bladebid Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 I joined a few weeks ago and I really like this site. I do not own a TRV as of yet. I was offered a 1985 Toyota Mini cruiser with 48,000 original miles on it. Everything looks and works fine. New Rubber all the way around and it is really clean. Has the upgraded axel and all. I used to go camping as a kid, we used a popup from relatives. After being in the Army for 4 years, I lost my urge to camp. Since I have kids now, and this RV came about, I changed my mind. Is the Mini-Cruiser a good model? Is $3000 a fair price? The truck and camper are rust free and no rust on the frame. Any thoughts would be greatly apprciated. Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astropcs Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 Mini-Cruiser was made by RBR and has gone out of buisness after the axle recall around 1989, I have 1 myself, the price is fair if most everything works.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtle Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Mini-Cruiser was made by RBR and has gone out of buisness after the axle recall around 1989, I have 1 myself, the price is fair if most everything works.. Just to add a little.... They were manufactured in Mishawaka Indiana (which is just east of South Bend). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futar Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 An 1983 RBR was my first Toyota MH back in 1990. It wasn't made very well. The roof sagged I'm assuming because of a wood frame. The emergency brake was run through a cheap welded metal rod. Things like that. The rear springs sagged until I added a leaf and there were no rear shocks until I welded mounts on. Don't get me wrong, I had it for ten years until New England road salts dissolved it. So it really didn't owe me anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogk Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 I joined a few weeks ago and I really like this site. I do not own a TRV as of yet. I was offered a 1985 Toyota Mini cruiser with 48,000 original miles on it. Everything looks and works fine. New Rubber all the way around and it is really clean. Has the upgraded axel and all. I used to go camping as a kid, we used a popup from relatives. After being in the Army for 4 years, I lost my urge to camp. Since I have kids now, and this RV came about, I changed my mind. Is the Mini-Cruiser a good model? Is $3000 a fair price? The truck and camper are rust free and no rust on the frame. Any thoughts would be greatly apprciated. Rich Rich, I bought my 1984 20 ft. Toyota mini cruiser 15 yrs ago[from my dad] for 5,000 which was in the same shape as the one you are speaking of,it has overhead air + dash,rear door layout cruise,4 speed manual. It still runs well,has above factory specs on compression,and 100k+ miles. RBR the camper manufacturer did an ok job putting them together . They just went bottom shelf on all of the components , but that era of Toyota trucks is litteraly comercial grade.I have been offered 5,000 for it recently . They are very functional,and still get the milage of a regular car,I cant take mine out without being pestered about selling it! Californians tend to be quite rude though. The axel upgrade retales for more than 3grand I still have the reciept from when my Dad took it in to the dealer for the upgrade.I think it was 3200 and they charged him 50 bucks for the prorated wear on the brake pads was it. I think it was worth closer to 10 thousand when I got it ,but I have a great Dad.You could use that for a few years and get every penny back, but you will likely just keep it forever like I probably will. GOOD LUCK! ROGER....happy trails Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldiesel Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 we have an 86 Minicruiser,just returned from a 2500 mile trip with it and we love it.We bought it without any knowledge of the problems that all of these Toyotas have,didnt find this treasure trove of information until after we bought it and probably paid more than we should have.We discovered after we bought it and drove it 600 miles home that the roof was beyond repair, i ended up taking the complete flat part of the roof right off and to the dump, then built a new one in its place! A good feature is that the side walls have aluminum square tubing frame work with the wall itself built of thin panaling over 3/4"blue foam insulation with more thin paneling with thin fiberglass on the outside all sandwiched together.Because the framing is aluminum we did not have the rotten wood in the walls that so many here have shown wth the dolphins and other stick built models.Water leaks seem to almost the only serious problems for all makes.Other people have reported wooden construction in some of the earlyier RBR campers ,i dont know when they went to aluminum,hpoe youes has it. The roof on ours did have 1x3 boards in the roof with 3/4"steel square tube reinforcing where the A/C unit sat,but the roof had been leaking so long that the steel was rusted thru and the wood was also rotten.What i found in taking it all apart was that previous repairs were poorly done to the point of actualy having holes the size of a quarter corroded thru the aluminum skin because who ever put house roofing stuff never got it sealed and water got between the sealer and the aluminum and stayed there tilll it finally corroded thru making even worse leaks .Examine the roof carefully the weight of the A/C does tend to make most of them sag some and if i lived in an area where i didnt need it i would have left it off.Other water leaks such as around window frame and corner mouldings are not a big deal if you are lucky enough to have the aluminum framing instead of wood The price sounds fair if the roof is good,the little trucks have a very good reputation and the 4 cylinder is easy to maintain and is often compaired to diesels for longevity. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braden Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 Remember the delta mini cruiser made especially for the philippine military as part of the japanese reparation goods? with today's gasoline prices, it would not be a bad idea for toyota motors philippines to make them again. of course, with the permission of tmc japan. the body dies and stamp molds were ordered scrapped when the quota was reached. pretty sure, there is somebody with the blueprints of the vehicle much like the toyota phaeton when the second world war broke, one employee managed to secure and safeguard the prints. from the save blue prints, they were able to replicate the car that is now on display at the toyota museum in nagoya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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