By Jim Brennan

UDMan

Well, day two is off and running here at SEMA, so I thought it would be a great time to show how Toyota set up their booth for SEMA. First of all, there were a few manufacturers that skipped SEMA this year, so floor space opened up. The Toyota Booth was large, almost as large as their space at the major auto shows. They also had some cool custom trucks, and some very curious cars.

Continue reading "The Toyota Booth at SEMA: Cool Trucks, Odd Cars" »

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

I love this pic and story from entry #2066:

I worked for a hot air balloon company that took part in a car show over the summer. After the show my blue Taco and balloon basket got to cruise to the local ice cream parlor with the other hot rods. Our balloon may burn at 15 million BTUs, but that orange rod is HOT!

There are still more chances to win, so if you haven’t already thrown your hat into the ring, make sure to enter the Amoco Ultimate Your Car Is Worth It Photo Contest!

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

There are always a ton of cool off-road vehicles at SEMA, and this year was no exception. We followed the ICON builds closely leading up to SEMA, and I got a chance to talk to Jonathan Ward about his awesome ICON FJ43 at the show. The Subaru Mountain Rescue vehicle pretty much dominated the Subaru booth. Mr. Angry really loved the Bushwacker Jeep with the paintball guns. Skyjacker always has cool rides in their booth, and their pre-production 2009 F-150 did not disappoint. And Jen went nuts for the retro style Tacoma in the Toyota booth. So what’s your favorite?

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I love how this tough Tacoma references the aesthetics of its 80′s predecessors, complete with campy graphics, white-painted wheels, KC lights, tube-steel bumpers, and color-block Recaro seats. Actually, the overall look kind of reminds me of the Toyota SR5 that Marty drools over in Back To The Future. Take a look!

Continue reading "Toyota Tacoma, Old-School Style" »

Given the fact that we have almost three times as many Tacos on CarDomain as Frontiers, it’s not a huge surprise that the Toyota won this week’s Showroom Showdown. The vote was more like 3 to 2 for the Taco, though, so the Nissan definitely has a lot of fans. Personally, I’d take the Frontier based on looks alone. What a hot truck! But both are great, and I agree with Mike–these can’t really be considered "compact" pickups anymore, they are more like mid-size trucks. But then what are the Dakota and Colorado?

If you’re looking for a compact pickup, chances are you’re gonna look at the Nissan Frontier and the Toyota Tacoma. We have tons of examples of both trucks on CarDomain, and they both have a great reputation on and off road. For the purpose of this match up, let’s compare the V6 4×4 extended cab models with all the NISMO and TRD goodness. So, which would you choose, the Frontier or the Taco?

I always find cutaways pretty fun to look at—they’re a perfect blend of goofy and cool—and I was really stoked about the way Toyota did this Tacoma. Check out how the toolbox and the wood in the bed got the same treatment as the rest of the truck. I hope that before long, someone will create one that can actually be driven. How awesome would that be? More pics after the jump.

Bet you don’t know a Tacoma that’s been through as many wheel-and-tire combinations as Chris’s. This tough truck has been on everything from 16" steelies to spinners to 23" DUBS. What he’s running now, as far as I can tell, are these 20" Ion rims with burly Nitto Mud Grapplers. This Taco’s no pavement-bound powder-puff, either: check out the four-wheelin’ action!

By Jen

Editor

Check out this incredible Tacoma by Sadistic Iron Works. It’s rolling on 20′s, and virtually everything from the cab back is hand-fabbed. The clear pickup bed lets you see a lot of the internals, including the custom exhaust.

I got the heads up on this monster from Club4AG: a 4AG equipped Toyota Tacoma with a land speed record! Read about it on CustomTacos. Now if Toyota can start winning some races and setting records on the Nextel series – I’d be really happy!