The Indian company Mahindra & Mahindra recently dropped plans to sell their mini pickup in the U.S.. That's a crushing blow to those eagerly awaiting the little hauler, but perhaps they could find solace in today's survivor Hilux. That is, if its price curries favor.

Wow, it was happy hour all day yesterday with two-for one haterade from the well, a drink not nearly as bitter as the 89% Crack Pipe loss racked up by the Frankensteinian which mated MGB with all sorts of sketchy partners to questionable ends.

In Greek mythology the Chimæra was a monster made up of all the scariest parts of other monsters.…

Okay, so the Indians have so far been unable to crack the U.S. Market in any non-buying-a-British-marque-and-making-them-pay-for-all-those-years-of-colonial-suppression manner. The Japanese, many years ago, had much greater success here, and one of the vehicles that were on the vanguard of their economic invasion was the Toyota Hilux pickup truck.

Now you might assume that with a name like Hilux - possibly short for High Luxury - that today's is draped in all the finery that someone of means might require. Well, you would be wrong. Actually Hilux is a form of greeting for a dude named Lux.

This particular truck looks to be in amazeballs shape, with a claim of insubstantial rust and fewer than 60,000 miles on its clock. It also looks like a cartoon character what with its heavy-browed four-lamp nose and ear-like freestanding turn signals. While reputationally robust, you rarely see these early Toyota trucks around any more. And when you do they've usually weighed down by lawn care equipment and so beat to hell you wonder if their owners are attempting to turn them into objects of interest for the blind. This one's clean as a colonic and with the exception of a a set of aluminum Pacer wheels, looks totes stock.

The only major gripe I can make about the austere interior is the fact that the door to door bench seat looks like it's suffering from asscracktosis, as there's a dark elongated stain right where you'd hope not to find one. Of course, industrial cleansers are your friend.

From the factory, the 1,968-cc 18R pumped out a healthy 109-bhp, and the four-speed stick should help make the most of those that time hasn't stripped away. Those not used to the handling, ride and braking of a ‘60s-engineered mini truck may be unpleasantly surprised, but it's not like everything works backwards or is specifically designed to kill you so you'd probably get used to it pretty quickly.

You know one thing that I never get used to is keyword spam in a Craigslist ad. This seller has managed to projectile vomit War and Peace on the bottom of a page already frustrating for using single lines for each of his descriptions of the Hilux highlights. And then there's the whole all original conditions description, which is used twice in the ad!

Whatever. You can't well blame the truck for that, and after all, who could stay mad at a face like that? And at a buck shy of four grand, you too could have makeup sex with this Hilux til the cows come home. What do you think about that, is that a price that put this Hulux on you high list? Or, is that too much even with all those original conditions?

You decide!

or go if the ad disappears.

H/T to Mike Rodriguez for the hookup!

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