Toyota Land Cruiser

The Toyota Land Cruiser is an icon. Since its introduction in the 1950s, Toyota has gone on to sell over ten million examples. It stands out all over the world as a symbol of reliability, quality, toughness and off-road capability. As Toyota itself likes to say: “there are many places around the world where it would be impossible to live from day to day without the Land Cruiser.” Interestingly, the Land Cruiser once started out as an adaption of another off-roading icon: the Willy’s Jeep. When the Korean War began, Toyota was commissioned by the United States government to build 100 vehicles based on the latest Willys specification. The car, called the Toyota “Jeep” BJ was developed in 1951 and immediately proved its chops when a test driver drove it to the sixth stage of Mount Fuji. This was something no other car had done up until that point.

After two years of manufacturing to order in small volumes, Toyota began regular production of the Jeep BJ. That then drew the ire of the Willys Company, who claimed Toyota was violating their trademark by continuing to name the vehicle ‘Jeep.’ In response, technical director Hanji Umehara came up with a new name. “In England we had another competitor - Land Rover. I had to come up with a name for our car that would not sound less dignified than those of our competitors. That is why I decided to call it ‘Land Cruiser.’”

From there, the Land Cruiser became one of Toyota’s most recognizable cars as well as a sales juggernaut. While it couldn’t quite match the Corolla, which is the best selling car of all time, Toyota still noted that over ten million Land Cruisers had been sold in August of 2019. Unsurprisingly, the car’s excellent off-road capabilities also makes it a very suitable choice for rallying. A pair of Land Cruisers finished first and second in the unmodified production class of the 1996 Dakar Rally.

This specific Land Cruiser came into our ownership in 2022 and was used to compete in the Rallye Breslau in Poland, where Roger Grouwels shared the cockpit with navigator Maurice van Weersch. The car was prepared and modified for the rally by 4X4 Service Valkenburg. The event celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2024 and has often been referred to as ‘Europe’s Dakar Rally.’ Therefore it served as excellent preparation for Roger’s debut in the real Dakar. Since then, the car has remained part of our collection and is for sale. Please get in touch for pricing and more information.