Toyota’s trucks have a legendary reputation for ruggedness and reliability. Years ago, Top Gear taught us that a Toyota will keep on running after the most harrowing treatment, whether drowned in the ocean or dropped from an exploding tower block. Or in the case of one truck in Los Angeles—melted in an all-consuming wildfire.
The news coming out of Los Angeles has been harrowing in the past week. Fires have raged across the county, with emergency services fighting around the clock to save lives and limit the damage. Unfavorable conditions have sadly seen entire neighborhoods destroyed, with many losing their homes, their cars, and all their worldly possessions to boot.
Local resident Brandon Sanders knows that pain better than most. “On Thursday we confirmed that we lost our house and everything in it to the Eaton Fire,” he shared after returning to the scorched earth that was formerly his home. Amidst the rubble and ash, though, there was a survivor standing tall—Brandon’s 2013 Toyota Tacoma.
“I was surprised to see that the truck was standing at all and not a burned-out wreck,” Brandon told me on Sunday night. “It was parked right up against some bushes in the front so I thought that it would be a total loss for sure.” Despite the Eaton Fire torching over 14,000 acres, including Brandon’s entire home, somehow, the Toyota was able to hold fast.
“When we went back in the day after the fire we were surprised to find it still standing, but we didn’t have the keys—they were burned in the fire,” Brandon explains. “The exterior plastic was clearly badly melted, but we were able to pop the hood and see that the radiator and everything behind it looked okay, so we figured we’d have a key made and give it a shot.”
Thankfully, a helpful dealer was able to sort this out.
“Envision Toyota of West Covina made me a key free of charge from the VIN,” says Brandon. “I got back to the truck yesterday, put the key in the cylinder, and it fired right up.”
Post-fire, the truck is looking a little worse for wear. The whole front bumper is missing, with only melted fragments remaining. The headlight lenses are scorched and deformed, and the original grill was clearly liquified at some point, with the Toyota badge having sagged down to the bottom of the opening. While the front of the truck saw the worst of it, the rest of the body was filthy and deformed from the heat, too. Fender flares have bubbled up, and the taillights show some damage from the intense heat.
Amazingly, despite the high heat that liquified much of the front end, the truck is pretty much fully functional. “Right now, it is 100% driveable,” Brandon explains. “Everything works, even the headlights and blinkers” Obviously, it’s no longer in showroom condition, but he’s not necessarily in a rush to change that. “I haven’t decided if I’m going to have it repaired right away,” says Brandon. “We lost our home in the fire so having an additional working vehicle is a great asset so I may just leave it as is at least for a while.”
In any case, the post-apocalyptic aesthetic proved popular when he shared photos of the truck online. “Folks on Reddit, Facebook, and Instagram seem to be in favor of leaving it as is indefinitely as it looks very ‘badass,'” he says.
There’s no question as to the devastation that tore through Altadena as the Eaton Fire raged. Crews are still working to contain the blaze, along with several others still burning throughout Los Angeles County. The sheer impact of the fire is readily visible in Brandon’s own video below, which clearly shows the bare rubble left behind after the flames tore through the neighborhood. It also shows his Tacoma firing up at the first turn of the key.
It’s wild to think that the Tacoma was able to suffer such heat and survive. Conditions were hot enough to melt the front bumper into a puddle, and yet the engine bay remained largely unscathed. Similarly, the taillights started to melt, but the tires survived intact. The upshot of this is that Brandon has a reliable truck to get around in as he and the neighborhood work through the aftermath of the harrowing fire.
What was once a simple Toyota Tacoma is now an eye-catching relic of one of Los Angeles’ most harrowing weeks.
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First we had to worry about buying a rusty car from the north. Then we had to worry about buying a flooded car from the south.
Now we also have to worry about buying a melted car from the west?
I’m glad they have something material that was saved from the fire. A little bit of luck goes a long way.
Badass. Drive it as is. Use it to help the firefighters. Hollywood can’t write a better add than that.
Some people sure do get all fired up about their cars.
I am going to hell for laughing at this
Don’t be surprised if a slightly melted, but running Tacoma is there waiting for you.
Wonder if this guy will end up with a new Tacoma courtesy of Toyota like the Tundra guy did. Easy marketing spend for them.
What happened with the Tundra guy?
See the comment from FlavouredMilk below. Looks like we both had similar thoughts at the same time.
My thoughts exactly. Toyota learned a lot from tearing down that million mile Tundra. This could be another great opportunity to learn what held up to the heat and what didn’t. Could be useful for emergency vehicle engineering.
https://www.motortrend.com/news/toyota-tundra-california-wildfire-replacement/
If I had a nickel for every time a Toyota truck notably survived a Californian wildfire, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.
I mean, if I had to guess, I’d brace for at least a few more nickels. The difference is whether they all get reported on from here and whether that’s your threshold for “notably”.