Spotted an odd 4Runner :-)

[teotwaki]

Spotted this thing at the 405 & 605 junction near Long Beach, California.

pretty normal looking but....



Zoom to the left

"Hilux SURF"


Zoom to the right

"SSR-G"

No badges on the doors. Had a left side steering wheel.

It is a most likely a fake Surf though. Had a V-8 badge up front. Maybe a 2004 US Model? Note the silver painted rear bumper center plastics.

 

[clinnet]

The Hilux Surf badge looks "unlevel".

 

[HB 4X4]

The Hilux Surf badge looks "unlevel".

I think that's just the angle of the shade/sunlight. You can see the angle of the light on the writing.

I do believe, however, these are just badge replacements. You can get them on eBay and from that Jason Burtman guy who sells all of the "bling bling" crap for your vehicle. Why? Who knows.

 

[Martinjmpr]

The Hilux Surf is the Hilux-based version of the 4runner that's sold outside of North America.

However, that looks exactly like a 4th gen Runner and it has CA plates so like the others my guess is it's a badge swap.

 

[teotwaki]

I took the photo and added some very level red lines at the pixel level to show that the letters in "Hilux" and "SURF" are indeed quite level and not crooked. Our very own CSI view where it stands for "Crooked SURF Investigation



The shadow effect on the letters makes the shiny thing look crooked. I tried to add a line to show the apparent angle that makes it look as if it was poorly installed

 

[teotwaki]

The Hilux Surf is the Hilux-based version of the 4runner that's sold outside of North America.

However, that looks exactly like a 4th gen Runner and it has CA plates so like the others my guess is it's a badge swap.

I don't think the overseas versions are sold with V-8s so based on the grill badge I figured it had to be a North American model, probably a 2003 or 2004.