Toyota Land Cruiser turns 70: How it started, how it’s going

With the confirmation of price and specification details for South Africa at the end of last month, Toyota officially ended three years of speculative reports surrounding the new Land Cruiser 300.

The price for the new Toyota Land Cruiser 300 3.3D GX-R starts at R1 283 200 and goes up to R1 842 900 for the flagship 3.5T GR Sport. For more information on the new Land Cruiser 300, click here.

The first all-new Land Cruiser in fourteen years, the 300’s long awaited debut after not only countless true and false claims, but also a plethora of leaked spy images, comes 70 years after the original BJ that debuted as a military vehicle along the lines of the original Land Rover and the Willy’s Jeep.

ALSO READ: Fully detailed: Toyota Land Cruiser 300’s price and specification revealed

Aside from total sales of 10.6-million units over the last seventy years, as well as a cult-like following in markets such as the Middle East, Australia and Africa, a number of model spin-offs capitalising on the Land Cruiser name followed soon.

This included the ‘light duty’ in 1985 that become known as the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, the workhorse 70-series unveiled the year before and the massive Mega Cruiser that served as Japan’s version of the Humvee/Hummer H1 between 1995-2000.

More recently, the Toyota Land Cruiser also gain the Urban prefix for two completely different models; a Europeanised version of the Japanese ist crossover made between 2008-2014, and since last year, a rebadged version of the Indian Suzuki Vitara Brezza.

Unofficially but also affectionately known as the “Master of Africa”, The Citizen, in celebration of not only its local market release but also anniversary, looks back at the history of the Land Cruiser with emphasis being on the station wagon rather than the mentioned spin-offs. In the first of our three-part trip down memory lane, we decode the first 30 years from the original Jeep BJ in 1951 to the start of luxury in the 60-series.

Where it all began: BJ

Developed in response to the Korean war, the very rudimentary Toyota Jeep BJ as it was called debuted in said year, not long after the prototype had become the first vehicle to scale Mount Fuji in spite of lacking a low range transfer case.

Powered by Toyota’s B-series 3.4-litre straight-six petrol engine that fed 63 kW to all four corners via a three-speed manual gearbox, the BJ boasted considerably more grunt than the four-cylinder Land Rover and Jeep with the whole vehicle tipping the scales at 1 425 kg.

After two years of small scale production though, and after a trademark submission by Willy’s for the Jeep name in 1954, Toyota officially renamed the BJ Land Cruiser that year with another change being the introduction of the F-series 3.9-litre straight-six that made 75 kW.

20-series

Debuting in November 1955, the 20-series became the first exported Toyota Land Cruiser and despite retaining the same engines as the BJ, the 3.9 eventually became the sole offering after 1956 with output increasing slightly to 77 kW.

Despite retaining the three-speed ‘box, Toyota had equipped the LC20 with a single-speed low range transfer case and unlike BJ, offered a choice of bodystyles; the conventional soft or hard-top two-door, a two-door bakkie and a five-door station wagon. Production came to an end in 1960.

40-series

Until the arrival of the Toyota Land Cruiser 70-series, the 40-series held the distinction of being the longest running Land Cruiser generation with production ending in 1984 after 24 years.

Its reputation growing and off-road prowess firmly established, the FJ40 as it became known, also came with a number of Land Cruiser firsts; a four and later five-speed transmission, disc brakes, power steering, air-conditioning, a two-speed transfer case and tachometer.

Throughout its lifecycle, the FJ40 came as a two-door hard or soft-top, a two-door bakkie and a four-door van replaced in 1967 by a station wagon.

A variety of engines featured, originally the venerable F-series 3.9-litre inline-six, upgraded in 1975 to 4.2-litres and from 1973, where sales surpassed 300 000 units, the first ever diesel engine in the shape of normally aspirated H-series 3.6-litre six-cylinder.

This was supplemented by the B-series 3.0-litre four-cylinder in 1974, later enlarged to 3.4-litres and from 1980 to 1984, the new internally known 2H 4.0-litre straight-six outputting 77 kW.

50-series

Running concurrently with the 40-series, the differently styled 50-series bowed in 1967 as the first proper station wagon Toyota Land Cruiser in that it boasted four doors and a proper tailgate, although some markets continued with the barn-style rear doors.

It however continued to derive motivation from the mentioned F-series straight-six engines with the 3.9-litre producing 92 kW, 96 kW from 1969, and from 1975 until production ended in 1980, 100 kW from the upgraded 4.2-litre 2F with the former year also seeing the three-speed manual ‘box make way for a four-speed.

60-series

The arrival of the 60-series in 1980 saw the Toyota Land Cruiser undergo a dramatic turnaround. While the 40-series remained as the commercial variant, the 60-series became adopted the growing luxury trend associated with SUVs in the fitting of features such as leather seats, a sunroof, electric seats and windows, more premium materials and a standard sound system.

Solely offered as a five-door station wagon with some market having the barn-style doors on lower-spec models, it also became the first Land Cruiser to be fitted with an automatic gearbox, the first to offer a turbodiesel engine and the last to have a four-speed manual transmission as five ratios had become the norm.

Engine options ranged from the 103 kW 4.2 2F to a smaller but more powerful 115 kW 4.0 3F that gained electronic fuel injection in 1988 to become the 3F-E. By now, the importance of diesel engines had grown with the 60-series offering a choice of four units; the 72 kW four-cylinder 3.6 B-series, the 85 kW straight-six 4.0 2H and from 1985 until the end of production in 1990, the turbocharged 4.0-litre 12H-T rated at 100 kW.

Sold alongside the 40-series for four years, the 60-series, in 1981, saw Toyota Land Cruiser sales crest one-million units with this generation, like its predecessor, being a dedicated station wagon model.