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Toyota Hilux trucks from the 80s and 90s are famous online. Why?

31:59

Ben Brock Johnson
Dean Russell
Paul Vaitkus
Amory Sivertson

April 04, 2025

Toyota Hilux trucks used by military groups. — Yemeni fighters loyal to the Saudi-backed Yemeni president pose for a picture in the back of a Toyota pickup truck, raising their machine guns on April 15, 2017, on the road leading to Khaled Ibn Al-Walid base, 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of the government-held Red Sea port town of Mokha which pro-government forces retook in February. The Khaled Ibn Al-Walid camp, one of the biggest in Yemen, sits on a key road linking Mokha to the Huthi-controlled port city of Hodeida and third city Taez, which is under rebel siege. Loyalist forces launched a major offensive on January 7 to retake Yemen's 450-kilometre (280-mile) coastline as far as Midi, close to the Saudi border. (Photo by SALEH AL-OBEIDI / AFP) (Photo by SALEH AL-OBEIDI/AFP via Getty Images)

In April of 2024, a group of aid workers were killed by Israeli Defense Forces while bringing food to Central Gaza. The IDF had alleged that its military analysts had identified a gunman on top of one of the trucks carrying supplies, suggesting it was a military vehicle, not an aid vehicle.

In the online debate following the event, a familiar trope popped up: arguing over whether one of the aid trucks a Toyota Hilux. The reason? In military conflict around the globe, the Hilux is a familiar character. Whether you're a U.S. designated terrorist group, a "freedom fighter," or someone else involved in direct armed conflict, you probably know about the Hilux.

Endless Thread wanted to know why, and how, this happened. So we took a journey beyond America's commercial pickup truck identity to understand why beyond our borders, the Hilux is the truck of choice.