The FJ60-series Toyota Land Cruiser sits in an interesting spot in the hierarchy of the brand’s most well-loved truck: it’s a full-size rig with plenty of space for passengers and their gear, and it benefits from having the same reputation as its siblings for being very reliable and capable off-road. The 60 series is also the last time you could get a Land Cruiser here in the states with a manual gearbox, so it has more than few things going for it. But will it ever rise to FJ40 series levels of desirability? Find this 5-speed example here on eBay with bids to $18,600 and the reserve unmet.
Numerous automotive pundits have mentioned the Land Cruiser lately as symbolic of the drop in prices for certain vehicles that were white-hot during the pandemic. Prices for anything that had go-anywhere abilities and/or decent towing capacity rose quickly as shoppers stricken with cabin fever looked for ways out of the house – and many first-time entrants to to the collector vehicle space came into the fold. Now, prices have settled back down, but that doesn’t mean the right truck will be cheap to buy.
The seller’s truck is equipped with the desirable manual transmission. I’m on the fence about three pedals in an off-road capable rig like this: some say that it’s preferable, as the failure of an automatic transmission deep in the woods is far from ideal. Others will say that in certain situations, such as descending a steep grade or slippery surface, not having to mess with clutching in, clutching out, or slamming the clutch back in when traction disappears, the automatic transmission is the preferred set-up.
Regardless of your preference, this Land Cruiser will fit the bill nicely of being a collector caliber rig you can use every day (even though your insurance company would likely prefer you don’t.) Parts are getting harder to find, but fortunately, there are some excellent vendors out there who have large stashes of parts cars to ensure the rest of us can keep these highly-capable rigs on the road (I like Cruiser Parts out of New Hampshire, personally). Bidding for this 60-series likely won’t stop until it clears $20,000.
Seller makes no mention of 5-speed conversion. Given the cost of the conversion, I would imagine he’d mention it in the ad.
I helped my coworker restore a similar spec FJ in the mid 1990’s. He bought the truck from a woman. She owned a farm and had no problem using the truck as a truck. The legendary inline 6 and 5 speed were desirable on road combination. We did a full detail, fixed some rust bubbling on the rear wheel wells and repainted and blended the areas. This was also the time when there were no or little Internet forums . But there was an active community that shared tip and tricks to help wake up the reliable but underpowered online 6. Great truck