Anyone know where Crumpy's ute is?

The 1982 Toyota Hilux that played a starring role in Barry Crump's first television advertisement. Photo / Supplied

Toyota New Zealand is keen to find the red 1982 Hilux used in the first television commercial starring the unflappable bushman-poet Barry Crump and his city slicker sidekick Lloyd 'Scotty' Scott. They are also hunting for the yellow 1983 model used in the second commercial, with the same comedic duo.

A new marketing campaign is about to be filmed to launch the 2021 Hilux, and Toyota wants to include one or both iconic utes.

Toyota New Zealand's general manager of marketing, Andrew Davis, said the odds were that both Hiluxes were still going strong, given their reputation as being virtually indestructible.

"We know the yellow Hilux was sold on Trade Me in 2016," he said.

"Someone, somewhere, will know who owns either one of these vehicles. We may have parted company with them a few decades ago, but we feel we still have an unbreakable bond with them."

The Crumpy and Scotty Hilux commercials were ground-breaking in their day, he added, and won many advertising awards. The campaign was so loved and successful that the pairing of the two characters with Hilux continued for 12 years.

Recently the commercials featured in NZ On Screen's Top 10 TV Ads from 1960 to 2020. Younger viewers who never saw the them at the time can find them at: https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/crumpy-scotty-toyota-ad

Anyone who has an idea where either of the Hiluxes could be now is asked to contact the marketing team at Toyota New Zealand through private message to the Toyota New Zealand Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ToyotaNZ).