vehicular obsession

I’ve always scoured the classified ads and love the adrenaline of the chase of a good deal. When I was a kid, it was the trader section in the local newspaper. Then when the internet changed things, it was Craigslist. Now Facebook Marketplace has changed things even more, but at the time period when I found my Tacoma, we were still in the Craigslist era.

It was a Saturday morning in late-winter of 2017 and my Saturday morning ritual involved pulling out my phone and checking Craigslist. Just listed was a 2006 Tacoma with a title that read “great engine, body damage – $700.” OK, I’m interested.

I could see from the photos that it was an access cab five-lug 2wd truck. It had 115k miles and the airbags were intact and the title was clear. The ad had minimal details and no phone number, just the option to email the seller, so I sent a Craigslist anonymized email and included my phone number, assumed it was probably a scam, and went on with my day.

Later that evening, I was at my friend Jason’s house and we were about to put some steaks on the grill when I got a phone call from an unknown number. It was back when people still answered calls from unknown numbers – you know, before the days of robocalls becoming 95% of the calls we get – so I answered. To my surprise, it was the seller of the Tacoma. She told me a few details – that she had moved from Missouri recently, had subpar tires on the truck and had slid off the highway, hitting some guardrails. She said it still ran and drove OK, but might be best for parts. Even more adrenaline-inducing was that she told me I was the first of dozens who had emailed her and she was just going down the list.

So what did we do? We promptly turned off the grill and put the steaks back in the fridge. We were on a mission to get this truck! With a quick stop at the ATM on the way, we were at her house – a 30 min drive away – in 20 minutes.

When we got there, we saw she wasn’t kidding – the body was rough, with the grille, bumper cover and headlights basically nonexistent (some of which were badly damaged and just tossed in the bed). The right rear of the bed was badly smashed. The positive though – it started right up and sounded just like a 2TR-FE tacoma should. We took it for a drive and I could barely keep the vibrating steering wheel in my hands, but I knew, even if it was just for parts, I couldn’t lose on this truck, so I promptly gave her the $700, signed the title and we were on our way.

The drive back was sketchy, but I’ve driven sketchier. After getting it home, I realized right away that the front right wheel was visibly bent, so I put the spare on. Vibration gone! Drove 75mph smooth as butter. OK, so next: should probably do something about the dangling parts and lack of legally required lighting. I ordered some cheap Chinese-manufactured headlights and tail lights, a front right fender and a new bumper cover.

At this point, the truck still had a smashed bed side, but was fully functional and actually quite confidence-inspiring for a truck I had about $1,000 into at this point. I started to drive it as my spare vehicle on a pretty regular basis, even towing a trailer of ATVs on a two-plus hour trip to northern Michigan at one point.

I was already well aware of the Tacoma frame rust issues, but one day, when shooting some flat black rustoleum on the frame, I noticed a decent amount of rust on the inner frame rails around the transmission area, along with some very small pinholes in the frame. I decided to call Toyota and see if my truck was covered under the frame recall. No such luck, but they told me I’d get notified by mail if they did decide to include it. I shrugged it off and thought “no big deal,” the frame rust was still fairly minimal and the truck would be a great spare vehicle, slightly rusty frame or not.

Fast-forward a couple months, a letter came in the mail on Toyota letterhead stating that my truck was included in their “limited service campaign,” in which they would remedy 2005-2010 Tacomas experiencing certain levels of frame rust. I called my local Toyota dealer right away to get an appointment to have an inspection to determine if there was frame “perforation” as defined by Toyota. I knew there was, but of course they needed to verify.

After a quick inspection at the Toyota dealer, they told me my truck did indeed qualify and they’d get the parts ordered. This meant a new frame, upper and lower control arms, rear leaf packs, brake lines, and a slew of other related parts.

They had my truck for a month and gave me a complimentary rental while they disassembled the Tacoma and transplanted its skeletal system with a new one. I was in disbelief that they were putting well north of $10k in parts and labor into a truck that I had $1,000 into.

When I got it back, I figured it was worth putting a little more into the truck to make it nicer. I found a used 4×4 bed in better shape (but still rough) than the one that was on it for $50 and I put new bilstein shocks/struts and a 2.75″ lift on it. I added some inexpensive MST Time Attack bronze wheels and more aggressive tires.

Over the years, the truck has served as a great spare vehicle and has served as my primary vehicle a few times in between cars. I’ve taken it on many long trips and countless trips to the local home improvement stores for home renovation supplies. I have an untold hope that one day my son will drive it as his first vehicle, but that might be a stretch, with him not driving until 2038.

Every time I drive the little Taco, I fall in love again and get the itch to do more to it – who knows. There’s one thing that’s for sure though – it’s got to be the best $700 I’ve ever spent.