I have a friend who is desperate for some kind of vehicle appropriate for doing off-road adventuring, though he admits that he’ll never seek to rock crawl or even come close. Mostly, he wants something that will look cool driving around the desert Southwest. It might be that the 1994 Toyota Land Cruiser shown here on ebay would fit his fantasies. It’s therefore my job to put him onto this ad, which has six days remaining. The price sits at just over $12 grand, and the reserve is not met. Whoever wins will find a one-way ticket to Vail, Colorado and then, for summer adventure, drive this truck home. Note that within the ad, a price of $29,500 is mentioned, so the auction reserve is likely nowhere close to being nailed at this stage.
When my buddy, Robert, approached me for some advice about his desert-driving dreams, our conversation quickly ran to Land Rover-Range Rover ideas, and so I took him by a classic Land Rover restoration and service shop nearby. He was quickly put off by the stories told about the lack of reliability and the cost of repairs. His ideas then zoomed to new cars like the Ford Bronco and Jeep Wrangler. A Land Cruiser never occurred to me, so thanks, Barn Finds!
What are the virtues here? The vehicle is vintage, but not too, too old. This means parts are not made of “unobtanium” and features include some safety, if not quite the multi-air-bag fitment of the newest models. But there’s also the styling, which is contemporary to the 19990s if not prior, but now pleasantly retro. It has a rugged, boxy, kind of devil-may-care attitude that might well see you safely off on a safari and home again. In fact, the Land Cruiser is tested and proven in the Australian Outback, some of the toughest conditions in the world.
This one is part of the desirable 70 series, with a removable hard top and an inline six-cylinder of pretty hefty proportions, at 4.5 liters of displacement. The current owner is candid about condition—this is a used truck with 1q41,000 miles on it, but it drives reliably and can be used now and brought up a level in future if that’s what you desire. In the meantime, it is described as an excellent overland, expedition, hunting, or mountain vehicle. I think for Robert’s sake, we need to add “desert cruiser,” though admittedly, there might be a better word than “cruiser.” Maybe the five-speed manual with low range and four-wheel-drive is more off-road capability than my English professor friend really needs, but look at it the other way: He could be having a heck of a good time climbing the dunes in the Mojave within a couple of weeks, and if he dings this truck up, so what? It’s meant for driving and already has some road rash to prove it.
The F70 is one of the best Land Cruisers of all time IMO. They are some of the toughest, most dependable vehicles ever built, made to withstand serious environmental punishment. This one appears to be in good shape and it will likely get $25k+ easily. This is likely a foreign market import, as I don’t remember them being sold directly in the US. Rarer than hen’s teeth, especially in the 2 door “troop carrier” variant with the removal hard top. If I lived closer, this would be impossible to resist.
“F70” is not a model of Land Cruiser. You meant to say, “70 series.” Or in this specific case, it would be an FZJ70, denoting the 1FZ engine.
It’s a Land Cruiser. This means it can stand up to any abuse you can imagine to throw at it.
It’s a Toyota. This means it is easy to drive and easy to work on. Parts are abundant. It will crawl any mall you point it at.
The ad states she was originally manufactured in Columbia. This explains the gauges reading in metric units while being a left hand drive vehicle.
If I was in the market I’d be on this lovely lady like a dung beetle on dookie. 💩
..like a dung beetle…” That’s just funny stuff there, Cooter914! Some folks will have no idea what you’re talking about until they find it on whatever search unit they’re using.
Straight on about this being a tough machine, but in reference to the Toyota remark, that’s primarily the ones designed and built in the last century. The new ones-like a LOT of car manufacturers these days-have earned a much less desirable reputation with recalls/defects/engineering oopsies/etc.
Definitely a perfect ride unless the buyer is looking for something that’ll take them the distance inexpensively MPG-wise. Love to have this in our driveway.
It’s in Colorado,but registered in Virginia – WHY?
If it’s been in VA that might be why the underside is in better shape than I expected. I had a late 60s FJ40 in Denver in the ’70s and old Toyotas didn’t fare well with the snow and salt, and Vail gets a lot more snow than Denver.
3.4 L nonturbo Diesel models used in the mines up in Northern Alberta. Rugged 4wd, 5sp only.
Brian K, where is it?
Crazy. Location, location, location.
I can probably get my hands on at least a half dozen of these in no time.
None of them would be anywhere near $29K.
Maybe a business opportunity?
I’d love to have this. But my FJ40 (that I have had for over 40 years) would be incredibly jealous! And Nevadahalfrack is spot on about the reliability issues of the current century Toyotas.
Major stuff too Wayne. Motors getting replaced on recall up here on Tundras. Not even replacing a top or bottom end either… full motor wow.
That’s a shame, it sounds like they’ve really gone downhill since the days of the million mile Tundra.
yup, good dependability, serviceable for some 1 like this (70% road, 30% off). The more ‘off’ the more maintenance needed.
Here most are on the ‘mall crawl’ duty. Hi price here is for status acquisition, not off road income production or other practical use. Not entirely a recreation vehicle but good use for this fella. What do the folks @ war use in jungle, desert similar areas? yup, these…
I’d say dont pay over 20K$ (& I’d not go over 10, 15K) myself.