One thing that amazed me about all the trucks I documented, not one had serious body damage. Quite odd, but not very many of the vehicles in the yard had obvious body damage, and if they did show signs of body damage it was catastrophic.
In the 1970s, the Japanese took the truck world by storm, introducing a whole new category of trucks that would eventually be known as "minitrucks". I'm not talking about neon-colored, body-dropped, front clip-swapped Toyotas and Mazdas, nor am I talking about Chevy-engined, Nissan bodied monstrosities sitting on 22s tucked so far in the rims aren't even visible. To a vintage Japanese vehicle nut, the term minitruck refers to the bone-stock 1970s and early 1980s trucks that came from the Land of the Rising Sun.
First up is the Plymouth Arrow, which was introduced in 1979. Built by Mitsubishi, the Arrow line was introduced in 1976. In 1979, the pickup was introduced and sold as the Plymouth Arrow as well as the Dodge D-50 and Mitsubishi Mighty Max. Despite sharing its with the car, the two vehicles (car and truck) shared no parts except for the engine and transmission. Production figures are unknown, but there must not have been many built, because these two parted-out examples are the first ones I've seen.
Before the Ford Ranger-clone B truck, and before the minitruck favorite 1986-1992 B-series, there was this version. Introduced with the Ford Courier, these trucks marked the first Ford and Mazda joint ventures outside of passenger cars. Introduced in 1972, its first restyle came in 1980 when it gained .2 liters of displacement and became the B2000 vs. the previous years B1600 and B1800. A 2.2L diesel was fitted, too, but proved unsuccessful. Too bad they didn't try another rotary pickup. I have fond memories riding in a B-series of this gen, though, so seeing one in here makes me a sad panda. I'd preserve it, and maybe drop in a 13B or a worked over small displacement tunable 4 cylinder, and lower it a tad on some Work wheels and call it good. Oh, and for shits I'd put in beaded seat covers and delete the bumpers.
Like with the Mazdas above, there was an original Toyota pickup. Introduced in Japan way back when, the Toyota trucks didn't come to our shores until 1973. In 1975, the truck was redesigned and lost its Hilux name, which is now famous all around the world but the US. It was redesigned again in 1979, this time aimed at markets with other small trucks, such as the booming US small-truck market. Engine choices were simple, with just a 2.0L four. Really, that's all they needed. These trucks (along with the contemporary Datsuns, Mazdas and the Dodgesubishi twins) were light enough that a four did them fine. Like many earlier Japanese products, rust did them in, everywhere but dry-as-hell climates. Interestingly enough, I did see a fair number of vintage Yotas still trucking around with no rust, and looking almost-brand new. I'd do mine up the same way I described for my Mazda, but with the Toyota, I'd probably go for a bright color with contrasting trim, maybe '80s Corolla pale yellow with black wheels? Powerplant in mine would be a lightly modded 20R with a chrome intake, and maybe a ported head to bore it to 2.1L.
For me, this was a sad sight. As an almost-but-not-quite Nissan fanboi, I was saddened to see this lone early Datsun truck resting in its final place. Like the majority of victims, this truck had very little damage. Almost all the hard-to-find trim was intact, save for the headlights and grille. Sadly, the interior was pretty complete, too. I didn't get a chance to examine it thoroughly because the heat was killing me, but to be honest, this was one of my favorite (and most depressing) sightings. My ideal vintage Datsun or Nissan would be a truck like this, in this color combination, with olive interior and olive 14x7 Work wheels. Mine would be powered by an SR20DE (no turbo necessary), and would have every possible Nismo piece for the SR20 available, and the valve cover would be painted body color. Call me a ricer, but I tend to like vintage Japanese iron done up in period colors with a modern twist.
Onto the SUVs; like the huge selection of Japanese trucks, their SUV section was huge, too. Unfortunately, most of it consisted of 4Runners, Monteros, and a few first generation Honda CR-Vs, most of which had rolled over. Finding anything older than, say, 1988ish was a challenge, but I did it. First up is this relatively clean 1987 Nissan Pathfinder. Based on the Hardbody pickuptruck, the Pathfinder was Nissan's answer to Toyota's wildly successful 4Runner and Isuzu's Trooper. Available in both 2WD and 4WD forms, the two-door looks miles better than the four-door that replaced it in 1990. Sadly, in the midwest, these things developed rust rather quickly, so finding a two-door is rare here. Not so in Idaho. I saw TONS of these things rolling around Boise and the surrounding areas, mostly in stock, unmolested condition. I can't decide if I want a 2WD or 4WD, but I'd most def keep it stock. Even for me, putting a modified hot four in one seems wrong.
The final vehicle in this series is this crazy Toyota Land Cruiser. Introduced in 1967, the FJ50 lasted until 1980. Unlike the newest version, these big ole' brutes were available with a stickshift! Take that, Chevy Suburban! Yeah I know, I love the Suburban, too, but there's something totally awesome about having big ass four-door offroad machine available as a stick. These, too, like their later model cousin, had versions of Toyota's legendary straight six, displacing 3.9L and 4.2L respectively. US production is not known, but I haven't seen too many older than the FJ60 (1980-1990 model), so spotting this was quite awesome for me. I'd leave mine stock, save for roofrack, petrol cans out back, and I'd go wheeling with it.
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