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| A Little Publica Pickup |
2009 May
What's a Toyota Publica you ask? Well, the Toyota Publica was a small car
manufactured by Toyota from 1961 to 1978. It was initially conceived as a family
car to fulfil the requirements of the "national car concept", and it was the smallest
Toyota car during that period. It was available as a 2-door vehicle only, but in a
selection of body styles, ranging from the base sedan through a station wagon,
convertible, coupé and even a pickup, It's not-so-distant cousin is the Toyota Sports
800. But our story here, is about an example of the relatively unknown Publica
pickup.
The story behind our little Toyota Publica Pickup
Story & photos by Curt & Suzanne Flora; additional photos by Toyotageek
We were at an auction a few years back and decided to buy a whole
storage unit that was up for auction. We normally don’t buy whole units
but this day we decided to. As we were unloading all the boxes we saw the
front end of a little car. As we unloaded more boxes, we saw it was not a
little car but a little truck. One we have never seen before. Our eyes
opened up like little kids in a candy store.
The truck was loaded with boxes and blankets and we needed to unload it
to push it on to the trailer. As we started unloading it we saw some little
handlebars – hmmmm - “What is that?” my wife asked. We unloaded it a
little more to find a Honda Monkey mini bike sitting in the back. We took
all the boxes home to sort thru, but the boxed stuff didn’t matter to me
much anymore. I was more interested in finding out more about the truck.
We started searching the internet trying to find out more about the truck
and not having much luck. Back then our computer was so slow I think we
could have gone to the library and found things faster, lol. It took us about
two weeks before we found a guy on the net that owned a Publica car. His
name was Steve Owens, and we e-mailed him right away hoping he could
tell us more about the truck. I can’t remember exactly what was said, but
he did say it was not something that was imported to the states and asked
if we would be interested in selling it. My wife and I looked at each other
and both knew right away that the answer was no way! Well, not unless the
offer was too much to turn down.
At this time we didn’t have much time to work on it as we had to drive to
my wife’s parent’s home everyday to care for them. She would head to
their home about 6am and stay till I got there about 4pm everyday, and I
would stay till they went to bed at 10pm. We lived 50 miles from them and
to drive two different cars there everyday took up all our time and got
pretty expensive, so working on the truck was out of the question. So it sat.
After 4 years of driving back and forth we decided to build a house on her
parent’s property, so the truck had to sit a little longer. It took me two
years to build the house myself with some help time to time from my
friends. In April 2008 my wife’s father passed away.
I had a little time to start looking at Publicas again, and that’s when I ran
across the Japanese Classic Car Show web site. I called asking how to get
hold of anybody who might know about these cars. I talked to a Mrs.
Sanborn and she told me about the 700/800 club. I first looked at the club
site and liking what I saw I decided this looks like a cool club to join and
my thoughts were right. I joined, and right away got responses from
everyone. I couldn’t believe how much this site has helped me with the
truck. I met Rich Street and right away he started finding me the parts I
needed to get the truck looking sweet. Just after I ordered the parts for the
truck, my wife’s Mother passed away (March 2009) so again the truck was
put on hold but not for long.
I had 1 ½ months to get the truck ready to show at the TORC show in Long
Beach so the pressure was on! I spent about 8 hours a day, sometimes
more, trying to get the truck ready. The truck needed a lot of work still but
I knew if I put my heart into it I could do it. My wife thought I was
smashing the truck when she walked in the garage and I had a big sledge
hammer beating out the fender. As you all know we just can’t order parts
for one of these trucks so I had to fix it the best I could. At the show, I was
surprised to meet the faces I’ve talked to through e-mail. Mike Foertsch
from Cabe Toyota and Steve Owens, Steve Silbiger and Frenchy Dehoux. I
couldn’t believe the truck took a first place in the work in progress class
and even a bigger surprise was when Benjamin Hsu asked to put our truck
in the Japanese Nostalgic Car Magazine. We enjoyed our trip to
California, taking a boat out to Catalina Island, going to the Aquarium,
and touring Long Beach. We hope to make the Japanese Classic Car Show
in Oct.
Sincerely Curt & Suzanne Flora
What's a Toyota Publica you ask? Well, the Toyota Publica was a small car
manufactured by Toyota from 1961 to 1978. It was initially conceived as a family
car to fulfil the requirements of the "national car concept", and it was the smallest
Toyota car during that period. It was available as a 2-door vehicle only, but in a
selection of body styles, ranging from the base sedan through a station wagon,
convertible, coupé and even a pickup, It's not-so-distant cousin is the Toyota Sports
800. But our story here, is about an example of the relatively unknown Publica
pickup.
