The Toyota Land Cruiser hasn’t been absent from the US market for that long, but there’s a lot of excitement around the model’s return for 2024. If its styling is too modern for your tastes or you’re impatient, this modded 1965 Land Cruiser FJ45 pickup might be an excellent alternative without compromising in the powertrain department.
This Land Cruiser is for sale on BringATrailer.com, with the bid currently sitting at $60,000, with no reserve and five days left in the auction. According to the listing (linked below), the classic off-roader underwent a thorough mechanical and cosmetic refurbishment that included adding a 5.7-liter LS1 V8 engine with tubular exhaust headers, Flowmaster mufflers, dual tailpipes, and an aluminum radiator.
The truck has power steering, disc brakes, a front winch, tow hooks, and locking hubs. The Toyota routes power through its five-speed manual transmission with a skull shift knob and dual-range transfer case to all four wheels. It has 17-inch American Racing rims wrapped in 37-inch General Grabber X3 tires.
Inside, the build has a three-spoke Grant GT steering wheel, a body-color dashboard, and an Alpine stereo. It’s stripped down to just the basics. The instrumentation includes a 160-mile-per-hour speedometer, a tachometer, and gauges for the oil pressure, voltage, coolant temperature, and fuel level. The Land Cruiser has a 23-gallon fuel cell, and while the odometer reads 6,000 miles, the total mileage is unknown.
The 2024 Land Cruiser, with its retro styling cues, has little in common with its classic sibling that’s on sale. The new LC has a turbocharged 2.4-liter hybrid engine making 326 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque, with full-time four-wheel drive and a two-speed transfer case.
The 2024 model is smaller than its predecessor, which should help its off-road capability. It will also be cheaper, with Toyota targeting a starting price in the mid-$50,000 range, which is more expensive than off-roaders like the Ford Bronco and Jeep Wrangler. The Toyota has 8.7 inches of ground clearance.
Inside, the new Land Cruiser departs even further from its predecessors with a central infotainment screen measuring 8.0 or 12.0 inches, the latest safety features, and the most recent must-have technologies. It also seats up to five. It shares its platform with the Lexus GX, although the Land Cruiser looks quite unique.
