Toyota Motor Corporation

 

The pickup camper Toyota Tacozilla was an absolute crowd puller at the 2021 SEMA show.

The manufacturer Toyota has come up with something very special for the SEMA tuning fair in Las Vegas. So they surprised the audience there with an all-terrain mobile home based on the Tacoma TRD Sport (with a V6 engine) as a reinterpretation of a classic.

As early as the 1970s and early 1980s, the Japanese manufacturer, together with the US company Chinook, produced similar campers - which even then attracted attention with their shrill side stickers and colors.

The Tacozilla is thus a modernized homage to the cool Chinook camper of the time, just much more modern, aggressive, and off-road capable.

 

The Design

Toyota Motor Corporation

 

The new Toyota pickup camper is 100 percent bespoke and was designed and built by Marty Schwerter and his team at the Toyota Motorsports Garage. The aim was to construct a really cool-looking camper.

The centerpiece here is clearly the completely isolated living cabin in retro style, which is firmly connected to the chassis of the base vehicle (Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport).

Above all, the cabin should meet three different requirements:

  • A headroom of 5’9: For this, the team had to place the cabin under the actual frame height.
  • A robust and off-road-capable cabin: The frame of the living cabin has been refined, strengthened, and made slightly narrower at the ceiling and floor. Thus, the pickup camper should not only be able to move better on unpaved terrain, but obstacles such as trees and bushes can also be avoided more easily.
  • A cool camper: The cabin should definitely not look like a refrigerator on the bed of a truck. For this reason, rounded edges and smooth aluminum surfaces were chosen.

 

Toyota Motor Corporation

 

The living room has an entrance at the rear. The rear door was also adapted to the special design here, with more than 100 hours of work going into the design alone. The fully insulated cabin of the Toyota Tacozilla features sleeping places (in the alcove), a bathroom (with toilet and hot water shower), a kitchenette (with refrigerator, stove, and sink), seating area (consisting of two longitudinal benches with storage space), sauna-style teak floor and even a passage opening to the driver's cab.

Other cabin details include a 3D printed dining table that converts into backlit wall art and a spacious sleeping area. It also features a large pop-up Lexan skylight - for better ambient light, natural airflow, and extra headroom. A second battery is utlized in the engine compartment to avoid wasting space in the living area.

Complete Customs from Texas (a partner of Toyota) took over the painting work, which was kept completely in the 70s and 80s style. The result: A white camper with classic touches of vintage yellow, orange, and bronze.

 

The Power

Toyota Motor Corporation

 

The Toyota camper Tacozilla is based on a Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport Pickup (with manual transmission). Equipped with a 3.5-liter V6 engine, it puts a whopping 278 hp on the road.

Its standard TRD sports suspension provides 5 centimeters more ground clearance than in comparison to the standard Tacoma models. Likewise, 285/70/17 General Tire Grabber X3 all-terrain tires ensure proper grip even in difficult terrain.

 

Conclusion

Toyota Motor Corporation

 

Unfortunately, the "Tacozilla" pickup camper is just a pure concept vehicle that will not go into series production and is therefore not available for purchase. Nevertheless, it is impressive what the Toyota Motorsports Garage team has achieved here. And who knows, maybe one day we'll see the rebirth of the cool Chinook camper vans, fans of the '70s, and 80s design will certainly welcome that.

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That professional scanning makes them able to create the best custom fitting equipment possible. This means that even if you could get your hands on a concept vehicle like Tacozilla, Coverking will be able to scan your vehicle and create the best custom equipment for it.

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Resources

 

Tankut Basar

Tankut Basar is an ARA (American Rally Assoc.) Racing Driver and an FIA Bronze Category License Holder. His passion for driving began with karting like most racers. He started racing internationally at the age of 22. Tankut loves everything car-related and will keep enjoying the drive until the end.

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