I recently came across not one but two customized Toyota Echos in that strange metallic yellow gold color. As a bonus, they were both the Echo hatchback model sold in Canada but not the United States (and known as the Yaris/Vitz in other parts of the world). Am I spotting a new and growing customization trend or just an outlier?
Here is a stock example to cleanse our palate before fully sampling the more bespoke models further on. Based on Toyota’s NBC platform, the hatchback model shares the mechanical bits and dashboard with the Echo sedan (Platz), meaning these are powered by a 1.5L four cylinder engine. The body panels were all different with the exception of the front doors. Like the sedan, the hatchbacks were available in two and four door forms. As I understand, other markets had digital speedometers, but in Canada we stuck with analog.
I have never driven the Canadian market Echo hatchback, but I did have a go at a Yaris rental twenty some years ago in England. Despite being equipped with the smaller 1.0L engine, it was quite willing and zippy in that wonderful way that great small hatchbacks are. I recall my wife pleading motion sickness to dissuade me from tossing it down the narrow English backroads. If it had not been for Toyota’s strong resale values, I might have owned one of these over the years.
While the front is pretty standard, the rear is radically different. Is it a buggy or a modest truck? I have to imagine that this customization was the result of a rear end collision and attempting to retain the car. There is a lot going on here with a fabricated cage structure, trailer fenders and a big rig horizontal exhaust stack. I bet the driving experience could be altered a bit with far less weight on the rear end. It would likely make winter hand brake turns easier to do if nothing else.
Our second example goes the other way with a bog stock rear end (beyond the aftermarket wheels) and a customized front. You can see where a partial re-paint did not quite match perfectly. To be fair, this color appears to be a tough one to get right in all lighting.
Someone has grafted the front end from a post-2003 facelift Toyota Echo sedan onto the hatchback, and the workmanship was quite well done. It’s hard to say whether this was a matter of personal taste or the result of an early front-end collision, with sedan parts proving easier to find than hatchback components. Regardless, as I walked up to it from a distance, I didn’t recognize it at all, and my first thought was that I was looking at some obscure Japanese-market model we never got.
I found these cars about 100kms and 6 months apart. If the owners had found each other at the right time, they might have been able to make a very nice and stock gold Echo hatchback. But instead we have two interesting customs. What do you prefer, the stock or custom one?
The pickup version is interesting as it has had everything from the B-pillar back cut off. It looks to have a completely new “frame” to which the rear axle and springs were attached. If I was going that far I’d have made the bed longer and more useful. I’ve thought of doing something like this with a rear-end damaged xB. Strictly in my head only…
That would be a homebrew version of the bB Open Deck:
https://www.theautopian.com/toyotas-only-production-vehicle-with-a-midgate-was-wonderful-and-had-bonkers-ads-with-golden-mermen/
The flatbed version reminds me of the Volvo 544-based A-traktor conversions that were hand-built in Sweden as a legal loophole.
https://static-cdn.sr.se/images/183/08166069-97c5-4beb-a67b-fd4a04489382.png?preset=1024×576
I also though A-traktor, although in the land of Red Green it could be a very basic repair of a car that got rear ended.
Instead of building a nice hatchback, they could have put together an Echo Crew Cab. That would be something interesting! You can carry your good and your friends too….
It’s not limited to Alberta…Behold the Echo CrewCab! What Toyota won’t build, the people will…
Nice one. The use of expanding spay foam is a sure sign of quality in a custom car.
This is an Echo with a much more fun cargo setup. And it is named ‘FunCargo’ … and coming soon to Québec https://www.mangaautoimport.com/vehicule-usage/toyota-funcargo-2001/5092753/
That’s quite pricey. You could get these here in Germany for less than half. They’re badged as Toyota Yaris Versos:
https://www.autouncle.de/de/gebrauchtwagen/Toyota/Yaris%20Verso They’re Toyota’s replacement for a similar small bus-type vehicle once produced by their daughter company Daihatsu called the MOVE. Toyota 3- and the smaller 4-cylinder engines are of Daihatsu design.
Japanese automakers are notorious for ignoring foreign vocabularies, before naming their products. Mitsubishi made the mistake of naming their sport utility vehicle the Pajero which is Spanish slang for something between Clown, Jerk and Masturbator, wondering why they had difficulty marketing these in Spanish-speaking countries.
Verso in Italian means something like a lunatic’s grimace or similar
That does seem quite pricey. I think one could import something similar for thousands less themselves. Funny about the Mitsubishi Pajero name in Spanish.
Yes it costs almost as much as it did when new in 2001 but we never got the Verso model in Canada .Finding an Echo in good rust free condition is mission impossible here . It’s no surprise that the rear section is gone, and I suspect the front strut towers must be rotted out too . Any old basic Japanese car with low km easily sells for over 10k cad .
The reason as to why that Echo’s nearly rust-free is because it just got off the boat directly from Japan, obviously being right hand drive. Japanese vehicle owners generallly follow maintenance schedules with religious fervor and at that milage (if the rather easy to tamper with electronic odometer was left alone), it practically isn’t even broken in yet. Still, that’s quite a bit of cash they’re asking. As abundant as these are in Japan, because of performing the world’s strictest inspections, you should be able to get these directly imported from there, at a reasonable price. U.S. citizens do it quite frequently now. I don’t know about Canada’s import taxation which probably justifies the price asked?
Here in Germany, if an old car of this type shows up with genuinely low milage, you’d have to beware, because it’s most likely that an elderly person has owned it. If your first test drive demands that your leg’s applying unusually high pressure on the clutch pedal, that would confirm an overheated pressure plate, typical of elderly ownership. Short trips between shopping and maybe church would demand compensating frequent oil changes which most likely didn’t happen.
If a shop sees a woman or elderly person arrive, it isn’t unusual anymore that the vehicle leaves the shop with pretend maintenance performed, even
Of course, that blue one reminds me of The Blueberry.
My kids loved that show. I always thought it was odd they used a Canadian only market car for it.
Yeah – for a show set in “Santa Barbara” 🙂
I am surprised there’s enough strength in what remains. There doesn’t look to be much in the way of reinforcing; still I guess you wouldn’t carry much weight on a flatbed that size. Just as long as it doesn’t flex behind the doors.
I am no engineer but it does look a little sparse. They have attempted some triangulation though which likely helps.
Pretty cool to see Hot Rodding still going on anywhere .
I love little cars and ‘Hot Hatches’ are hard to beat in fun and utility .
If mine that tray back would have a fiddle and tie down loops to make it more useful than cosmetic .
Cut down autos were a fairly common thing in the 50’s & 60’s, then I moved to California where they’re demons for registering / titling vehicles “out of class”
-Nate