bet that if Toyota does end up producing a truck like this, they'll bring in a Hilux frame.
[/dream]
22r's and 22re's were 2.4L.
). 
Interior is ugly as (edit). I think its a kind of a cool throw back but...not in my garage. It should have been like the real Back to the Future truck, black on black rims. That would have been way better.
MoJ
Moderator
Huh, always assumed 2.2. Either way, I'd give anything to have my '88 sr5 4wd 22re back. It was big s*** with 31" bfg's.
In '96 I traded it for a Civic. 
Those "20 year old seats" would go quite nicely in my 18 year old oak interior, I like the retro look....I also think it's cool knowing that there's at least a small group at Toyota thinking of some decent stuff. What if Mr. T actually gave real bumpers and other gear as options on new 4Runs and LC's?
laying the ground work for the 70s
