Long before Toyota pickups became commonplace, there was the Stout. This 1960s example was recently spotted in a Washington driveway by CC Cohort contributor Ralf K (Don Kincl). It looks a little rough, but apparently it’s destined for a second life as a restomod.
It’s truly a rare find—dare I say, a unicorn? None of CC’s contributors, nor anyone on the Cohort, has ever come across another Stout found in the States (Update: Actually, there was a sighting of one back in 2023). A few have turned up in our coverage, but always in South America. Whatever its condition, this little piece of Toyota’s past is about as neat a find as they come.
From an American perspective, the Stout is a wonderfully obscure bit of Toyota history. Sold as the Stout 1900 from 1964 to 1969, it served as a companion to the Land Cruiser. Both helped keep Toyota’s U.S. operations going after the company’s early sedans struggled to do business. A reported four Stouts were sold in 1964, with roughly 3,400 finding homes over the model’s brief U.S. run. Modest business by today’s standards, when Toyota sold about 422,000 Tacoma and Tundra pickups in the U.S. in 2025.
But this was Toyota’s early American adventure, when the Stout and Land Cruiser helped keep the lights on while the company found its footing. It surely turned around soon after, with the T40 Corona arriving in 1965 and the Corolla in 1966. Then, in 1969, Toyota brought its new compact pickup to the States, developed in alliance with Hino: the Toyota Truck (HiLux), the pickup model more familiar to U.S. eyes.
Elsewhere, the Stout soldiered on, with the model remaining in production from 1956 to 2000. In its home market, it occupied a medium-duty truck slot, and the example featured here belongs to the second generation, built from 1960 to 1978. As noted in earlier posts, some see a strong resemblance to IH products, while I see a bit of GM influence as well.
Toyota offered inline-four engines displacing 1.5, 1.9, and 2.0 liters, with the 1.9-liter naturally being the one fitted to U.S.-market trucks. Minor grille updates appeared throughout the model’s run, but today’s example falls within the 1963–1966 period.
Ralf K caught up with Cory, the Stout’s owner, who apparently owns two of these rarities (!). This one is destined to receive a Tacoma drivetrain, visible in the opening image, in the near future. When ready, this Stout should have no trouble filling its quota of “What’s that?” reactions wherever it goes.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1964 Toyota Stout – Steady And Stoutly Does It
Cohort Outtake: Toyota Stout Double Cab And Regular Cab – Doubly Stout
Separated at Birth? 1961 IH-C Series and 1963 Toyota Stout
Curbside Classics: ’65 Toyota Stout and ’70 Dyna – Toyota Workhorses Still Making a Living
Very cool!
There’s a gnarly Stout in central or SE Iowa, lowered with a massive V8 in it. I’ll try to get a picture of it at the next car show.
I’m glad Ralf K included a picture of the owner to provide scale. Because the styling looks so much like an International C Series I think of them as 1200 A sized when it’s really more 90s Tacoma sized.
I also saw the Stouts heftier counterpart last year and was astonished how low a stock late 60s FJ45 Land Cruiser Pickup was.
Nice ;
Glad to see it’s going to be saved even if modified .
I had no idea these were such low production ~ there have always been a few here and there around So. California, I nearly bought a decent one in white for $1,000 but the windshield was badly cracked and I feared ever finding a replacement .
-Nate
“overnight parts from Japan”, seriously Japanese parts are a mix depending how old and how common. My son’s friend struggled to find a reasonably priced hood for a Crown, but my son found a HiAce windshield in Portland.
An acquaintance of mine in Seattle (with whom I’ve since lost touch) had one ca. 1985. The first Stout I’d heard of, but I didn’t know just how rare it was.
I snapped a photo of a Stout in Santa Cruz three years ago: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/uncategorized/neighborhood-outtakes-more-odd-couples/
Ah, I had forgotten about that sighting. I added the link to the post.
I knew they didn’t make a ton of them, but I didn’t know they were rare, even in their prime. Maybe it was just when I lived in Southern California, but it seems like there was a time when they were just unusual, not rare. I guess 50 odd years makes a difference too, I remember when you couldn’t go a block or two without seeing a VW Bug, and now it’s a week or two.
Back on the Stout, not a pickup truck guy then or now, to me at least the visual worked well with the name. Stout.
I liked the Stout! Saw a few back in the day, never common but the Toyota dealers in Southern California must have managed to sell a few before the HiLux. They are somewhat larger than the later Toyota and Datsun pickups and the 1960’s Japanese industrial look styling is really different. Glad to see another one is being treated to a restoration, a few years ago a well known custom car shop in Simi Valley CA. did a Stout for an Australian customer. I saw the truck in person as it was being restored and they did a magnificent job on it:
https://www.purevisiondesign.com/lite-stout
Lite-Stout? They could seriously upset the Irish Guinness & Murphy’s drinkers with that.
Those anthropomorphic turn signals make it look straight out of a manga book.
It’s amazing to think how far Toyota’s come over the decades.
I never knew the Hi-bit came from Hinos (who-knews?) but of course it makes sense.
Yes, and the T-100 was Hino-sourced as well, decades later.
I have a 1967 toyota lite stout rk41 Working on restoring the truck now.Patrs are hard to find.
December 1965, Lae, New Guinea. My sister and I