Campers are usually one-trick ponies, but today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Tundra looks to be about as versatile as a Swiss Army Knife. Let’s see if its price is equally as accommodating.
You know, it’s been said that there’s a plethora of ways to skin a cat. That may very well be the case, but to be honest with you, I find the whole advocation of cat-skinning to be out of my comfort zone. I don’t like yodeling either.
Another cat-related activity that seems of bounds a present is thinking about paying the $12,995 that was asked for yesterday’s 2007 Jaguar X-Type wagon. Nice as the car was was, it really didn’t engender much love at that price, and it fell in a 82 percent Crack Pipe loss. It’s a good thing cats have nine lives.
I think my favorite aspect of the pickup truck market is all the outdoorsy names that populate it. Among them there’s Sierra, Denali, King Ranch, Colorado, and now once again, the Ranger. All of those are good, strong, getting’-out-in-the-boonies names that make one want to wear flannel and maybe ride a deer.
Not wishing to be left out when it came to naming their big truck, Toyota went with… T100. Okay, so they were riffing on Ford’s top-selling F150, but they seemingly realized their mistake after a few years and replaced the Terminator-esque sounding T100 with the proper outdoors echoing Tundra.
This 2004 Toyota Tundra comes as the family man’s (or woman’s) work truck, and carries with it a cool and very functional pop-top bed box. separately they may not intrigue, but together? It’s a party.
Let’s start with the truck. It’s a white over beige four-door crew cab sitting on a 4WD chassis. It rocks the TRD Off-Road package and that’s made up of 16-inch alloy wheels, body-color fender flares, Bilstein shocks all around, and fog lamps in the front bumper.
There’s a bit under 190K on the odometer, with a declaration of regular maintenance having been done over the course of their application. A new timing belt and related might-as-wells were installed at 130K.
The engine that enjoyed the timing belt freshening is Toyota’s iForce 4.7-litre V8 and behind that sits a five-speed automatic. In 2004, the 32-valve mill was rated at 240 horsepower and 315 lb-ft of torque. Later models upped the ante, and honestly if one complaint could be leveled at the earlier Tundras it could be that they are down on towing power.
This one doesn’t need to tow anything as it carries its home-away-from-home in the bed. The camper shell here is very basic, offering two foldable lower bunks/benches and a pop-up roof that affords 7 feet of headroom in back or another bed. The simplicity is its greatest asset as the space could be used for work during the week, as the camper portion is unobtrusive and the box allows for lockable storage space.
For weekend warrior duty, it provides for bike storage on the sides and housing that’s a little more substantial than just a tent, or as I like to call them, bear magnets.
The camper seems to be based on a rack structure from System One Modular Equipment, but I’ve never seen one in camper form before. Now that I have, I can say that I am duly impressed.
The camper portion comes with its own lighting and Optima battery power source. The seller says he’s been topping that up off a home charger rather than the truck’s system so as not to cross streams or something. The A/C up front is said to keep you cool and the heater to heat. The seller claims that mechanically, the truck is ready for any trip.
The interior looks to be a comfortable place to add miles, with clean upholstery front and rear and a dash unmarred by modifications.
The present owner won’t be taking any more trips in this Tundra, however. He says he and his family want to go back to a towable with a few more creature comforts, and hence the Toyota is up for sale.
That make it a good opportunity for someone with a sense of wanderlust and an affection for versatility. The truck’s title is clear and it carries an asking price of $14,500.
What’s your take on this pop-top Tundra and that asking? Is $14,500 a fair price for so versatile a vehicle? Or, for that much, would this camper need to better pamper?
You decide!
Boise, ID Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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