Disclosure: This site may receive compensation when you click on some links and make purchases.

Aussie FJ45: 1974 Toyota Land Cruiser

When I still owned my Toyota HiAce project, I became close friends with a few guys in Australia who helped on multiple occasions to get impossible-to-find parts stateside. In doing so, I realized Australia’s car culture is almost as multi-faceted as our own, with groups closely aligned with high-performance muscle cars; off-roaders and SUVs; and “stanced” imports. The 4×4 scene revealed that our Aussie friends love old Toyota Land Cruisers as much as we do and that they have a much wider selection of bull bars and other off-road gear to accessorize them with. The seller of this 1974 FJ45 pickup listed here on eBay used his truck in Australia before shipping it stateside and using it sparingly since then.

The right-hand drive steering is of course a requirement in Australia, so the next owner will have to be comfortable driving on the other side of the cockpit. This can be a turn-off to some people, whether thinking about their own discomfort or the barrier of selling it for what you paid for it later on. As I found out with my BMW 3-Series that came from the UK, many enthusiasts aren’t keen on driving on the other side of the interior, and as a result, their personal comfort with the vehicle suffers. Now, I still think the seller will find a buyer eventually as bidding is strong at $16,000 as of this writing, but the reserve does remain unmet. For a workhorse, the interior appears to be in excellent condition.

And these Land Cruisers, while loved by enthusiasts the world over, really are used like the tough trucks they were meant to be in places like Australia. The terrain is unforgiving and the landscape is massive. If you go wandering off into the hinterlands of Australia, there’s a good chance you won’t make it back without the right survival gear, and that includes a truck like this. The seller admits that after bringing the truck back to the U.S. in 2018, he hasn’t used it very much, and that’s even after loading it up with off-road gear from the likes of ARB and Specter Offroad. What would you do with the bed – would you keep it as-is or install a different design, perhaps a flatbed for hauling project cars back and forth?

Other optional/aftermarket equipment on the truck includes this desirable ARB air locker. I don’t care what truck you’re taking off-road – Trooper, Land Cruiser, 4Runner, Montero, whatever – having an air locker provides some additional assurance you’re going to get out of whichever mess you find yourself in. The next owner of this rare FJ45 pickup may have some mild mechanical issues to sort out owing to how long the truck has been sitting but like almost all old Land Cruisers, any issues that do develop will likely be relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. Would you adapt to right-hand-drive steering for the right vehicle, or hold out for the perfect car or truck to materialize with the steering wheel on the left side?

Comments

  1. Avatar angliagt Member

    Seems to be a lot of people importing these from
    South America to flip.At least those are left hand drive.

    Like 2
  2. Avatar CVPanther Member

    What a great looking Land Cruiser.
    LC’s are still better looking than any jeep, imo.

    Shame the steering wheel is on the wrong side.

    Like 1
    • Avatar John Taylor

      CV, I drive a left hand drive Chev pickup out here in Australia, the thing about having the steer on the off side is once you get used to keeping well to the left here which would be your right :) you understand that most of the other traffic tends towards the center line so you actually get a better view up the highway. I have had a number of left hook cars here and once you are used to them there is not a problem. So if I lived there I would not hesitate about buying a right hand drive car.

      Like 8
      • Avatar CVPanther Member

        Thanks, John. I know it would be fine and I wasn’t trying to disparage RHD, just seems like it would be daunting for a while.
        My biggest problem is no room to keep it except my driveway and that wouldn’t be fair to such a cool truck.

        Like 2
      • Avatar jonathan lee seidler

        You can get rego with LHD? I thought you had to comply with ADR to acquire rego in any state.

        Like 0
      • Avatar chrlsful

        VERY easy 4 driver to adapt (10 min?). Not so good as everything else is oriented to LHD – inc passing, businesses, curbs for load/un, etc, etc~

        Like 0
  3. Avatar TBAU Member

    When I was a kid (1970’s) there was a kind of fault line between farmers in Australia. The old farmers had Series I or II Landrovers, and the young farmers had these Toyotas ( always in this colour). But none of them had air conditioning.

    Like 2
    • Avatar John Taylor

      So true regarding the Land Rover and these, you also got a very light brown and white :) or whatever they had in stock hahaha

      Like 2
  4. Avatar John Arnest

    Nice truck- I wouldn’t touch the bed, that bed with the canvas top is what makes these trucks so cool!

    Like 2
  5. Avatar Chris Londish Member

    I also drive a LHD Chev pickup here in Australia and have for quite a few years, the thing you must do is lay back from other vehicles so you can see down the left hand side to check the road ahead for overtaking, it freaks my wife out a bit sitting on the RHS she always feels to close to on coming vehicles

    Like 0
  6. Avatar Cooper

    Auction ended 2 days ago

    Like 0
  7. Avatar Ward William

    As an Aussie I’ll tell you right now. This will not be a garage queen. Whoever buys this will put it straight back to work as a tradie’s car or on a cattle station, right where it should be.

    Like 0
  8. Avatar chrlsful

    most of merica? a mall crawl (show off).
    Here? we did much better. Yes, my 1st gen bronk (’66/’77 ford) 1 example ( all big 3 had em too, along w/IH). Not as rugud, higher hwy speed, more multi-focused, and easily adapted AS more rugid if handy (tons of oem stuff or aftr mrkt). Fora dedicated worker yes, but few of us use them for that exclusively here in this country thus (the apps made in this country for us). 1st gens dodge power wagon nother example – great for off rd, not so good for on~

    Like 0

Leave a Reply to chrlsful Cancel reply

RULES: No profanity, politics, or personal attacks.

Become a member to add images to your comments.

*

Get new comment updates via email. Or subscribe without commenting.