Theme Tuesdays: Old School Minitrucks

Jul 5, 2011

After googling Truxarossa for last weeks WTF Friday I came across an old school mini truck thread on streetsource.com and was hooked instantly.

I was no where near driving age when a lot of these trucks were out killing the streets and gracing covers but I do have hazy memories of similar style trucks still being around the time when I began to start noticing automobiles a lot more.

While perhaps ‘ugly’ by today’s standards these trucks represent what was cool then and as much as we may want to deny it a lot of the things we currently like now are probably going to look just as dated in a couple years.

I have no doubt in my mind that for some of you this post will be an awesome trip down memory lane and honestly it was one of the more fun ones I have done lately because reading through the street source thread was quite frankly awesome.

Nothing like a bunch of long time mini truck fans feeding of each others memories and trying to one up each other (in a fun way) on who could post the older photo.

old_school_mini_1 — This cover is as best a place as any to get things started

old_school_mini_7 — People who have the guts to cut their roof of get my respect

old_school_mini_13 — Classic truck poke... some people call it mexi

old_school_mini_12 — This mural is a bit of a time capsule in itself

old_school_mini_6 — Not sure what sparked the tandem thing but looks like it was popular for awhile

old_school_mini_8 — If this tracker could still reach highway speeds I am impressed

old_school_mini_18 — I guess this is one thing to do with your tandem when it stops running

old_school_mini_5 — That tracker is actually one of the lowest ones I have ever seen

old_school_mini_9 — Chopped top and Izuzu front end looks like? Maybe it was actually an Izuzu

old_school_mini_11 — This truck really isn't too far off some of the trucks I have seen in recent years

old_school_mini_4 — I would drive this today.

old_school_mini_15 — I wonder do bed dancers still exist in some parts of the world?

old_school_mini_16 — If you know of one of these in the Toronto area let me know, I want to see it.

old_school_mini_14 — Many cover cars and trucks just vanish after a few years

old_school_mini_17 — But this was spotted still running in 2007

old_school_mini_2 — This truck was a little later down the road and I remember it from a mag I have

old_school_mini_3 — What I don't remember is it getting put on a 4x4 chassis

Salute to the OGS, the original thread is here.

Photo credit: Various die hard minitruck fans from the Street Source forums.

15 COMMENTS

chris Jul 5, 2011 At 2:34 pm

this makes me want to find my boxes of old minitruckin mags and thumb through them!! props to u for this feature!! …

Fastphil (Philip Law) Jul 5, 2011 At 3:18 pm

I used to check out all the pics on sportruck.com and I had every issue of StreetTrucks from the time it came out. Sport Trucks too.

Denis Jul 5, 2011 At 5:00 pm

Easy to see its the early 90’s. Still plenty of influence from the 80’s! lol

KFoot Jul 5, 2011 At 5:36 pm

Yea, that one is a old Izuzu Hombre.

scott s Jul 5, 2011 At 8:07 pm

Time for a comeback its been twenty years. I would drive any of them.

LATraffic Jul 5, 2011 At 10:35 pm

Still see them on the streets here in Los Angeles.

go kart tyre fitment oliver Jul 6, 2011 At 1:43 am

ive never seen bed dancers b4 thats fkin INSANE thanks for the education is it me or were there more imports back then than now??
dave@ the ford 5 down is the same modle that nearly killed me but it was a step side!

- DaveT Jul 6, 2011 At 8:03 am
  
  Import trucks or imports in general? Ya Ollie bed dancers are pretty crazy in general. The engineering behind them is nuts.
  
  Glad you guys dug this, potential part 2?
  
go kart tyre fitment oliver Jul 6, 2011 At 3:09 pm

import trucks things seam to be more domestic based now a days from what ive seen

Fastphil (Philip Law) Jul 7, 2011 At 7:31 am

Make part 2 more mid-to-late-90s style, that’s when I got into it. 4/6 drops were the norm, 5/8 was radical. Before body drops and top chops, before air and hydraulics.

Nate Barton Nov 20, 2013 At 12:59 pm

love the old school style!! i’m a 90’s baby so i love looking at how poeple did things back then. i have a ’90 toyota pickup myself and want to do it 90’s style when i get to do it how i want it. just really low(lower than now, and static) with a flush camper shell and a set of bangin ass billet wheels.

- DaveT Nov 20, 2013 At 5:32 pm
  
  Glad you liked the post Nate.
  
  MY blazer was only 5/8 when I had it but the goal was to put bags in so I didn’t want to toss too much at it.
  
Nate Barton Nov 20, 2013 At 1:02 pm

5/8?? that’s it? i’m 9/10 and my toyota is daily driven!

Joe Aug 13, 2018 At 8:56 pm

If anyone is still reading this….. Currently building one again. Had one started building at 15, cruised until about 21. I just turned 40!! Gonna try to bring it back in my area! Got my 14 year old on board and a bunch of his friends. We’ll see what happens!!!!

- DaveT Aug 15, 2018 At 12:49 am
  
  Still reading things Joe!