Since nothing feels quite as good as crushing the earth for a good cause, it is with great pleasure (and apologies to, well, the ground) that we bring you a pair of skyscraping Toyota trucks brought to the 2014 SEMA show, each one created to call attention to worthy causes while creating new fissures in the planet’s crust.
Toyota Hiring Our Heroes Monster Truck
As huge as the Tonka truck detailed below is, it is absolutely dwarfed by the Toyota Hiring Our Heroes monster truck, designed and built to promote, as you might have guessed, the hiring of our nation’s military veterans. The truck, which debuted at the Daytona 500 earlier this year and has since been seen at other events nationwide, steamrolls on 66-inch tall tires wrapped around SWR wheels mounted to a custom-fabricated monster-truck chassis. It also features a driver-powered parking-spot locator, since it can park wherever the hell it wants to.
A supercharger was fitted to the Tundra’s 5.7-liter V-8, bringing output to a stout 580 horsepower, which may be barely enough to get the 10,000-pound truck moving. Otherwise, the modifications are rather light, and a livery was applied to promote the cause. Toyota points out that the air conditioning was left intact to keep occupants comfortable during long parade routes. How’d you like to be in the marching band right in front of that?
Toyota Tonka Tundra
Putting the “toy” in Toyota (and having the most fun-to-say name in all of SEMA) the Toyota Tonka Tundra pays homage to community first responders . . . because sirens and lights are so discreet. The truck is raised on a 10-inch lift kit and rides on 40-inch Toyo tires, while the red, yellow, and black body is festooned with Fab Four bumpers, an Addictive Desert Designs roof and bed rack, and Rigid Industries LED lighting with customized light show that is right at home in Vegas. The brave men and women who jump out of their fire trucks and ambulances to drive this thing will enjoy a Katzkin custom interior and, of course, upgraded audio, although they may need a fire station pole to get out.
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