With a little over a month separating us from the 2022 edition of the SEMA show, builders across the country are rushing to complete their contraptions. Many automakers are officially in on the fun and the time has come to discuss Toyota. The carmaker’s TRD arm is backing pro drifter Ryan Tuerck in his effort to turn a 1966 Toyota Stout from a pickup truck you never knew existed to a tube chassis drift truck that nobody can ignore.
Have you ever wondered what came before the Tacoma in Toyota’s North American range? Well, if we look back… way back to the mid-1960s, we’ll come across the Stout. By modern standards, this is a tiny truck, but back in the day, it was classified as a half-ton pickup.
When American enthusiasts think of JDM pickups from that era, compact Datsun trucks like the 520 are what usually comes to mind. So it’s not difficult to see why Toyota wants to steal Nissan’s show. And the fact that they’re using a truck that wasn’t exactly popular back in the day (not even in Japan, let alone in the U.S.) only makes this a more eccentric appearance.
Ryan Tuerck was the natural choice for the Toyota Racing Development-backed build. After all, the Formula Drift athlete and the brand have serious history. So, not only is the pro drifter competing in a 2023 GR Corolla with 1,000 hp, but he also slides something called the Formula Supra in his spare time. For the record, the hot hatch is a 2JZ monster, while the sports car gets a rarer heart, namely a Judd F1-style V10 that can sing all the way to 10,000 rpm while the Supra’s rear tires turn to smoke.
To save time and since this is a sponsored build, Tuerck sourced a fully restored 1966 Toyota Stout, even though purists will wonder where those perfect-condition body and four-cylinder engine are going.
Regardless, their place will be taken by a custom tube chassis and a yet unnamed engine—given the drift truck theme, you can expect anywhere between 500 and 1,000 hp, even though something closer to the former would probably be a better bet.
A widebody 1966 Toyota Stout and a (very) early burnout
For the project, Tuerck is turning to modern tech such as 3D scanning to have the vehicle gifted with a widebody treatment that adds modern aero while preserving the classic 1960s look of the truck.
And this is where Jon Sibal (@jonsibal) enters the scene. The digital artist is also a Toyota (and Lexus) veteran, while having penned multiple SEMA builds over the years. Speaking of which, here are some of the wackiest builds coming to SEMA for 2022.
Now, if you’re more inclined toward the digital part of the project, you may wish to check out the artist explaining the inner workings of the 3D modeling and rendering process in the first video below—he does the first in Keyshot, while covering the photorealism-adding second step in Blender. For the record, these are A-grade tools that contribute to the birth of many renderings you see in this space.
Then again, the mechanical take of the second video isn’t too shabby either. After all, how often do you get to see a Formula Drift ace pulling a monstrous burnout in a carbureted OHV 1.9L engine making just 85 hp? Guess that towing-savvy short gearing also has other uses…
The 2022 SEMA take
The real-life vehicle looks even bolder than what we got in the renderings. At first sight, the main culprits are the insane cantilever rear suspension surrounded by the tube labyrinth in the bed and the immaculate white finish/livery.
However, as we zoom in further, we’ll notice that power comes from a Florida-based PSI Racing-built Toyota four-cylinder using a 5S block, custom 3S crankshaft, first-gen 3SGE cylinder head. The unit is mated to a Holinger RD6-S sequential-shift dog-change manual gearbox. As for the ludicrously cool tube chassis, this was put together by Rob Parsons of Chairslayer.
As Ryan Tuerck explains on Instagram, the build is just 75% complete, which is quite impressive for a project development time of one month. So we can’t wait to see this restomodded pickup being completed, so it can properly shred rubber. In the meantime, you’ll find some sweet images of the truck (lens tip to Alex Bernstein aka bernooo) in the image gallery below.
