Toyota loves an easter egg, especially on its trucks—the latest even have the words "Badass Trucks" written out in Morse code on the base of the windshield. Most have been identified, but on the first-drive program for the new Tacoma, we spotted two that seemingly haven't been discovered yet.
On the TRD Pro, the outline of the state of North Carolina is stamped on to the left-hand front upper control arm, while California is featured on the right-hand arm. Sheldon Brown, chief engineer for the Tacoma, tells Motor1 that these parts were designed by TRD in North Carolina and built in the company's facility in Costa Mesa, California. The parts needed to be differentiated side to side in some way, and someone figured that rather simply stamping "L" and "R," they could have a bit of fun.
"[TRD is] primarily working on racing on Sunday, NASCAR and all the other events we support," Brown explains. "And they had a little bit of capacity and we said, 'Hey, you know, we got some really cool things I think that we could collaborate and work on.'"
One collaboration was these billet upper control arms, finished in this neat shade of red. You can see them prominently with the truck sitting on the ground, but it'll be hard to spot the North Carolina and California outlines. We only spotted them on a rolling chassis with no bodywork to obscure the top surface. Maybe if you squint, you can see the outlines, but to get a really good look, you'll have to take a wheel off.
Brown says other TRD Pros, like the Sequoia, Tundra, and coming 4Runner have these same parts. In addition, the new Tacoma and 4Runner Trailhunter use the same upper arms albeit with a bronze finish and Trailhunter badges instead of the TRD logo.
The Tacoma is chock full of easter eggs, and we bet there are yet more than have already been discovered. It's easy to stamp something into a part, so why not do it wherever you can?
