a third-party inspection of a blown Toyota Tundra engine, the twin-turbo V6 that keeps failing without warning.

Officially, Toyota blames manufacturing debris left inside the oiling passages, which is impossible to verify independently without getting your hands on one. 

That’s been a problem since the grenaded engines always get sent back as core exchanges, but someone finally got their hands on a blown V35A-FTS with just 38,000 miles. 

Spun main bearings

https://www.thedrive.com/news/total-bs-engine-teardown-specialist-says-toyotas-explanation-for-v6-failures-doesnt-make-sense

the new Land Cruiser looks good, obvious visual connection with the early ones... and 20 minutes after I see that in traffic, I see the Lexus version

 

simple easy hiring test

Jun Cheng Manufacturing in Baoying China

https://www.facebook.com/Larry.Chen.Driftfotos/posts/pfbid02n96sNGXxkSAvqPWn2WSUBhycnKsiG79S4BSDriLDD9n8ArmYtP84MwBLnsEQ3NZ7l

I've never heard of a Toyota Crown before

In North America, the first through fourth generations were offered from 1958 through 1972, being replaced by the Corona Mark II.[2] The Crown nameplate returned to the North American market in 2022

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Crown

British singer Dua Lipa has helped fund a pickup truck for Ukraine’s First Medical Battalion as part of a humanitarian effort supporting frontline medical units

Driving Ukraine has been supplying vehicles to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, refurbishing and delivering ambulances and transport vehicles for frontline units.

One innovative and interesting methods for fundraising was a club night. 

The “Club For…” event which reached the British media and was also promoted by the Dua Lipa book club.

https://www.instagram.com/1med.army/

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/74411

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04/21/dua-lipa-sends-pickup-truck-to-ukrainian-battalion/

this is cool, and rare, for manufacturing to take any pride in what they build. Typically, it's just push it, sell it, get it off the books. This? Painting, signing, and commemorating? Is cool

lol... this was a well thought out meme

https://www.facebook.com/veteranwithasign

this is quite rare.... a 1990s left hand drive Toyota Land Cruiser Prado Active Vacation (JDM Camper edition)

It's hard to stand out in Mira Mesa in the Asian car area of San Diego. But this does it.  

Park officials are searching for two people who drove a white 2021 Tacoma illegally off road in Death Valley on Dec. 17 on five miles off road that may have caused significant damage to rare and sensitive desert plants.

At least 74 plants were damaged or destroyed, including one Shining Milkvetch, a rare species found only on sand dunes in Death Valley.

Vehicle tracks also passed close enough to other rare plants, and could have caused underground root damage.

https://www.kolotv.com/2026/01/28/officials-searching-suspects-accused-illegal-off-roading-death-valley/

call me crazy, or uneducated, or maybe worse, but I'm just a car guy. I'm not an ecologist, or herbalist, etc. I don't care that a rare weed got killed. It's only found in Death Valley - ergo, no one ever heard of it, will ever know it existed, no one will ever go to see it, or even look it up.

Since it only exists in one place, well, yeah, it would be nice to not kill it while off roading in the middle of no where, but is the planet going to miss that weed? Nope. It's not a tiger, a whale, a forest in Brazil, or something that matters to an ecosystem, the survival of bees, or moles. 

It's a damn plant, and not a plant that matters in any way, but the game of  trivial pursuit " what's the name of the sand dune plant in Death Valley?"

Why not have an understanding that the desert between the Pacific, and the midwest, is there to be used in any damn way that anyone can figure out how to enjoy a moment in it. Solar farms, off roading, making more Mt Rushmore size art statues, or using a really big method to create zen gardens like the Japanese rake/sand/rock tranquility experiences, or colored sand mandalas the scope of which would please Tibetan monks.  Why not? There are probably hundreds of thousands of square miles of useless sand and rock. No one seems to have ever figured out what to do with sand, I say because of all the sand left all over the planet that hasn't been used yet. It's all there waiting for a great use. Until then? Lets drive dune buggies on it! Lets race the Baja 1000 on it! Lets climb the rocks, make petroglyphs like the strong ones did in prehistoric times, lets make land speed racing areas, dry lake sailboat areas, Burning Man events, concerts, and Nazca line art that tells the astronauts we applaud them

Here's a strange thing... a heated steering wheel, that's quite poorly designed, or failing catastrophically

A 2024 Tundra owner’s thermal imaging revealed a staggering temperature disparity, with the top of the steering wheel hitting a toasty 114°F while the inner underside sat at a bone-chilling 35°F.

https://www.torquenews.com/17998/toyota-tundra-owner-says-thermal-camera-shows-his-heated-steering-wheel-hits-114degf-top

Toyota's worst seller this year, the Mirai, was still outsold by the car discontinuation in 2023, the Venza

Over the entirety of 2025, Toyota only sold 210 Mirais, down 57.8% from 2024's 499 units. That makes at least two years in a row that it came in at the bottom of the company's sales chart. 

