Ticket 2 Ride

[This is a story from 2014, let’s take another look.]

The former owner of the truck will never forget it. How could a truck he sold to a dealership come back to haunt him? It just so happens that ISIS prefers Toyota over Ford, in fact, seven out of ten terrorists surveyed prefer the Toyota over other truck brands.

I owned a Toyota vehicle and nowhere did it indicate that an anti-aircraft gun was an option or even referenced in the specifications. There’s obviously a market.

Terrorism demands a truck that can handles large loads, particularly able to haul large caliber cannons. Not just any midsized truck is up to the task of supporting an anti-aircraft gun, while still delivering good gas mileage and a pleasurable ride. The Ford may have been a better deal than a similar Toyota, this vehicle was certainly the right color.

For Wayback Wednesday, we’re taking a look back at a rather odd story about a plumber’s pickup truck being seen in Syria with a large gun mounted in the back. On the truck’s doors are signs advertising Mark-1 Plumbing. Video of this truck was seen on television and all over the internet, much to the irritation of the owner of Mark-1 Plumbing, Mark Oberholtzer, of Texas City, Texas. Oberholtzer’s plumbing company has been flooded with calls and faxes, many of them of a threatening nature. And to top it off, Stephen Colbert mentioned the situation on his nightly show, The Colbert Report, which ramped up the notoriety. Oberholtzer had had enough; he filed his lawsuit.

Oberholtzer would change his location and file the $1M lawsuit against the company that handled the purchase of his truck when he disposed of it months earlier. Oberholtzer indicated that when he went to remove his company’s lettering from the doors, he was told not to bother, that someone specializing in auto detailing would remove the lettering without damaging the paint. Apparently, that never happened.

The news story about this plumber’s truck triggered several different investigations about how this Ford F-250 truck made it from Texas to Syria, and how hundreds of trucks end up in the hands of terrorist organizations. The supply chain of vehicles to terrorist cells is an interesting one. Vehicles are in constant motion as they enter the auction and purchase network. The U.S. government has specialized units to track money and goods such as the Treasury Department’s Terror Financing Unit.

It’s no wonder that the Toyota Hilux is the go-to-truck for Islamic terrorists. It’s a very solid medium-size pickup known for its durability on difficult terrain. Never heard of the Hilux? I hadn’t either because it’s not usually sold in the U.S. because of a 25 percent tariff in effect since the Lyndon Johnson administration. The American markets get the Tundra and Tacoma versions that are made in Texas.

Oberholtzer’s lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount.

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[Just to point out the obvious, this is a satirical posting, ISIS and other such organizations inflicted a lot of violence and death across the region. In no way am I making light of this tragedy.]