Electrifying the Past: Johnny 5’s 1972 Toyota Hilux Conversion

Dan Coronado . June 28, 2024 . Electric Vehicle Features

Save ArticleLogin to save it

A 1972 Toyota Hilux, Electrified!

Looking down the hillside, I see a small, old, brown Toyota pickup in the distance approaching me through the windy hills of Fallbrook, California. There’s a custom dirt jumper mountain bike mounted to a custom steel bed rack in the truck bed, and everything about this truck is custom, yet it looks and feels OEM.

As this 1972 Toyota Hilux is heading up a gravel driveway with only rear wheel drive, the truck performs quite well while climbing up the steep grade, in spite of not being a 4×4. The BFG 31-inch Mud-Terrain tires mounted on Bezos Speed and Machine steel wheels definitely help with grip, and even though it’s an EV, the squeaking of the frame and suspension and sound of these big tires on the ground disguise its electric conversion well. Now powering this 52-year-old workhorse is a Tesla small drive unit paired with a 33kWh battery pack salvaged from a BMW i3.

Its imperfections are what actually make it perfect. The natural patina from over 50 years of wear has been glossed over by a Poppy’s matte finish coating to help keep the truck looking relevant to its original ’70s era. It’s a truck that takes you back in time, but interestingly enough, to a time that actually never existed. A full immersion into a world that is new, but feels original—like it was always meant to be that way.

With flashes of the modern world, you see a carbon back panel on the dash and an iPad for a screen, but somehow none of it feels out of place. It’s as if it were the equivalent of an app update that didn’t come with this tech, and more of the feeling of a software upgrade than a hardware upgrade. As you look around the interior of the vehicle, it’s not the car that’s going to win best in show, but it is the one that you’ll want to take home to show off to your father.

The truck’s imperfections make it perfect—but those 31-inch mud tires make it even better.

This truck is a conversation starter, one that captivates an audience and demands attention by its originality and not by flashy or useless features. It has exactly what you need, and nothing you don’t. It’s a functional truck that you can take on errands to the hardware store and throw wood, rock, and dirt in the truck bed without worrying if you can get the job done. It’s an EV that even your overly loyal gas-head friend will have a hard time not appreciating, because it simply works, as any old truck should.

The builder of this ’72 Hilux is John “Johnny 5” Garcia. He calls her “Luxi” and has owned the vehicle since 2007. Luxi’s original motor was seized when he purchased it, and it was stored for 15 years before he even started this conversion. In those 15 years he had mocked up many gas engines but gave up on the idea, and decided to do the EV conversion in February of 2022. It was an impressively fast process, and Johnny completed this build in just 5 months’ time. Seeing that Johnny 5 is a car industry veteran and can do all of his fabrication himself, his pace was impressive, but not surprising.

“I decided to get into the EV space around 2008 when I was frustrated with constantly rebuilding engines,” John says. “Although I loved engines for their sound (the power and just sheer mechanical operation), I wanted something more reliable when it came to having high horsepower and would be very easy to maintain. My first inspiration for electric was from the RC car world. Watching my friend’s brushless RC absolutely annihilate its gas counterpart was my selling ticket. I knew I wanted that kind of power and reliability, plus simplicity in my real car. The reason I picked the Toyota Hilux was because I had it for a long time and could never decide on a powerplant. I went back and forth with turbo 22re engines to small-block Chevy engines to even a V-8 4.7 liter Tundra engine. It was destined that I used the truck as the EV platform of choice. Also, I’ve always been a mini-truck and Toyota pickup guy, so deep down all I really wanted was a 400hp Toyota pickup that I can get stuff from Home Depot on occasion and daily drive without too much trouble.”

Johnny 5 said it was a fairly easy project overall, and stated that the biggest obstacle of the build was the truck’s 12v chassis harness that had to be custom built. The truck’s entire wiring harness is all brand new using Deutsch connectors for durability and built in the simplest way possible, but it was still incredibly difficult to make. Tying all the wires together into one harness was a time consuming task and big challenge in so many ways. He also used a lot of different Toyota parts from newer trucks like a high-beam lever, seatbelt buckles from a 2000s-era Tacoma, and he utilized 3D printing for things like the turning signal lever that was printed in black and stylized to look more OEM.

While this is a fully functioning build, Johnny 5 still have plans to modify “Luxi,” including a new long travel front suspension and modified rear suspension.

While this is a fully functioning build, Johnny 5 still has plans for modifications to Luxi. He wants to add long travel front suspension, as well as modified rear suspension for long travel. The plan is to eventually turn into a prerunner because of Johnny’s love and personal history with building vehicles for the desert. The Hilux actually blew an axle during the process of writing this article, which in turn took out the differential making it the third differential replacement since he completed the Hilux in the fall of 2022. “I guess I just like speed a little too much sometimes,” Johnny said. “But isn’t that why we build these things?”

Johnny 5 plans to get into aviation next, and recently bought an aircraft to replicate the fuselage on to build a full electric aircraft kit plane to sell through his company J5 Dynamics. “It’s gonna be a big endeavor, but well worth the efforts!” We’ll keep in touch, and maybe we will be featuring an electric plane build from Johnny in the future.

Its imperfections are what actually make it perfect.

The carbon black panel on the dash and an iPad for a screen somehow look out of place.

SPECS

OWNER

John Garcia
1972 Toyota Hilux
Vehicle name: “Luxi”
Club affiliation: SoCal EV’s
Weight: 2,777 pounds
Time to convert: 5 months
Business: J5 Dynamics

MOTOR/DRIVETRAIN

2017 Tesla Model S rear small drive unit
335 HP
357 torque
Motor controller, T2C with iPad dash
0-60mph in 5.5 seconds
90ah 33kwh battery pack complete from BMW i3 with factory box
Modified contactor setup to handle higher amps
Stock Tesla Model S, DC-DC
Stock Tesla Model S 10kw charger

CHASSIS/SUSPENSION

Fabrication work all done by J5 Dynamics
Custom DeDion straight axle
Mounting of motor, battery pack, DC-DC, charger ext.
Brakes, manual no booster, stock brakes in front, Honda accord disc in rear with custom E-brake to factory Hilux E-brake handle
Rear hubs, Model 3
Axles, stock Model S front left axles
Rear leaf springs from straight axle front 4X4 Toyota pickup
Stock front suspension

WHEELS/TIRES