It was late 2021 and the time had come to deal with matters that had been put off long enough. The mission? To move out a bunch of personal stuff that had remained in my dad’s home since his passing in 2018. A task that had been deferred time and time again, delayed by legal matters, a busy schedule, and well… that once-in-a-lifetime 2020 pandemic.
Clearly, the move was more than I could handle on my ’96 Golf, much less on my ’68 Beetle. Enter a 1980 (or so) Toyota HiLux to the rescue. Or just Toyota Truck, as it was known in North America.
The inevitable move had come in the only way plans tend to occur in Central America; in a rush. Not that I should blame the scramble on the impromptu spirit of the locals. Much had to do with my doing.
To begin with, legal matters had been my sole worry after my dad’s passing, with little thought of what would be done with the house. So while everything was sorted out, his widow and I agreed to rent the dwelling’s second floor, while I could store my belongings for “some time” on the first floor.
Did I have any other worries that eventful 2018?
Oh yes, rescue my Beetle! Stupidly, the car had been sitting at my Dad’s house since late 2015 (a story for another day). So, once legal work started to move forward after much red tape, I gathered the will to finally deal with the car.
With a mechanic’s help, the little Bug started. Understandably, it sputtered a bit and was in need of minor mechanical work and new tires (that proved almost impossible to find in the size I desired). But for all purposes, the car was back on the roads.
The following events go like this: Legal paperwork settled in early 2020. Pandemic hits. Strict lockdowns follow. Get back to life –sort of– in early 2021. Remind yourself you gotta move your crap out of your dad’s garage. Get a call in late 2021 from your dad’s widow “Can I also rent the first floor?” “Yes” is your answer. Get a call the very next day from your dad’s widow: “The new tenants are moving in tomorrow, can you take your stuff out?”
Nope, I won’t whine this time. I did that to myself. Good thing transport services for moving and the like are the most common of things in this nation. Light trucks often line up by plazas and markets, offering their assistance to whoever is in need of hauling stuff. All for rather reasonable prices.
Either that or some acquaintance knows of such a fellow. Such was my case, with the guy being a referral of the new tenants. One call and the HiLux arrived at the agreed hour. It was time to move out my stuff. At last.
With the whole matter being rather hectic, my idea had been to take my ’96 Golf to play a supporting role during the move. After 3 years away from that house, I couldn’t quite picture how large my whole cargo would be. And while the HiLux was probably enough for the job, a bit of support from my useful hatchback was not a bad idea.
Except, the Golf seems to have sensed that heavy work was coming and got a thermostat flu that morning. Instead, the Beetle took on the job.
Which was just as fine. I had done quite a bit of moving on my Beetle back in the day, and I knew the car would be up to the task. Besides, in the end there really wasn’t much to carry that didn’t fit in the HiLux, though some of the more personal stuff did end up in the Bug’s rear cargo area.
Cargo loaded, it was time to head to its new destination, the home where the Beetle is currently stored. A 45 min. drive across San Salvador’s streets at rush hour. Of course, the HiLux did the job commendably.
Regarding our HiLux, it’s a generation that hasn’t appeared much at CC lately, and this is probably the earliest one that’s been featured. It’s either a ’79 or ’80 model, the last years these were available at Salvadorian dealers before a Civil War era embargo ceased imports altogether for a few years.
As I can personally attest, that embargo was a pain back at the time. However, it’s the main reason for the many 1970s Japanese cars still roaming San Salvador’s streets.
In the case of pickups and light trucks, those are the ones with the largest survival rates. Finding a vintage Japanese pickup is the easiest of jobs around this town.
One can see why owners hold on to them; there’s little like them nowadays. They’ve proven mechanicals that any shop around here can easily handle. Add to that ease of use, decent hauling capability, plus economy, and one can see why they’ve such a following.
And if the HiLuxes I’ve featured so far are having too easy of a time for your liking, here’s one doing heavier-duty stuff. Trust me, these little trucks do earn their daily keep around here.
