1980 Toyota Dolphin 300-T Review - A Retro Way To See The World! 

The third axle was called the "tag axle" if I remember correctly. Used to see a LOT of those on the road in the 80's. Thanks Zack!

Wow, these tag axle Dolphins are absurdly rare. I've seen maybe 2 or 3 of them for sale, and never seen one in the flesh. Can't believe you got one to review, always wanted to see how they differ inside from the shorter models! Awesome video. If you are thinking of reviewing more RVs or campers, a restored Spartan trailer would be a great alternative to an Airstream. Very historically interesting and imo the design is much cooler than Airstreams. And if you have any interest in reviewing airplanes, they made a few that are perhaps the prettiest planes to ever fly (good luck finding one though). There's also an RV out there someone created by tacking the front half of a Jeep FC-170 onto a 25 foot Spartan which is one of the most ridiculous looking vehicles I have ever seen a picture of, no idea who owns it now though or if it's in any kind of running condition.

What a neat 43 year old survivor...it's cool that it's still out there visiting parks and tooling around the American landscape!

Toyota needs to make these campers again.

4:10 the original AM radio was in the lower spot, where you pulled the plastic plate and the original cassette player was above, where the actual radio is.

Living in a camper is the way to go, I own and live in a 2003 R-vision Thumper travel trailer, it's only 24ft long but it's big enough for me and my sister to live in while we are getting our life together after a house fire we had in November 2022, aye it only cost me $5K , can't beat that. Great videos it's nice to see someone doing reviews on old campers

_Mr. Regular voice_ BRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOWNNNNNNNN

This is a cool switch up review! We need more goofy stuff like this in your channel lol.

I love that thing, the color of the camper inner walls is such a great choice, the entire 're condition' of the camper looks great!

How's the frame? 🤔 I had an 1980 4x4 white w/gold/brown stripes. My complaint was rust & 4speed tranny. Needed overdrive/drove turnpike/gas hog. It WAS a tank in the snow..Had high ground clearance👍. That guy did nice job inside! Good for him! If he paints the wheels, wont look so bad.

I bought a 1989 dolphin camper week ago today. A six cylinder. It’s one axle with duel wheels and yes, it’s the correct axle. I love the interior of this one. My bath is in the back. I need to get back up and side cameras.

Wow Steve made this a sleeper in more ways than one...from the outside its cool n all but damn the work done on the interior is incredible imo, i like his style esp the turquoise, reminds me of a 50's interior coulour for a teardrop trailer or something similar...i like it, dude has style

There's a person in my city that has one of these as a single axle version. It's in such poor shape we nicknamed it Lone Star, as a reference to Spaceballs. It's great

The middle would have had the tachometer if optioned....my guess.

That's a real time capsule ❤ ❤ From Bangladesh 🇧🇩

Thanks for this video! I always wondered why some of these had 3 axles. Apparently, Toyota updated the "death" dually in 1986(?) with the 6 lug floating rear axle.

GREAT REVIEW!!

These things are so cool. I saw a pretty cool flatbed dually one not too long ago

I'm loving this thing. It's so beautiful

A buddy of mine had one of these in all its defile to glory, might even still have it. What a cool weird little car

Interesting, I didn't know these could be had with an extra axle. Somehow, adding an extra axle and more weight/body probably made this even slower. I'm surprised it can even hit 60. I can feel the 1980 through the screen but the modernizations look nice. Usually the body rots out before the mechanicals give up so this one is surprising to see in decent shape.

