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If youโre a fan of classic four wheelers, Gregโs Restorations in Rutland, Massachusetts needs to be on your radar. For the past ten years the shop has applied their formidable skills to frame-off restorations and custom projects on everything from vintage muscle cars to late model hot rods, but what really sets this outfit apart is the work they do on Toyotaโs old school off-road machines.
โI basically started the company when I was 15,โ says founder Greg Ward. โI got my first truck โ a 1974 Toyota Land Cruiser โ and I restored it in my back yard. Later I moved everything into my grandparentโs garage. It was a business that I created from virtually nothing, but now we have ten technicians at our Rutland facility, which weโve been in since 2011.โ
Ward says that while they typically build to whatever the customer has in mind (and what budgets will allow for), there was one particular project back in 2013 that really put the shop on the map with a particular set of enthusiasts.
Although the truck is an 80s throwback aesthetically, itโs more of a restomod underneath. Sporting upgraded brakes, modern suspension components, and a supercharged 22R motor thatโs managed with a Sniper EFI system, this truck offers the kind of capability that Toyota could only dream of back in 1982.
โOur claim to fame is that we restored the Toyota pickup used in Back to the Future. Itโs owned by a local customer who has a collection of Back to the Future memorabilia, and when the truck came in, it was clear that someone along the way hadnโt been concerned about retaining the original look. It was bright orange with a blue interior, lifted, and someone had changed a lot of the other stuff on it. But the stuff that really matters was still there.โ
In anticipation of the movieโs 30th anniversary, the shop was tasked with returning the โ85 Toyota Extra-Cab SR5 Pickup to its original movie spec, replete with KC fog lights, Smittybilt double tube bumpers and roll bar, Toyota windshield decal โ hell, it even had Martyโs sleeping bags in the bed for that camping trip that he was going to take. โItโs also just happens to be a โHoly Grailโ kind of spec,โ Ward notes. โ1985 was the first year for fuel injection in the Toyota Pickup and the last year for the solid front axle, so that combination was a one-year deal.โ
The frame-off restoration took 11 months from start to finish (a project which Ward documented on the shopโs YouTube channel), and the attention to detail that was showcased along the way earned Gregโs Restorations a reputation among vintage Toyota truck fanatics. And that, in turn, led to this 1982 Toyota Pickup restoration, which the team took on back in 2019.
With nearly 300,000 miles on the odometer when it rolled into the shop, the โ82 was in need of just about everything.
โThis customer reached out to me to have the truck built for his sons,โ Ward tells us. โThe truck was found online in California, and it was pretty rust free aside from some surface corrosion, but it had 296,000 miles on it. So while it still ran and drove, it basically needed everything.โ
The Toyota had lived the hard life of a proper work truck, doing chores on a ranch for years on end, and this project gave it an entirely new lease on life. โThis customer wanted it to be built like the Toyota pickup he had in high school. He wanted his sons to have the same experience: to have their first car to be an โ82 Toyota Pickup. But he also wanted a few extra touches that we were able to help out with.โ
Those touches include a custom red paint hue thatโs brighter than the original factory shade, along with a color-matched bed liner and an array of upgrades both aesthetic and mechanical. In terms of the former, the Toyota is rocking a Go Rhino roll bar in the bed thatโs outfitted with some classic KC Daylighters, along with front and rear Smittybilt bumpers and a retro graphics package. 16-inch US Wheels and 33-inch BFG All-Terrain tires help complete the look.
Outfitted with forged internals, Sniper EFI, and a Camden supercharger, the 22R now puts 150 horsepower to the wheels, which is roughly double the stock output.
On the mechanical side, the truck scored a 2.5-inch suspension lift from Old Man Emu, four wheel disc brakes, and a custom ceramic-coated exhaust system with a header from LCE Performance thatโs hooked to a 2.4-liter 22R engine with forged internals. Outfitted with a Camden supercharger and a Sniper EFI 2300 2BBL system, the four cylinder power plant puts down 150 horsepower at the wheels โ roughly double the original output, and more than enough for a five-speed manual Toyota Pickup thatโs still rolling on a leaf spring suspension setup.
Ward says that getting the Camden blower to work with the rest of the setup was a bit of an endeavor of its own, though. โWe purchased it from a performance supplier as a kit, and I think we were kind of their guinea pigs. We needed to delete the AC to make everything fit, and it wasnโt really a bolt-on solution because we needed to get an aftermarket distributor in order to get it to run right. It didnโt even fit under the hood โ we actually had to modify the inside of the hood so that the air cleaner they had supplied would fit. The folks at Holley Performance wanted to help us out, too, but it was sort of complicated because weโd purchased all these components as a kit from someone else.โ
But after some initial teething issues, the blown setup proved to be worth the effort. โItโs running great now โ itโs actually pretty fast, itโs a lot of power for a truck this size,โ says Ward. โWith a tall stance and a short wheelbase, itโs plenty. And when you get on it, the noises that the supercharger makes are just crazy. It sounds like nothing else.โ
Aside from a small boost gauge and the Sniper EFI digital display, the Toyotaโs interior looks like itโs straight off the showroom floor.
Completed earlier this year, the truck now resides with its new family, but the kids are going to have to wait for their turn behind the wheel. โThe sons arenโt old enough to drive yet, so Mom and Dad have been having fun with it until they can get their licenses,โ Ward says.
In the meantime, his documentation of the build has received no shortage of attention on YouTube and Facebook. โEverybody wants to buy it, but of course itโs not for sale. If I had three of them lined up for sale, theyโd be gone. People just donโt want to wait for one to be built. โ
But patience tends to pay off with projects like these. โIt was a very in-depth restoration that we did on that truck,โ he adds. โAnd because of that, thereโs not another one out there thatโs like it. Nobody restores these trucks to this standard.โ
A 2.5-inch suspension lift from Old Man Emu provide the truck with an authoritive stance and additional off-road capability. 16-inch US Wheels and 31-inch BFGoodrich all-terrain tires give the โ82 a distinctive vibe that pays homage to Martyโs dream truck in Back to the Future.