Toyota Turned a Tacoma Pickup Bed Into an Overlanding Trailer for SEMA
It’s a Taco trailer, but probably not the kind you have in mind.
For reasons that, at this point, should be obvious, SEMA has gone virtual this year and alongside that targa-topped Supra, Toyota is trotting out what it calls the TRD Sport Trailer, an overlanding rig made from the bed of a Tacoma.
Built by Marty Schwerter and his team at Motorsports Garage, the Tacoma-based trailer provides a basecamp for those looking for an outdoor home away from home, an increasingly hot commodity, according to Toyota, as a result of the pandemic. Yes, the automaker says overlanding is growing quickly in popularity, for pretty much the same reason RVs are making a comeback. It's a socially-distant way of getting out of the house—something we could all probably use right now.
Owing its existence to this one time a senior Toyota R&D manager saw a trailer made from a Tacoma at Arizona's Overland Expo West, the TRD Sport Trailer features a scissor lift that can raise its platform several feet up and away from the bed. It incorporates a four-person Yakima tent with an awning and holders for fly-fishing poles, a fridge and freezer unit, a mobile shower complete with a curtain and a hot water heater.
There's also a generator, an Optima Yellow Top battery, multiple Rigid A-Series Accessory LEDs to light up your makeshift outdoor digs, fresh water reservoir tank and grey water holding tank able to hold 16 and 15 gallons of H2O respectively, a slide-out sink and stove, a trash can, and, of course, a toilet seat that's been cheekily finished in gold. Who says going number two in the woods can't be luxurious?
Toyota's also collab-ed with Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's to outfit the Taco-trailer (not what it sounds like in this case, unfortunately) with outdoor paraphernalia like fishing equipment, waders, coffee mugs, and cookware.
Separating the Toyota TRD Sport Trailer from the ground are TRD Pro wheels wrapped in 285-section General Grabber X3 tires.
Here's a clip of Schwerter talking us through it all:
On second thought, with its mini kitchen and ample space for tortilla storage, the TRD Sport Trailer might make an alright base for a mobile taco stand after all.
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