The year before I graduated from high school (1969) I worked in the service department of a Datsun/Jeep dealership. The Datsun factory rep was a pretty cool guy to talk with.
One time during these BS sessions he told us about an oil drilling company from the US that was working in the midlle east having tried ford and chevy trucks out in the oil fields, and how they just didn't last. Someone got the bright idea to try Datsun trucks over there, and they were amazed that the little Datsuns held up 2-3 times longer than the ford, or chevy trucks did in that harsh environment. The payload was lighter, but of course they probably overloaded them to haul the same things. That was my first exposure to Japanese built, engineered trucks, and I paid attention to that little bit of information.
To contradict that glowing report of Japanese trucks, my father worked in the truck garage of a local chevy dealership, and they sold the Mitsubishi built LUV trucks, they were just a rolling pile of crap. The engines were always failing in them, and being an an OHC design were a real pain to work on. In the rust belt they, like may Japanese cars, and trucks of the era just rotted away in a few years. Holes so big in the sheet metal you could toss your hat through one, and not hit the side of the hole.......
I can't say much bad about Toyota, because my wife's Vibe bought new in 2008 has nearly 350,000 miles on it, and has only required preventative maintenance items in all that time. In the last 2 years she's driven it from Ohio to Alabama, and back 3 times, never missed a beat.
