1989 Toyota ToyoAce G15 1.5 Ton

You’re looking at a truck engineered for a single purpose: to haul in tight city streets. If you’re the type of person that looks at a Hilux and goes “This is nice but MORE utility and function please” then you end up here, with a 1500 kg cabover. This glorious tool of ‘carry things’ is a gasoline-powered, 5 speed manual, AC-having snappily dressed truck that is absolutely unique on USA roads.

Opting for blue (vs the only other available color, white) the single stage paint is without blemishes anywhere on the exterior. Front fascia holds perhaps the largest ‘TOYOTA’ block of letters ever attached to a vehicle, but somehow it doesn’t come across as desperate. Awesome exterior sun visor is installed above the windscreen giving a bit of flash, especially when combined with the chrome decorative wheel covers. The dominating feature is of course the massive bed. Not only do you have a 10.2 ft by 5.4 ft completely flat bed, you also have three independently droppable sides with tons of tiedown points. Headache rack is a massive deal, with wood mounted along the very top to protect especially long cargos you might need to transport. The fuel tank is slung under the right side, battery under the left side, coolant overflow tank is mounted just behind the cab. To facilitate the carrying capacity this ToyoAce is a dually. Bonus chrome rain guards over each door window.

The interior is truly flawless. No fabric to be found, you instead get functional and decently stylish vinyl. You are able to sit three total across on the front seats or you can fold down both the center and passenger seat rares down to give yourself working space for various documents you might need to deal with. Clear and functional gauges (but no tach!) are front and center, with driver-focused HVAC controls, including the AC, mounted just to the left. The 5 speed manual transmission is in the center as expected but with the benefit of being able to fold the gear lever down if you need to slide across the seat. Under your feet you have a large, mono-mat embossed with ‘TOYOTA’, just in case you forget what brand of vehicle you are driving. Glove box is a large capacity one that can swallow an entire stack of papers set flat.

This is an exceptionally uncommon vehicle to pull out of Japan. Any vehicle that makes it through all these years in such great shape is an uncommon thing. Make that vehicle a commercial 1.5 ton truck meant for hard, hard work yet somehow only has 10,000 miles on it, has air conditioning AND make it in fantastic shape? That right there is a miracle. This ToyoAce runs beautifully, turns on a dime and is a joy to load things in and out of. If you like the look and stylings of the typical kei trucks you see, then you can think of this ToyoAce as a ‘super kei’, with zero compromises.