Here’s a question I didn’t ask that day; what mill lies behind this HiLux’s grille?
Being Toyota, choices were a gamut. They ranged from 1.6 to 1.8, to 2.0, 2.2 and 2.4 liters. A 2.2 Diesel was also available, but that doesn’t seem to be this HiLux’s engine.
And yes, our other Toyota Truck entries cover the specs and history of this generation that ran from ’78 to ’83. So check those if you wish more info on these models (links below).
For a change, I got a chance to shoot this one’s interior. It’s probably my favorite interior photo of the ones I have taken, mostly because it’s got the feel of a working office. Which it basically is.
And for all effects and purposes, looks like a rather decent car-like place to be. Also, if you wonder what that odd-yet-colorful item by the steering wheel is, those are old-style lumbar supports locally made.
I’ll have to admit that after all the delays and procrastination, the move was rather painless and swift. A whole three hours or so, for a task I had hesitated years to do.
Then again, I got plenty of unexpected help at the last minute to perform the task, with the old Toyota truck playing a central role. In my opinion, a very successful HiLux Day overall.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1982 Toyota Truck – When Compact Pickups Roamed The Land
Curbside Classic: 1982 Toyota Diesel Pickup
Curbside Classic: 1986 Toyota Turbo Pickup – Get Tough, Get Turbo
Curbside Classic/COAL: 1994 Toyota Pickup – Last Of The Hiluxes, At Least For The U.S.
I love these stories from El Salvador. It looks like a fascinating place to live, or visit… well except for some of the scary stuff.
I bought a ’73 Hi-Lux in mustard yellow new from Schaeffer & Strominger in Dundalk (Baltimore) and it was a great little hauler, tho’ it rode like a buck board and was a tight fit for a 6′ 220 pounder. Reliable as a stone. Traded for a ’72 F-100 a few years later.
Love that ’68 Beetle and the ‘breeze blocks” in the background!
So grateful this painful task is behind you.
I remember having to go through my dad’s things in early 1993. He had passed New Year Eve day so that holiday doesn’t get celebrated by me.
Anyways, my mom was alone in her rented condo that had been the perfect home for them. However, 12 months later, I’d be loading the largest U-Haul to move her in with my sister in Charlotte, which was where she would love her remaining days.
I was thankful that mom’s items were sorted and given to the appropriate family before she passed.
So sorry for the loss of your dad
Such tough trucks. Aside from rust, the only other issue I remember these having (or maybe it was the following generation) was timing chain and guide issues. It’s as though they were designed to be overloaded and beaten like a rented mule.
Thats exactly how Toyota designed them, they knew it would be a workhorse so they made it tough.
On a somewhat related note, I’m visiting my younger brother in Seattle and it turns out he ended up with my mom’s collection of print photos (my other brother threw out my dad’s huge collection of slides). She started taking pictures when my dad suddenly stopped doing so in about 1965 or so. I had never seen most of these photos, except for a few copies my mom sent me ages ago. And they included photos of family cars that I had not had any of back when I wrote the cars up. This includes a shot of the ’65 Opel Kadett, the ’68 Dart that replaced it, and the red Fox Zephyr that replaced that. And a number of shots with the ’65 Coronet wagon, including me behind the wheel pretending to drive it, not long before I actually started driving it illicitly.
So now I can update those old Auto-Biography posts with pictures of the actual cars.
I can assure you there’s still a pretty decent number of these Toyota pickups still around in Eugene. i just stopped shooting them.
Looking forward to seeing those photos, Paul.
Ugh…that one would throw out their parent’s “huge collection of slides”. I have become the holder of such things from my family. And while many (many) of my dad’s repository of slides include completely inscrutable photos of guys in suits doing things like standing around on oil rigs (he was a Federal manager for coastal management during his Kodachrome/Ektachrome-shooting years) or at airports (he also worked in transportation planning), I am glad that I have the opportunity to sort through these things vs. their just being consigned to the trash. I imagine that most of my day to day photos aren’t much more interesting than my dad’s were/are.
