Have you ever been driving around in your BMW E30 and thought, “I sure wish this BMW was a Toyota Tacoma”? I can’t say that I have ever had that thought, but before you scoff too hard at my absurd question, check out what some students in Alabama did. They clearly had that exact thought, and instead of sitting there like a bump on a log, they made a super rad sports car pickup truck mashup.

Has BMW ever made a pickup truck? 

As far as I can tell, BMW has never made a production pickup truck. However, BMW has made a couple of one-off pickups out of existing BMW sedans and SUVs. According to CarScoops, a group of students at Shelby County Career Tech Education Center (CTEC), outside of Birmingham, Alabama, decided they needed a BMW E30 and Toyota Tacoma Hybrid and set off to work. 

The students started with a 2001 Toyota Tacoma that had been out of commission for some time. They then took the nose of a defunct 1987 BMW E30 325i and slapped that bad boy right on the Toyota Tacoma. 

CarScoops reports say there is no definitive answer to where the idea for the swap came from. Still, in being from this part of Alabama myself, I feel like I have a pretty good idea of where the idea to make some variation of a pickup truck would come from. In a place so inundated with pickups, sometimes you just got to do something a little different. 

I’d rather have this BMW Tacoma over a 2001 Toyota Tacoma or a 1987 BMW E30 

As silly as this swap might seem, there was a lot of creativity and work that went into this project. According to CarScoops, the Tacoma BMW hybrid has earned a spot in the 2021 Alabam Auto show. 

If you really look at the photos, you’ll notice this isn’t some shade-tree mechanic duct tape job; these students did a really nice job here. The lines are clean, and the seams are tough to see. It’s easy to see how different these two vehicles are individually, but the combination makes the two wildly different styles work together. 

Save for the Punisher skull light covers; this mashup is so cool that it also conjures 911 Safari vibes. The raised front and brat-style package slowly turns this from a fun, slightly goofy project that feels like it could actually have legs. Imagine having an M-series power with the Toyota 4×4 drivetrain and chassis on something as nimble as an early model Tacoma. To finish off this badass mashup Sunday, this adventure beast has a pickup truck bed. This would be an absolute killer.

Car mashups are good for the car world

The automotive world can get a little lost from time to time. We get used to seeing the same things for so long that we forget to allow a little dreaming and creativity to affect how cars are designed and made. Even concept cars have become a bit stale. We need young “outsiders” to drop things like this into the mix to keep us thinking and refreshed—way to go, Bama.