Looks can be deceiving, which is what I tell myself pretty much every time I look in the mirror. This 1965 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ45 looks a little rough in the photos but I have a feeling that deep down it’s a solid citizen. The seller has this rugged 4×4 listed here on eBay in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. The current bid price is already at $6,900 but the reserve isn’t met yet.
Is that really me? When did I get this old all of a sudden? Vehicles can be like that, too. The photos of this rare FJ45 make it look a bit rougher than it may be, although it does need a lot of work. There is a very heavy coating of surface rust on a lot of the body panels but clearly, that isn’t causing the bidders to hold back. And, if the reserve isn’t met at almost $7,000, the seller knows what they have.
Over the last few years, the market for Land Cruisers has gone crazy-go-nuts, in my best Billy Crystal doing Fernando Lamas on SNL in the 1980s voice. Almost everything is going up. Gas is going up, vehicles have gone through the roof, and have you noticed that there’s a run on salt and vinegar potato chips lately? Ok, I’m getting off track here. You can see the rough but solid-and-straight appearance of this FJ45 station wagon model in the photo above. They are very rare as reportedly only around 1,000 of them were brought to the US.
The seller tells us that they bought this Land Cruiser in 2005 and just after that they had the engine rebuilt by a Toyota dealership and then put it in storage and it’s been sitting ever since. That’s a crying shame. I bet it looked much better sixteen years ago than it does now. The body does look straight and solid other than a couple of areas where there is a bit of welding to do for the next owner.
The big question is the condition of that freshly-rebuilt-16-years-ago inline-six engine. We don’t know anything about it and sadly, there is no photo of the engine. Hopefully, it at least turns over after sitting for this many years. Have any of you owned a Toyota Land Cruiser of this vintage?
Either the worlds wettest “indoor storage” or it was someplace else like outside and then put in the garage relatively recently.
Supposedly rebuilt engine yet NOT ONE PHOTO?
I am on the fence as to whether Barnfinds should facilitate exposure for this seller when he couldn’t even provide one engine photo but made sure to provide four photos of the rear and one of the “Toyopet” hatch handle.
Thanks Bill, you read my mind on this one also. This is a really cool piece, but the seller lets his case down by not showing the other obvious areas that should be pictured. Would approach this one with extreme caution here, something seems to be hidden…that or the seller just does not give a damn. Too bad.
I think this car will sell for just under $20k anything less will be a huge bargain. Just my opinion please?
Yes a 62 fj40 and a67 f45 pickup which i wish i still had.
Even if the engine is in pristine condition it’s still a boat anchor and will be tossed. Someone will have to do a frame up restoration on this. At the current price it’s doable. If you kept it original that is. Once you start “upgrading” engines, axles, transmission it goes up rapidly.
I had a 1970 FJ55, kind of the replacement for this vehicle, and I can say, without reservation, it was the best 4×4 I ever had. What simply bamboozles me, is what these things are going for today. You have got to be kidding. This, like all these early 4×4’s, are crude, to say the least. They have little, if anything in common with a modern 4×4. They were adequate for the time, but were made to haul supplies down the Ho Chi Minh trail, not I-70. They were great trucks, but after having one, I just don’t get the attraction, they aren’t 5 figure vehicles, sorry. This a POS,,for $7g’s? Nice,,,what did ol’ PT Barnum say again?
Auction update: this Land Cruiser sold for a whopping $19,100! Lowell nailed it, good call on the selling price, sir.