Body Modifications on a 1972 Toyota Hilux - Project Low Lux

Minitruckers strive to be different. The quest is to do something that no one else has done before or to do it better; that is what we live for.

So after hunting around for a new project, we finally found a truck that has never been fully built and laid out flat to the rocker. Like all projects, our mission was fairly simple in the beginning, and that was just to find a1972 Toyota Hilux in decent shape and put it on the ground. But after we found our canvas, hauled her home, and tore her apart, our imagination began to run rampant with cool modifications that would soon find their way onto Project: Low Lux. If you were able to follow along on some of the blogs at minitruckinweb.com, then you saw that we decided it would be a good idea to try and get this truck body-dropped, body-modded out, and painted to the Forbidden show with only three weeks time. This was no easy task, but thanks to Jamey "Handmade" Jordan, Brian "Lost Cause" Walker, and Bobby from Sadistic Iron Werks, we barely made it.

For this installment we wanted to show you all the cool mods done in only two weeks to get the truck to the Forbidden show. As the frame and the body were being built in two separate places, this first part of this buildup shows all the body mods and round one of the paint. Next we will delve deeper into the full frame, suspension, and rest of the buildup. Special thanks to everyone that helped and pitched in, including Tyson and Ernie for letting us tear up their shops at all hours of the night. Stay tuned for the rest of this exciting, first-of-its-kind buildup. For more information, contact the companies listed in the source box, and visit Minitruckinweb.com for more pics and video of the buildup.

1. This is the truck that...        read full caption 1. This is the truck that sparked our interest, and after doing our research we found that there weren't many out there even mildly built, much less any that have ever been body-dropped.	2. Road trip! Our buddy Wayne...        read full caption 2. Road trip! Our buddy Wayne had just the truck we were looking for to get the project rolling.	3. It didn't take long before...        read full caption 3. It didn't take long before Bobby talked me into tearing her apart and going to town.
4. Jamey "Handmade" Jordan...        read full caption 4. Jamey "Handmade" Jordan is always down for an adventure, so he flew in from Mississippi to lend a hand. Jamey doesn't mess around; he cut the pinch off and welded up the rockers first thing.	5-7. Meanwhile, Brian "Lost...        read full caption 5-7. Meanwhile, Brian "Lost Cause" Walker was making work of the body mods. He started by shaving the doors, keyholes, emblems, and mirror holes.	6.
7.	8-9. This was the scene for...        read full caption 8-9. This was the scene for almost two weeks, as Brian hustled to sand down the entire truck, shave it up, do all the body work, complete the 89 body mods, and still try and paint it black before the show.	9.
10. We decided to give the...        read full caption 10. We decided to give the ass end a clean shave by welding in the tailgate. This meant that all the factory hinges had to be cut off and shaved as well. That's right, MORE things to shave.	11-13. Before 11: Not only...        read full caption 11-13. Before 11: Not only did we decide to ditch the bed hooks, but we also wanted to clean up the lip and edge.	12: Max at Bio Kustumz cut...        read full caption 12: Max at Bio Kustumz cut a 1-inch piece of tubing in half horizontally so that we could fill the lip.
After 13: A very subtle but...        read full caption After 13: A very subtle but badass mod that many might not notice.	14. To go with the clean custom...        read full caption 14. To go with the clean custom look we planned for the body, we wanted to smooth out the back end but still keep the TOYOTA in the tailgate.	15. Brian cut out the stock...        read full caption 15. Brian cut out the stock hinges and made filler panels to smooth everything out.
16. Next, Brian filled the...        read full caption 16. Next, Brian filled the tailgate gap and welded it up all the way around.	17. Brian also made taillight...        read full caption 17. Brian also made taillight fillers to further smooth out the rear.	18. The factory bed was built...        read full caption 18. The factory bed was built in panels, so each seam also had to be fully welded.