So much retro coolness

with the affordable housing crisis getting worse, a modern version of this as a Toyota Tacoma camper would be awesome

To most people a Toyota motor home built in the 1980s looks like a cute and charming recreational vehicle. And for the most part this is exactly what they are. But there was a fatal flaw built into these early 1980 motor homes was that caused heartbreak and disaster for hundreds of people. As the motor home size was expanded past 18 feet, the original Toyota pickup chassis which was only rated at 1/2 ton capacity, was simply not up to the job. Specifically the rear axle began to fail. When this happened bad things occurred to good people. Completely empty, these little campers have a marginal carrying capacity for people and possessions. This meant that the typical motor home left the driveway in probably an overloaded condition. This was normally not a problem because the performance of the camper insured that slow speeds would be maintained on the trip. The hundred horsepower four-cylinder engine would not move three tuns of house in a very fast pace. As the size of the camper increased it wasn't long until the rear axles began to fail. The camper manufacturers compensated by adding a second set of wheels on the axle. This created a dual set of tires on each side. However this did not correct the problem. The problem lie in the fact that the bearings and the axle itself were just not heavy-duty enough to carry the load. Excessive load caused the bearings to overheat, fail, and then disintegrate with disastrous consequences. Victims of this problem reported that the wheels would actually leave the truck. This was such a serious problem that the national highway safety administration became involved and issued a recall of certain Toyota motor home models. There was no way to predict when the axle would fail. Some units failed almost immediately, some units went thousands and thousands of miles, and some units have not failed yet. However any Toyota motor home without the heavy-duty axle should be considered as a suspect vehicle. There is an easy way to tell if your Toyota RV has a safe axle. First of all, all models of Toyota RV built after 1987 were built with the upgraded safe axle. All models of Toyota motor home built in 1984 and before are required to have the upgraded axle due to the safety recall. In 1985 and 1986 some models were built with the upgraded safe axle and some were not. So it is up to you to be careful when inspecting the axle on any Toyota motor home you are considering to buy. A simple inspection of the axle itself will tell you if it is safe or needs to be replaced. The safe axle will have six lug nuts, the unsafe axles were built with five lug nuts. The safe axle will also have a protruding center hub that has a ring of nuts around the outer edge. If the axles on the Toyota motor home you are considering only have five lug nuts and the center does not stick out and have a ring of bolts on the center hub, keep looking for another camper to purchase. Article Source: EzineArticles.com/4065393

The radio is on the wrong spot. You can see it has a weird purple cover over it. My guess is they move it to make room for the added ac vents you mention right after.

Everytime a dolphin goes up for sale in my area, I always get jelous haha

These are so cool!

This is really cool. I really like that it's so BROWN era outside but real nice inside. Not tempting to break into.

I seen one of these not long ago and I was confused as hell. I thought it was some weird custom build some dude did that in his backyard on a ancient Tacoma or Toyota Pickup. cause weird stuff pops up in my area .

I would locate the full floating rear for it and forget the worries 👍

i like those motorhomes.

We had one of these come up in our mountain town.

Another Toyota camper and compliments to the owner the camper interior very nice in that very nice light blue an also spacious and ee can't forget the 20R motor under the bonnet

That thing is AMAZING.

That thing is sick

So cool

So sick👍

Think the weird radio area is for a ch radio

I wish Toyota made a full-size van in the US so they can make these again

Thats my personality in a vehicle

You should get a Toyota Chinook to review

Bro, imagine sleeping right above the driver😂(assuming that’s a sleeping spot above the driver)

1:21 are you sure those are the only thing they did? That carburetor looks pretty fresh.

Um. Try taking this cross-country… Say, from out East to out West… across the plains in a heavy headwind (Throw in some crosswinds for good measure). Now pull a long grade… It needn’t be 12 or 15%. Make it a 3 or 4% grade, for any length of time. Ask me how I know that you will wish had stayed home…

4:04 CB radio maybe?

100hp (maybe) and a 4 speed moves all that!

All it needs is a 2.8 Cummins with a five or six speed transmission.

Imagine teaching someone stick with one of these

When do ya want to do a Honda monkey 🙊 or my winnebago 😂

I can't imagine how slow this thing is. 85hp ! How the Hell does it go uphill ?? You don't need a 5spd in a vehicle that can't exceed 60mph. It's in amazing condition 👍😆 Ummmm that's an after market radio, derrrr

It is rear wheel drive because original van was rear wheel drive

"Obviously the front steer axle" theres no axle there unless it 4wd bruh.

That interior color is nauseating

Cut detail.

this thing would be so fugging slow! hell the 90's 4cy 4runners were dangerous on the highway this would kill you!