The story behind our little Toyota Publica Pickup
Story & photos by Curt & Suzanne Flora; additional photos by Toyotageek
We were at an auction a few years back and decided to buy a whole
storage unit that was up for auction. We normally don’t buy whole units
but this day we decided to. As we were unloading all the boxes we saw the
front end of a little car. As we unloaded more boxes, we saw it was not a
little car but a little truck. One we have never seen before. Our eyes
opened up like little kids in a candy store.
The truck was loaded with boxes and blankets and we needed to unload it
to push it on to the trailer. As we started unloading it we saw some little
handlebars – hmmmm - “What is that?” my wife asked. We unloaded it a
little more to find a Honda Monkey mini bike sitting in the back. We took
all the boxes home to sort thru, but the boxed stuff didn’t matter to me
much anymore. I was more interested in finding out more about the truck.
We started searching the internet trying to find out more about the truck
and not having much luck. Back then our computer was so slow I think we
could have gone to the library and found things faster, lol. It took us about
two weeks before we found a guy on the net that owned a Publica car. His
name was Steve Owens, and we e-mailed him right away hoping he could
tell us more about the truck. I can’t remember exactly what was said, but
he did say it was not something that was imported to the states and asked
if we would be interested in selling it. My wife and I looked at each other
and both knew right away that the answer was no way! Well, not unless the
offer was too much to turn down.
At this time we didn’t have much time to work on it as we had to drive to
my wife’s parent’s home everyday to care for them. She would head to
their home about 6am and stay till I got there about 4pm everyday, and I
would stay till they went to bed at 10pm. We lived 50 miles from them and
to drive two different cars there everyday took up all our time and got
pretty expensive, so working on the truck was out of the question. So it sat.
After 4 years of driving back and forth we decided to build a house on her
parent’s property, so the truck had to sit a little longer. It took me two
years to build the house myself with some help time to time from my
friends. In April 2008 my wife’s father passed away.
I had a little time to start looking at Publicas again, and that’s when I ran
across the Japanese Classic Car Show web site. I called asking how to get
hold of anybody who might know about these cars. I talked to a Mrs.
Sanborn and she told me about the 700/800 club. I first looked at the club
site and liking what I saw I decided this looks like a cool club to join and
my thoughts were right. I joined, and right away got responses from
everyone. I couldn’t believe how much this site has helped me with the
truck. I met Rich Street and right away he started finding me the parts I
needed to get the truck looking sweet. Just after I ordered the parts for the
truck, my wife’s Mother passed away (March 2009) so again the truck was
put on hold but not for long.
I had 1 ½ months to get the truck ready to show at the TORC show in Long
Beach so the pressure was on! I spent about 8 hours a day, sometimes
more, trying to get the truck ready. The truck needed a lot of work still but
I knew if I put my heart into it I could do it. My wife thought I was
smashing the truck when she walked in the garage and I had a big sledge
hammer beating out the fender. As you all know we just can’t order parts
for one of these trucks so I had to fix it the best I could. At the show, I was
surprised to meet the faces I’ve talked to through e-mail. Mike Foertsch
from Cabe Toyota and Steve Owens, Steve Silbiger and Frenchy Dehoux. I
couldn’t believe the truck took a first place in the work in progress class
and even a bigger surprise was when Benjamin Hsu asked to put our truck
in the Japanese Nostalgic Car Magazine. We enjoyed our trip to
California, taking a boat out to Catalina Island, going to the Aquarium,
and touring Long Beach. We hope to make the Japanese Classic Car Show
in Oct.
Sincerely Curt & Suzanne Flora
| Toyota Tales |
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| For more information on the Publica and to chat with other Publica owners, stop by the Toy700and800 Yahoo! Group |
Specifications: coming soon!
MSRP base price:
Engine:
Engine Code:
Chassis Code:
Horsepower/torque:
Transmission:
Front Suspension:
Rear Suspension:
Steering:
Brakes:
Tires:
Wheels:
Curb Weight:
Required Fuel:
Fuel Tank:
EPA Fuel Economy:
MSRP base price:
Engine:
Engine Code:
Chassis Code:
Horsepower/torque:
Transmission:
Front Suspension:
Rear Suspension:
Steering:
Brakes:
Tires:
Wheels:
Curb Weight:
Required Fuel:
Fuel Tank:
EPA Fuel Economy:
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