’85 Toyota SR5 Pickup
REVIVING A BELOVED TRUCK
The Finished Product
When the vehicle was completed, we put 300-500 miles on the vehicle as standard protocol for any major restoration as a basic shakedown check so that if any problems occur, they happen to us at the shop, not halfway across the country. The truck is currently sitting on a 2″ suspension lift with 31″ BFG All-Terrain tires and 15″ US Chrome wheels for a factory look. We liked the US Wheel product because it looked close to the original, and the factory wheels were too much money to have re-chromed. The vehicle shipped in the winter/spring of 2018 and was picked up by Intercity Lines Transportation. When the vehicle arrived in Louisiana, the shop made a surprise visit to thank the family and go over the vehicle with them! The best part about the visit was we were surprised with a traditional crawfish boil. Thanks again for all the work, Jerrell! I personally think the hardest part of this vehicle was letting the truck go after its restoration. Working on this truck was a great experience, and the customers were even better to work with. We also teamed up with vintage motorsports to remake a vintage Toyota sales ad as they would have done back in the 80s with vintage 3 wheelers. It was a hit!
VEHICLE OPTIONS
Last Year Solid Front Axle | First Year 22RE Engine Offered in These Trucks | Stage 2 Performance Engine Built by 22RE Performance |
LCE Performance Header & Exhaust | 5 Speed Manual Transmission | Locking Rear Differential |
Rare Factory Option Automatic Locking Front 4X4 Hubs | 2″ Rancho Suspension Lift Kit | 31″ BFG All-Terrain Tires |
15″ US Steel Chrome Wheels | Smittybilt Rear Bumper | Tuffy Security Console w/ Hidden Stereo |
Reproduction Factory Decal Kit | Factory Blue Paint | Restored Factory Blue Interior |
Upgraded High Visibility Headlights | Factory 4WD Mud Flaps |
Last Year Solid Front Axle
First Year 22RE Engine Offered in These Trucks
Stage 2 Performance Engine Built by 22RE Performance
LCE Performance Header & Exhaust
5 Speed Manual Transmission
Locking Rear Differential
Rare Factory Option Automatic Locking Front 4X4 Hubs
2″ Rancho Suspension Lift Kit
31″ BFG All-Terrain Tires
15″ US Steel Chrome Wheels
Smittybilt Rear Bumper
Tuffy Security Console w/ Hidden Stereo
Reproduction Factory Decal Kit
Factory Blue Paint
Restored Factory Blue Interior
Upgraded High Visibility Headlights
Factory 4WD Mud Flaps
The Backstory
Louisiana
Jerrell and Susan Campbell purchased this 1985 Toyota Pickup new in Texas in the summer of 1985, and it was driven back to their hometown in Louisiana, where it had lived its whole life and became part of the family. Jerrell’s father affectionately named it “Blueboy” when they would take it out on hunting trips. As time went on, the family loved having the truck and would take it on family vacations and annual hunting trips. One of the family’s most memorable moments in the truck was when they accidentally drove it into a ravine while off-roading and had to get pulled out by a John Deere tractor. As the kids grew up, they all learned how to drive it and later received their license in it, driving it to school. But the truck had seen better days from all of its abuse and was left under the tree in the backyard hoping someday it would be brought back to life. The Campbell family did a lot of research and came across our facility in Massachusetts, over 1500 miles away, and decided to make the journey to bring it up to our shop. They rented a U-Haul trailer and brought it up to our shop in the fall of 2016. Everything was full of mud, including the engine, from the kids having fun with it. But It wasn’t dead yet!
Evaluation & Deep Clean
When getting vehicles in from other parts of the country, it’s necessary to do a deep clean to ensure any little critters didn’t make their way up here from down south. Once the deep clean and steam cleaning are done, it is time to evaluate the vehicle. Typically it takes a minimum of 8-16 hours to assess a vehicle for restoration to see if the vehicle is able to be restored (parts assessment, engine and drivetrain health, customers expectations of the build) and write an estimate to present to the customer. Each customer’s set of expectations for a vehicle is different, so this part of the project is very important. Establishing a plan from the start is key to a vehicle’s restoration because they are not cheap! This vehicle came in with over 200k miles on it and is in great shape for its age. After the vehicle is photographed, documented and there is an exact plan of what we will be doing with the project, we can finally start the teardown of the vehicle. All parts are organized in crates, and hardware is labeled and tagged for future assembly and restoration. Losing parts and disorganization can cost in the end.
Body Restoration
Once the vehicle is fully disassembled, we can start our body prep, media/sandblasting procedures, send out the interior to be overhauled, and engine/drivetrain rebuild. We try to order all parts we can think of upfront before the restoration to ensure that we have parts available when needed or can be sourced elsewhere. For this truck, the frame on this vehicle was so nice living in a dry southern climate, so all we had to do was wire wheel, sand, and paint. It was probably the best chassis we have ever seen! The body had its usual dings and dents from being a truck, hunting use, the boys taking it 4 wheeling, and once being hit by a deer. But it was literally RUST FREE! The perfect candidate for restoration. The body was sanded down, bodyworked, and prepped for primer. The next stage will be the painting process.
Engine, Drivetrain, & Axles
For this truck, we sent out our engine to be rebuilt by 22reperformance.com, and it is the second engine we have used from them. We went with a Stage 1 22re engine rebuild. 22re Performance is based out of California and is one of the best companies in the country for these engine rebuilds. Their work is amazing: https://22reperformance.com/stage-1-rebuilt-engine-1. Some other cool features of this truck were an LCE performance header and exhaust.
The axles have been fully serviced with top-of-the-line components. All brakes, wheel bearings, seals, gears, and steering components have been fully serviced. The vehicle came with a 2.5″ lift that was recently installed, so we kept it in the vehicle. Another cool feature of this truck is it has the original auto-locking hubs!
The vehicle came stock with a 5-speed transmission and 4×4 transfer case, which were both fully rebuilt and serviced! To save costs, we went with a set of US Wheel replacement chrome steel wheels instead of restoring the original OEM chrome wheels. The customers saved them for a later date. For tires, we went with a 31″ BF Goodrich All-terrain. Great all-around tire!
Paint Process, Graphics, & Interior
The next step in the restoration of Blueboy was the paint stage. We kept the truck the original color with factory reproduction decals for a period-correct look. The factory paint code for this truck is CODE: 81A. All interior plastics were prepped and restored, and a new dash cap was installed. Very common on these old Toyotas were the dash pads cracking due to heat and too much sunlight. We added a custom upgraded Tuffy Security console with a hidden stereo. One of our favorite parts of this restoration was how clean the bed came out! The interior fabric was restored to an OE spec, blue on blue. Oh, the 80’s were an awesome time!