Custom Order Tacos Do Exist - NUMMI

New guy checking in. Just took delivery of my Speedway Blue 4x4 Double Cab TRD Sport with Tow and the JBL 6 CD changer and steering wheel controls. Has the roof rack, carpets and wheel locks. Thought I was unique with the 4x4DC Speedway, but saw yesterday that ddel1 beat me to it.

Ordered it from the dealer on 10/30, arrived to them 1/7, picked up last night. Set up my ideal truck on Edmunds and on the toyota site, which went out to a few dealers. Most sent me back generic quote, apparently the websites don't pass on the color choice. When I emailed back with my ideal truck, several dealers listed what the had, or what they could dealer swap for. 1 guy said he could order it, take 8-12 weeks. I gambled with my time, gave him $500, and waited. Early December I got a 1/2/06 mfg date, with 15 - 20 days for delivery. Got an e-mail and call saturday, the truck was in.

Drove down last night, it was exactly as ordered, paid the man, and drove off in my new toy.


Was pretty thrilled, after reading here that nobody custom orders, it's all allotment. I expected the truck to be close, but not exact. Asked the dealer about it, he hinted that most dealers don't want to waste time ordering, prefer to push for the quicker sale, and most customers don't want to wait. Since this will be my weekend vehicle, I wasn't in a huge rush for it, and am happy I waited.

Researched here before I ordered, will continue to comb the archives for great information, already eyeing the rolling hard top tonneau cover, iPOD interface, fog lights, bed light............. Thanks to TN for providing a great spot for all this info.

Kicker is, I got to tour NUMMI with work on 1/4/06, and watch the trucks going down the line. Pretty cool, seeing a red std cab, a blue DC, and then a silver access cab rolling down the line, back to back to back, every 85 seconds or so. Bed arriving on time, engines dropping in. I originally expected to see a bucket each of Std Cab parts, ACab parts and DC parts, and the assembler had to pick. But no, they get one bucket of parts, with the correct parts in order for each different style of trucks.

Per the tour guide, all US and Canada tacomas are made there, with only the Bed coming in from the Mexico plant. (I've got to check my door sticker to see where mfg'd) They stamp body parts there for shipment to Mexico for them to assemble into Central American Tacos. Also, per the guide, the engines for the Tacos still come from Japan, and the corollas and Vibes get theirs from a US and one other plant.

If you're in the neighborhood, make time and reservations to see the NUMMI plant. The tour is kinda Disneyland, but you are actually on the floor, with Tacos above you, on your left and on your right. The welding robots were 35 feet away at times, the assemblers as close as 15 feet. You wait for parts to go past on forklifts and carts, occasionally you have to stop for an AGV, or at times the assemblers have to move to let an AGV pass. Well worth a couple of hours to see how easy it is to make a Taco, and what QC is in line so that most folks don't have letourneau's issues (I feel for you, since mine was made on the first day after a holiday, hope I don't feel your pain)

Thanks again for listening, and to TN for providing a place to share information