minitrucks

[Nauraushaun]

Is this an Australian thing? I don't just mean small trucks, I mean minitrucks, the sub-culture, the scene. Surely they aren't a thing in America since small trucks are inexplicably illegal and if they weren't people would be too scared about their self-image to buy something smaller than an F150.

I don't know much about them. I have a friend who had a tubbed Hilux for a time, until he slid it into a pole. They tend to be Hiluxes, Navaras or Holden Rodeos, air-bagged to the ground. I think it's common to cut out the inner wheel wells a bit to get it lower, and I think this is what tubbing is. They aren't exactly common here, but they're around and I saw one the other day with the plate DAMLOW.

Debatable whether you'd call these utes. People would, but strictly they aren't since they're not based on a passenger car. A lowered Holden ute is a very different scene.

[TheJWT]

Big in the US too in the 90's. I used to see a couple modded S10s in my neighborhood as a kid

[nth256]

@nauraushaun

ARE

WE

JUST

A

JOKE

TO YOU?

Nah, they were a thing here in the US back in the 90's. Some of us still miss seeing them (I knowI do).

[MM54]

They WERE a thing, have faded from popularity. Personally, I love minitrucks, and building one 20-some years too late is on my short list if I ever have time.

[ranwhenparked]

@nauraushaun Super Chevy magazine used to be full of them when I was a kid, it's a custom scene that seems to have died off, along with Mulholland Look air cooled VWs and air brush painted custom vans.

[Nauraushaun]

@ranwhenparked @MM54 @nth256 @TheJWT oh rad. What did you guys use apart from the S10? AFAIK you never had the Hilux, Navara etc.
Still fairly popular here for various reasons. I imagine no snow helps, 90s pickups need never go away.

Those Mulhulland VWs are...pretty ugly

[RallyWrench]

@nauraushaun Keepin' the dream alive. Want to do stupid stuff with this but it's just such a good daily driver.

[MM54]

@nauraushaun Toyota "truck" t-100s, s10s, rangers, nissan hardbody (which I think is the navara?), older stuff like couriers, LUVs, datsuns, et al. On the work computer so no massive selection of random pictures from the internet

[RallyWrench]

@nth256 As a hardbody driver, I applaud you for this. Minitruckin' ain't dead!

[nth256]

@Nauraushaun @mm54 - Another popular one was the Isuzu P'up / Hombre. Generic and boxy, which made the sides perfect for murals and giant intricate splash graphics.

[WhoIsTheLeader]

@nauraushaun They very much are a thing. Especially hardbody Nissans and Unnamed 90s Toyota Trucks (Hilux elsewhere but we didn't get a name).

One of the photos you used appears to have been taken in the US. Note the LHD.

[Nauraushaun]

@whoistheleader !! good spotting.

[WhoIsTheLeader]

@nauraushaun I still them occasionally but you won't spot many on cars made past 2000. It's mostly Toyota Trucks, Nissan Hardbodies, Chevy S10/Blazers, and the occasional Mitsubishi Mighty Max or Ranger or something.

They're also more popular among the hispanic community here and they're a great way to get pulled over for Driving While Latino.

[ranwhenparked]

@nauraushaun Yeah, that was a regrettable fad, one of those "it looks different from stock, therefore it's automatically better" things, but I suppose it helped increase values of unmodified VWs.

S10s/Sonomas were by far the most popular. You also saw it done with some Rangers and B-Series, but nowhere near as much, and Dakotas were even less common as a base for modification. For whatever reason, the Japanese brands didn't seem to be as popular with that automotive subculture. We had the 5th gen Hilux here as the Toyota Pickup, after which it was replaced by the 1st gen Toyota Tacoma, we also had the D21 Nissan Hardbody and D22 Navara/Frontier