What good is a late 80s Toyota product that doesn’t have its odometer filled up to its eyeballs and a lifetime of memories piled up inside the interior? Doesn’t it sort of defeat the purpose of building a vehicle as dependable and bulletproof as was ever built in history?
Well, if nothing else, this 1988 Toyota 4Runner garage princess is a fitting time capsule back to when Toyota really did live up to its reputation for making the most dependable motor vehicles in the world. Its modern descendant may have been on sale for over a decade now with no signs of sales slowing down. Rest assured, none of it would have been possible without the exploits made during the time this older one was brand new.
Better still, this particular 4Runner is the top-of-the-line SR5 trim, complete with the 150-horsepower three-liter V6 engine upgrade over the standard four-pot with the five-speed manual transmission. These days, people fall head over heels in love with old square-body trucks all the time. Everything from Dodge Ram Chargers to K5 Blazers and Ford Broncos from 30 years ago has a certain charm and appeal made all the more enticing by their modern counterparts.
Comparing this 4Runner to any of those wouldn’t exactly be an apples-to-apples comparison. But while you might get into some maintenance snafus working on an old American truck, that’s less likely to happen in this Toyota. With the original removable hardtop and roll bar still present as the day it left the factory, there’s a certain charm about a classic 4Runner that’s altogether different than American trucks or even other JDM trucks from the same period that’s unique to itself.
That’s why an asking price on eBay of just $20,000 before taxes and fees to bring this truck home to your driveway has to be one of the steals of the decade. So go check it out before the same truck costs twice as much. Don’t think it won’t happen. You’ve been warned.