Reddit Poster Discovers Awesome ’81 Toyota Pickup

An aftermarket cab, big flares, and Chevy smallblock power make this classic Toyota into a real monster truck.

Car and truck enthusiasts of all stripes have one thing in common — we obsessively search Facebook Marketplace and our local Craigslist for cool new projects, regardless of how many we already have.

Even if you’re tapped out on time, money, or motivation for your current machine, you’re still inclined to hunt down fresh projects. It’s a compulsion, and there’s no cure.

Toyota pickup fans are not immune. One poster on the r/ToyotaPickup subreddit, RunawayTrey, posted an awesome find from his local Facebook marketplace. It’s a 1981 Toyota Pickup with a cab conversion!

With its bright blue paint, lifted ride height, and massive tires, it reminds us of a life-sized radio control truck – something like a classic Tamiya Bruiser. We like the overall look, for the most part.

One Redditor, Electrorust, makes a great point. He says, “I love it..up until the rear flares….really?” We agree — the rear flares look like they were chopped off of an old dually Chevy pickup.

While it would be pretty easy to cut those fiberglass flares out from a junkyard truck to use on your build, this is proof positive that you shouldn’t. Even if these flares are actually designed for a Toyota pickup, they look pretty awful, especially compared to the front flares.

According to RunawayTrey, those flares may not be the only Chevrolet parts on this truck. The ad stated that the cab conversion was performed by Custom Cabs East, and this monster of a truck is powered by a Chevrolet 350 smallblock V8 backed up by a 700R4 transmission.

There’s not a ton of information out there about the Custom Cabs East conversions, but we did manage to track down an old Geocities website with some useful information. According to the site, it wasn’t until 1989 that Toyota offered an extended pickup cab in the US.

From 1976 to 1988, Custom Cabs East picked up the slack, and, for a price, they would be happy enough to build you the truck of your dreams. That company may be long gone, but this truck is here now. Unfortunately, RunawayTrey didn’t link to the original sale listing, so we have to dream vicariously through him.

Photos: Reddit; Geocities

Join the YotaTech forums now!

Cameron Vanderhorst

Cam VanDerHorst has been a contributor to Internet Brands' Auto Group sites for over three years, with his byline appearing on Ford Truck Enthusiasts, Corvette Forum, JK Forum, and Harley-Davidson Forums, among others. In that time, he's also contributed to Autoweek, The Drive, and Scale Auto Magazine.

He bought his first car at age 14 -- a 1978 Ford Mustang II -- and since then he’s amassed an impressive and diverse collection of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, including a 1996 Ford Mustang SVT Mystic Cobra (#683) and a classic air-cooled Porsche 911.

In addition to writing about cars and wrenching on them in his spare time, he enjoys playing music (drums and ukulele), building model cars, and tending to his chickens.

You can follow Cam, his cars, his bikes, and his chickens at @camvanderhorst on Instagram.