These Toyotas were tough little critters, but they were cramped and very basic. As mentioned above, they needed an occasional timing chain (not hard) and tended to rust quickly but they were a common sight here in BC for a long time.
I once drove one from Vancouver to Fort St John (750 miles or so mostly on curvy, hilly 2 lane). Probably a 15 hour marathon. It was cheap to run and never faltered, but I was stiff and sore for a few days. The friend who owned it used it for many years on his farm, often for tasks that most people seem to think requires a 3/4 ton diesel truck today.
They were a great work tool, but driving one for any length of time was work too!
I enjoyed the story, final cleanout of a former family residence is no picnic…
There Toyota light duty (ha !) trucks are still going strong all over the South West where they rust *very* slowly .
IIRC the cam chain and valve guide issues were all caused my lazy/cheapskate owners who failed to do regular _HOT_ oil & filter changes, oil being the cheapest Mechanic you’ll ever have .
That house brings back so many memories on living in Centro America in the 1970’s .
It’d look nice were you to wet blast it then repaint .
Glad you got everything moved and sorted out, VW do Mexico still has those 155R15 tires made by….Goodyear (maybe Goodrich), they’re dirt cheap, grip well and wear like iron .
The interior of this HiLux looks different from all I see here in America .
The driver’s seat cushion is more to circulate air behind your sweaty back than lumbar support .
Paul, maybe time to write a whole new article with the pictures .
-Nate
Glad the Hilux came to your rescue. I certainly identify with your procrastination issues – I’ve got plenty of my own just like that.
Heavily-loaded Toyota pickups are seen around here mostly as scrap haulers. Quite a few people drive residential streets on trash day looking for metal and other recyclable scrap, load them into their pickups, and then take it to the scrap dealer. Older Toyotas seem to be the vehicle of choice for this task, and I can see why.
I may be wrong, but the wheels on the white Hilux look identical to the basic 14″ steel rims from the Ford Ranger AND Aerostar during the 80s, minus the center caps (see below). I believe the Aerostar used them on lesser models all the way through the 90s, albeit painted black and covered up with hubcaps. The 5 x 4.5″ bolt pattern was undoubtedly very common back then, and many utility trailers still use it today; it was fairly common throughout the Jeep range too.
I’m VERY thankful to still have my 2011 Ranger–ALL the newer pickups are too big (and expensive) unless you get a Maverick or Santa Cruz. My truck recently hit 190k miles and is still going strong!
Late model Toyota Camry, Avalon, RAV4, Highlander and Sienna (plus their Lexus counterparts) all have 5×4.5
So do late model Honda Accord, Civic (except Type R) and CR-V (plus their Acura counterparts)
And so does Ferrari Roma.
The N30/N40 Toyota trucks have always been my favorite. Tough, simple, and attractive. This was the first generation offered with 4WD in the US, and we even saw a few diesel versions as well. Only real issue was rust, and these trucks unfortunately would corrode in peculiar places that were difficult to fix like the inner front fenders and A pillars.
Those Hiluxes were everywhere at one point in time when I was in OZ, I come back to NZ and they are still everywhere but not those early 80s ones they mostly got worked to death the only good early ones now are late 80s usually with the pump turned up rolling coal, or a Lexus V8 installed, the Hilux is only outsold by the Ranger these days and both have morphed into something other than this simple reliable little ute.
My friend’s wife bought a ’79 new. I rode in it a couple of times, he told me it didn’t get very good mileage, something like 13 mpg.
In the late 90’s they moved from my area, and in lieu of renting a car, he was driving the truck…he was thinking of just leaving it by the roadside (with the keys inside) for someone else, as they had no need for it (they were moving into the city from the country, other things changed from their old to new situation). Of course that’s risky, the vehicle is still in your name, but I guess you could have someone drive you to the dept of motor vehicles and sign the title over to them, so you wouldn’t be liable for activities done with the car once it left your possession.