By chance I found some parts for my 81 SR5 project truck which lead me to a junk yard not more than 1 hour from home. I really thought all of the 79-83 Toyotas were gone from Michigan. The price of salvage steel peaked last summer and it’s just too tempting for yard owners to crush anything over a few years old. To my surprise someone lead me to this yard which had 2 SR5 Toyotas still in it; an 82 with less than 57k miles and this 81 which rusted and had been beat beyond any usefulness. Now to my advantage I decided to buy the engine/trans from the 82 for my project(s). But as I looked at the 81 I could only think about what a nice truck it was at one time. A nice white 81 with the silver SR5 stripes. A “factory” pushbar was added to the front. It’s white spoke SR5 wheels are gone leaving the truck to rust into the muddy ground. Inside would have been a tan interior with SR5 bucket seats, a woodgrain dash, tan carpet and back cab cover. This SR5 used to have a tach and an oil and amp gauge in a pod under the radio. The first 22R engines were made in 81 with a 5 speed trans standard in SR5 trucks. This truck would have gotten close to 25 mpg and cost about $10-12k new. Seems a world apart from the way things are now…  This truck is gone forever, but I can still remember – “What a feeling” it was to drive a Toyota.