This JDM Toyota Hilux Surf, a close equivalent to a second-gen U.S.-spec 4Runner, is very cool looking. But I was only really compelled to share it because of that bizarre brush guard. Have you ever seen anything like it?
The Bring-A-Trailer listing that this truck’s posted on doesn’t go into detail about the origin of that particular accessory. But based on the fitment and Toyota emblem in the middle, I was pretty confident from the onset that this was a ’90s factory accessory.
A little cursory research dug up this video of somebody flipping through an old Hilux Surf brochure, and sure enough, you can see this thing listed at around the 05:47 mark. Unfortunately, I can’t read Japanese, but maybe one of you can translate the text around it so we can find out what this thing was called.
I can’t say I’ve ever seen a brush guard with a T-bracket as a centrepiece but I kind of dig it. The big yellow fog lights, of course, are excellent. It probably wouldn’t help you much in a collision (we call these guards “damage multipliers” in the off-road community because if they crash through anything heavier than grass, they tend to bend into the truck) but it sure does look sweet.
Let’s be real, the whole truck looks sweet.