All across America, importers of Japanese cars and trucks pluck them from home, send them halfway across the world, and sell them to people who were never meant to buy them. But what if you want to drive something vintage and Japanese that can keep pace with Wranglers and Broncos in the sticks? You have a couple of options on that front, but you really can’t go wrong with a vintage Toyota Land Cruiser.
The Land Cruiser in At the Top of Its Game
That’s exactly what we see before us, a 1991 Land Cruiser HZJ73. It’s the latest Bring a Trailer JDM import darling, sent to the US back in 2020 and residing in Colorado ever since. As a member of the much-beloved J70-series, this imported Land Cruiser has some serious heritage behind it. Launched in Japan in 1984, the J70 fully replaced the iconic but thoroughly outdated J40-series Land Cruiser in production from the early ’60s. As such the J70 maintained the same basic shape as its predecessor, but with sharper, more angular styling lines.
Number designations 70 through 74 denote the two-door form factor with the choice of a short or a medium-length wheelbase, while 75, 78, and 79 indicate a stretched wheelbase. By global standards, the short-wheelbase J70s was a full-size off-roader. By modern American standards, they’re still three inches shorter than the smallest crossover Toyota currently makes, the Corolla Cross. But let’s be real: comparing an an iconic classic Land Cruiser to a modern crossover is like putting a wolf next to a chihuahua.
Unobtanium in the US, Until Recently
J70 Land Cruisers were built to handle the unforgiving terrains of Africa, the Middle East, Australia, Southeast Asia, and South America. Certainly in those days, not the kind of places that cared much for creature comforts like folks do nowadays. That means the most exciting refinements found in your average J70 include optional air conditioning, a radio, an automatic gearbox, and that’s pretty much it. At a time when Toyota was getting ready to port its luxury base to the Lexus brand, the J70 was a striking counterbalance.
This particular J70 is even more Spartan, with a five-speed manual gearbox and no airbag. In fact, air bags wouldn’t become standard on the platform until 2009. Did we mention the platform is still mass-produced today in places like Portugal and Venezuela? That’s some truly legendary longevity, and it comes with a reputation backed by considerable durability. The foundation of this ruggedness comes from under the hood, where a 4.2-liter 1HZ diesel inline-six engine provided one of the most dependable powertrains ever mass-produced.
A Simple Diesel Engine Built to Last
With rock-simple mechanical fuel injection, an almost comically overbuilt engine block, and no forced induction from the factory, there wasn’t a single component inside a 1HZ to cause it undue stress. What results is a motor that can endure in conditions that’d make other engines seize in the time it takes to blink. With the most basic of maintenance, we’re talking oil changes and little else besides, these Toyota diesels have wracked up hundreds of thousands, and sometimes even millions of miles before they have to be rebuilt.
Even then, a 1HZ’s internals fatigue over 40 years as much as modern DEF-laden diesels do in a quarter of the time. Modern turbochargers and high-pressure direct injection make it so there’s no avoiding premature wear, something this J70 isn’t subject to. With just over 263,000 km (~163K miles) on the odometer, that means this engine’s barely broken in. It’s a 4×4 used just enough to keep engine internals oiled and the suspension articulating, but not enough to beat the snot out of it just yet. That means in all likelihood, the new owner could still be putting around in 2036 or beyond in this thing and not even crack the bottom floor of its abilities.
A Slam Dunk of a “Bring a Trailer” Truck
Elsewhere, this example’s rocking the stock dual-range transfer case with locking front wheel hubs and leaf springs at all four corners. That might sound like it has horse-drawn cart suspension, but you do get four-wheel power disc brakes for a little bit more usability. To that end, R12-powered A/C is a real big plus now that this J70 is stateside. Inside, this cabin couldn’t be more basic if you tried. Everything is covered in hard-touch plastic, the seats are aftermarket buckets covered in grey cloth, and the original rear seats are trimmed in a funky black on grey cloth that screams the late ‘80s.
It’s as genuine of an off-roader as you could possibly come across from this much-beloved era. Thanks to federal 25-year embargoes against registering motor vehicles not meant for sale in America, these J70s have been forbidden fruit for decades. Now, examples just like this one could be as prevalent as cute little Kei cars that are all the rage right now. With a sale price of $19,500 this time around, imagine all the lesser trucks you could buy for the same money.
