Sal mate! This 4runner is incredible, what's the story of you getting your hands on it?

Thanks mate! Well, I’ve always had a massive soft spot for this shape from Toyota. My previous rig was a 1985 Single Cab Hilux with the same engine and driveline which I fell in love with. Unfortunately I just had some pretty terrible luck with that ute mechanically, as I think it had a pretty tough life before I got my hands on it. After sinking too much money into that thing it was time to move on. I told myself I'd grow up and get an adults 4wd, something that was comfortable, big, would be easy to set up for touring and would be “powerful”. I had my heart set on a 1HD-FT 80 Series, and I looked at about 5 of them in person, none of which were the right ones for me.

Another night goes by, constantly searching Marketplace for the perfect Landcruiser, when along comes the real rig of my dreams. The moment I saw the ad I knew I was in deep trouble. This thing was too neat to pass up, and I knew if I didn't jump on it ASAP that it would go to someone else (someone not as deserving!!).

The car is in almost original condition. What's the history behind it?

So the car was bought from a deceased estate from the original owner in Tasmania with only 187,000 kms on it. A receipt for a Heavy Rigid truck license in the glovebox confirmed that the original owner was in the trucking game, and only drove the 4Runner on weekends when he wasn’t behind the wheel of a big rig. Hence the low k’s and neat condition. He was in his late 80’s when he passed on, so he would have picked up the car when he was in his 50’s. When people ask how it’s so clean and original for its age, I simply explain that it’s like if my old man bought a brand new 200 series cruiser and said “This will be my last car till the day I die”. And proceed to always garage it, never take it off-road, and never miss a scheduled Toyota service… Which the original service manual says was the case.

The question everyone must ask, what's the deal with the decals? Are they original?

I do get a lot of people asking this question, some even think I’m a bit silly for putting these “flash stickers” on such a neat old car. But yes, they are the original decals that came out on the 1st Gen 4runner. The original owner had peeled them off some time ago and put his own pin stripes on it. But, if you looked hard enough, you could see the outline of where the decals once were. And every time I washed the car and saw the outline, it was screaming at me to get them put back on. I made the call and phoned up BodyMoldSigns in Kingsgrove where I spoke to Andrew. He knew exactly what I was after and was quick to get them printed and put on the car that week! After talking with Andrew, I later found out that he actually used to put all sorts of decals, on brand new Toyota’s back in the 80’s for local dealerships. So I definitely felt in safe hands with Andrew in charge of laying down the vinyl, and I reckon that outline of the original ones helped a bit too ;)

We love your camp setup. From the looks of it, you’ve set it up to only have to minimally modify the 4runner?

Yeah I told myself that any modification that I made had to be reversible. The drawer set-up in the back, which my old man helped knock up in a weekend, is built within a box that can be removed quite easily from the rear of the car. It's also bolted in using only original bolt holes, that way no drilling and tapping onto sheet metal was required. We also built it around keeping the rear seats in, as I still wanted to be able to cart people around in it whenever I needed to. The seats also hide the dual battery and charger set up to keep it all looking clean. And when I’m going away and don't need the rear seats, they simply fold flat and I can use that extra space for whatever I can’t fit in the drawers. It’s a simple yet effective set up which allows me to camp comfortably, without compromising the originality of the car, well, in my opinion anyway.

This 4Runner has pretty much been frozen in 1985, do you have any future plans for it?

At this stage I'm pretty happy with how it sits. I wouldn’t mind possibly fitting a bull bar that offers a bit more protection. I told myself that any mods made to the car would be period correct, so the only choice is to go with ARB. Other than that I’m just going to keep on top of my servicing and make sure that it runs well mechanically. The real dream would be to buy another 4Runner that’s really beat up, that way I can get this thing back to its full original glory, put it on H plates and retire it to the garage as a Sunday driver. And the little child in me that still wants to go rock crawling and bash panels can have a beater to play with, and of course, take the roof off it indefinitely.

Photos by Sunday Garage

Car owner Salvatore Aloisio

1985 Toyota 4Runner