Toyota UK is featuring a series of Toyota Stories, tales of classic old Aichi steel that have served their owners for decades in areas so remote that the rural dialects of English they speak might as well be Japanese.
First up is Bob Bacon’s 1984 Hilux, a 257,000-mile workhorse that looked so unusual to the Cumbrians that they shouted “Fall Guy” when they first laid eyes on it. Amazingly, it is only the second most famous indestructible red Hilux in the British Isles.
Next is Graeme Calvin’s 1977 Corolla Deluxe, a blue beauty with mudflaps the size of Aladdin’s carpet. With a 1.2 engine and a 4-speed, it is so original that even the windshield wipers have “Toyota stamped on the rubber.”
It would be lovely to see Toyota USA produce ads like this. We hope these are just the first of many.
The Fall Guy! Boy that takes me back. Lee Majors as a Hollywood stuntman who drove around in a jacked-up Chevy pick-up, not unlike many of his magenta naped brethren drive today in the nether regions of the rural south. Come to think of it, their dialect is also closer to Japanese! Truly bizarro world; a place where rednecks drive JNC’s!
Wow cool videos…love visiting the lake district (just up the road from me!), Japanese pickups are almost as popular as Landrovers there!
“It would be lovely to see Toyota USA produce ads like this.”
Well, Toyota (USA) did have those “Style Never Goes out of Style” Corolla commercials. It was too bad the Celica line had already been killed by the time they ran those commercials for Corollas…
First off, Bob looks frickin’ GREAT for 83.
Beyond that, these are the vehicles I’ve come to want. SIMPLE. No power this, or computerized that, that makes it not worth repairing after a while.
Apparently, even the wiper blades were better quality back then.
It’s cool to be the guy with the 30 (or more!)-year-old vehicle in great shape.