This year, though, comes with an additional sting. The Toyota Venza managed to outsell the Mirai. 

The Venza was discontinued following the 2025 model year, and it announced that discontinuation back at the end of 2023.

The 707 Venzas sold last year would have been leftovers of a dead model, and they were still enough to outdo the Mirai.

https://carbuzz.com/toyotas-biggest-flop-2025-sold-fewer-than-1000/

The IMV stands for Toyota's long-running "Innovative International Multi-purpose Vehicle" platform was revealed at this year's Japan Mobility Show

the idea is that the truck ships out as a set of assemble-yourself components in a crate and the buyer puts the end product together after arrival, presumably using included assembly instructions and normal garage tools 

at the show, Toyota showed images of a few example configurations at its press conference, including a produce delivery truck and logging truck. Beyond those, the open-ended nature of the IMV Origin concept could spur a large customization ecosystem for the African markets in which it would theoretically be sold.

https://newatlas.com/automotive/toyota-imv-origin-modular-pickup-concept/

a Celica GT with an interesting plastic nose cone for aerodynamic improvement

quite unusual, as you'd expect from something that stands out at SEMA... a 65 Datsun double seat truck

 

Car thieves are targeting Toyotas worldwide by hacking the codes on the ECU, through the lighting wiring harness. (it seems a simple hidden switch that disables the fuel pump is still the best way to keep thieves from stealing your vehicle)

Car thieves are targeting Toyota and Lexus models across Canada, Australia and the UK with a hack that can make these car’s security systems useless in minutes. They’re using a device called a CAN Invader that can bypass a vehicle’s immobilizer, unlock doors and start the engine

Modern cars have all their electronics connected via CANbus (Controller Area Network), a communication protocol used to connect to a car’s ECU. CANbus is used to control everything from stereo systems and electronic seats to a car’s lighting.

In Toyota’s case, thieves are gaining access to the CANbus by plugging in their hacking device into headlight wiring, by simply peeling back fender liners or by drilling holes in them. In some Lexus models, thieves are plugging in via the taillights. In minutes, the thieves use CAN injections, or lines of malicious code, to trick the car’s ECU into thinking a key is present, further unlocking doors and disabling the immobilizer, and finally starting the engine without triggering any alarms.

https://www.autoblog.com/news/thieves-are-stealing-toyotas-in-minutes-using-a-simple-headlight-hack

spotted on the 15 on the way to work 10 hours ago... I love this home built box topper

and the skid plate and pusher bar covers are cool too

 

in the Toyota War of the 1987 Chadian-Libyan conflict, troops from Chad in nimble Toyota trucks were able to trounce the Libyan's with their tanks. Over 7 Libyan soldiers were lost for every Chadian.

Its rear-mounted autocannon allows it to effectively engage air targets. It's also pretty damn effective against anything else that isn't immune to bullets.

The truck carries a LSD-1 anti-aircraft machine gun on the base of the Soviet Vladimirov heavy machine gun and a 32-round block of UB-32 which launches S-5 unguided rockets, also from the USSR. Abdul is holding an AKMS automatic rifle and Walid is posing with his baby, the also Soviet RPG07.

Back in 2011, Libyan's resisted Qaddafi's exhaustive 41-year-old dictatorship regime, resulting in the dictator commandeering attacks on those who protested his rule. Not long after when Qaddafi went into hiding in May of that year, Mollison made his way to Libya to document a central tool that the protestors relied upon to help the insurgence: the "Technical" truck. These civilian-helmed trucks were heavily armed with weapons. Mollison, then on assignment for COLORS Magazine, set up a camera at the final check point and captured these vehicles of war just before they headed into battle. The end result of his time there were a number of photos capturing the valiant civilians riding upon their steel chariots just before battle.

https://www.jamesmollison.com/new-gallery

https://unrtd.co/media/civilian-run-libyan-armed-trucks

https://www.hotcars.com/heres-why-old-rusty-pickups-are-used-in-combat/

https://julesgwhite.blogspot.com/2012/10/what-do-you-get-when-you-combine.html

https://www.mrjakeparker.com/blog/2022/11/8/lybian-battle-trucks

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-toyota-pickup-truck-is-the-war-chariot-of-the-third-world-ea4a121e948b

