Time Is Money: We Test a $200K 1981 Toyota Land Cruiser
Old Becomes New
The FJ Company focuses primarily on rebuilds of the FJ43 and the even-shorter-wheelbase FJ40 Land Cruisers but also does work on the earlier 20-series and later 60-series models. Starting this year, the firm intends to sell up to 24 Signature-type trucks, for which our Matte Dune Beige test example is an early prototype. Think of it as a trail-ready alternative to a Singer-built Porsche 911, albeit with greater adherence to the original vehicle’s formula and at a somewhat less ridiculous price. We’ve compiled a visual tour of the roughly 3500-labor-hour resurrection process. All examples are built to order, with customizations starting with an impressively detailed and robust online configurator.
All of the company’s creations, from turn-key vehicles to contracted customer jobs, go through the same body-off restoration process at a 75,000-square-foot production facility in Bogotá, Colombia. The FJ43’s build quality and details are meticulously rendered and restored—such as the super-cool vintage Toyota badges that wrap around one of the rear corners—and its boxy, old-school charm is off the charts. While $200K buys you a 21st-century powertrain and a host of other updates not available on the company’s less expensive versions, make no mistake: This is an authentic, steel-bodied FJ Land Cruiser that, despite its enhancements, still drives with the woolly disconnectedness of an ox cart.
The Signature is underpinned by custom live axles front and rear with 4.10:1 gears and rides on 17-inch steel wheels wrapped with meaty 285/70R-17 BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain T/A KM2 tires. Beefy Old Man Emu leaf springs and new-age Fox dampers at all four corners are good for about 2.5 inches of suspension lift above stock and have the compliance of a bridge girder; loading the FJ with a half-dozen adults—the four in back sit on two longitudinally oriented fold-up benches—greatly improves this off-roader’s normally jarring ride quality.
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