A few days ago, I got an email from a publication in Wyoming about a rare sighting on I 80. Someone had spotted two 79 series Land Cruiser trucks on a semi trailer and posted about it on social media. The resulting frenzied clammer led to the publication reaching out to me to try to figure out what they were.
I spent an hour or so on the phone with Andrew Rossie, a reporter from Cowboy State Daily, a Wyoming publication with a daily newsletter, morning radio show, and a great Instagram page. The resulting article led to my spending maybe 10 more hours on the phone the next week with people interested in the model and curious about how they could get one or why we never got them in the first place.
Here’s the article.
Rare (And Illegal) In The U.S. Toyota Land Cruisers Turn Heads On Wyoming’s I-80
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the model, Toyota introduced the 70 series in 1984, when the BJ70 replaced the FJ40 in every market except the US. Full build specs and pictures here…
The 70 series was an immediate success, and Toyota expanded it to include short, mid, and long wheelbase versions in two-door wagon, four-door wagon, and pick-up truck variations.
The 70 series continues today in many markets, excluding the US. The model remains much simpler than anything we get in the US and many ways, it’s difficult to discern the difference between the current model year and models built in the 1980s.
Many in the Land Cruiser community yearn for the 70 series, and a few of us, including myself, have even gone out of our way to get one (or more)!
Good news though! With the current 25 year old policy of importing Land Cruisers in the United States, about 15 years’ worth of the 70 series vehicles are now eligible to bring in. That’s a good enough sample to where we will start to see more 70 series on the road in the US. If you want a four-door truck like the ones in the article, you’ll have to wait a while longer though, the first four-door 79 series truck was introduced by Toyota in 2007, making its import possible in the year 2032.
Brand new 79 series trucks sit in the parking lot outside the plant in Nagoya Japan awaiting shipping to their new homes