Polar Expedition Toyota Tacoma

May 7, 2014 Joseph Dale 2177 Views

When you work for a dealership that sells exotics and other varieties of vehicles, there tends to be some ridiculous things that come in. Usually it is just a twin turbocharged Gallardo or a rare classic Ferrari. In this case it was a one of a kind Guinness World Record setting Toyota Tacoma. The Tacoma set the record for fastest time traveled to the South Pole, so this should give you an idea on why it looks the way it does. I heard that we were getting some crazy off-road Toyota and in about two months it had finally arrived.

Photos and Words by: Josh Smylie

Right away the truck was breaking necks and the entire dealership came out to see what was being delivered. Its not everyday you see a Toyota equipped with military grade steel to keep ice from piercing through the body panels. On top of that it is equipped with a front winch just in case. One of the more noticeable features of the truck other than its size is that the bed has been replaced with a 300 gallon fuel tank because there are no gas stations in Antarctica.

From the rear to the front there is nothing that really shows that it is a Tacoma. The custom front bull-bar gives an aggressive look. Not to mention that it hangs over the trunks of lesser vehicles in traffic and without paying attention could shatter the back window of a Suburban. To fill out the wider fenders and conquer large mountains of frozen water, the Tacoma is fitted with 44″ Mickey Thompson Off-Road tires on custom made 17″ wheels.

Inside all four seats were replaced with OMP WRC Racing Seats along with Sabelt harnesses up front and OMP harnesses in the rear. The vehicle is also equipped with two different forms of GPS systems to map out and document the trip. The original map is still stored inside the GPS so if you are brave and have the money you could try and beat a world record.

Throughout the interior there are cameras mounted to record all that goes on for “science”. A multi-camera recording system is mounted behind the driver seat and can save video footage onto SD Cards. Housed under the factory radio are the switches which control when the activate the different air compressor features for the front and rear diffs as well as if you need to fill up a a tire. Finally the one thing this off-road beast needed was power to make up for the weight that was added on. The engine is the 4.0L V6 mounted with a TRD Supercharger to crank out a total of 341hp. Doesn’t sound like much but when your average speed to break records is 29mph it is plenty of power.