Con Ferr, of Burbank, built/customized two vehicles for Steve McQueen, a Jeep, and his Thomas Crown Affair Manx.... realizing this makes it a very significant company, I had to learn about it

and the Super Jeep https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2018/08/con-ferr-incorporated-in-burbank-made.html which I haven't figured out, did they build it for Steve, or, did he do them the favor of posing with it for publicity photos, as they sure were in business together, they sold the seats Steve patented, that Solar Productions made (see below)

This only JUST connected for me today, that Con Ferr, did two vehicles for Steve McQueen, and got me wondering, what WAS Con Ferr? Did they have a name for making customs? Or just working for the very rich? 

So, here's what I found out:

Con-Ferr was a company known for manufacturing off-road accessories and equipment, particularly for Jeeps and other 4x4 vehicles. founded in 1961 by Pete Condos & Frank Ferro though eventually Pete bought out Frank to become sole owner.

Pete Condos was an innovator in accessories for Land Cruisers, he coined the term Off-Road

Pete had a background in Scouts, while Frank had a background in Jeeps. Their goal was to provide specialty off-road products for both types of vehicles. To that end, not only did they run their parts shop in Burbank, California, they also built custom jeeps like the Super Jeep.

Pete’s driver, Bill Haddad, drove Condo’s race jeeps to 18 victories in the 21 races in which he entered.

Pete would go on to co-found the National Off-Road Racing Association (NORRA) in 1966, which produced races like the Baja 1000 and Mint 500. During that time, Condos also produced racing vehicles for other folks, such as off-road racers for Steve McQueen and James Garner.

In 1970, Con-Ferr billed itself as America’s largest Off-Road vehicle accessory provider and had more than 44,000 square feet of storage, work, and retail space. It was an authorized dealer of Kaiser Jeep, Toyota Land Cruiser, and Manx.

https://www.ewillys.com/2019/07/30/early-1970s-con-ferr-catalog-pages/

I translate "by Solar Plastics" as meaning this is the Steve McQueen patented seat I posted about

https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2006/11/steve-mcqueen.html

This is the Scout, that Pete Condos owned

Con-Ferr stuff was available at IH dealers. Many accessory parts were 'tied in' by corporate and made available for direct order by dealerships. Offerings were commonly noticed to dealers using the Parts Mike bulletins, and included specialized dealership tools. A lot of the accessories were also issued as addenda to the MT-87 Necessaries catalog.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/pete-condos-frank-ferro-con-ferr.351433/

Wow, imagine being at that Hall Of Fame ceremony... Garner, McQueen, Hickey, Stroppe? That's the Who's Who of celebs in off roading

Born on May 8th, 1925, Condos grew up in the suburbs to the north of Chicago. He spent many hours of his young years at a local speed shop learning the skills needed to customize cars making them into hot rods. He helped to hop up Model A’s and B’s, but his time spent at the garage came to a quick end with the beginning of World War II.

In 1942 he joined the United States Navy. He served on the U.S.S. Nevada as a seaman. After the war he returned to Chicago and completed his high school education and resumed his interest in hot rods. 

He began building and racing roadsters and coupes. His first Roadster was a 1934 Ford that he completed in 1948, and he became a charter member of Andy Granatelli's Hurricane Hot Rod Racing Association.

In 1948 he moved to So Cal and joined the Throttler Car Club, (dry lakes racing). 

In 1950 Earl “Madman” Muntz hired him to assist with the fabrication of the Muntz Road Jet car. Condos worked for Muntz building the high-end custom cars which were purchased by Hollywood’s elite. 

In 1961 he purchased his first I.H. Scout so that his hunting trips to Nevada, Montana, and Idaho would be easier, while on the trips, he realized the need for different accessories for the Scout and he began making accessories for the Scout. He worked with Frank Ferro and the two would discuss accessories that would be useful for both Jeeps and Scouts. The two men started their own company, Con-Ferr in 1961.

https://ormhof.org/pete-condos

How crazy of a coincidence is that, I just posted on the Dec 7th Pearl Harbor attack yesterday and Pete was crew on the USS Nevada, the only ship that got underway that morning. 

Amazing... he was in WW2, in the Throttlers CC, worked for Muntz, co founded NORRA, pioneered Baja racing, coined the term Off Roading, made the Manx for Steve McQueen in the Thomas Crown Affair, and made cars for James Garner... which I'll guess was the Olds or the SC/Rambler Baja racers... I'll see if I can verify that