One Family Owned: 1988 Toyota Land Cruiser

The Toyota Land Cruiser is going to be a fixture on the enthusiast landscape for some time to come. While values have teetered out a bit over the last few months, I doubt we’re going to see any drastic reduction in prices in the future, and even with the slight correction, there’s no doubt that the name will remain appreciated by collectors and off-road fanatics alike. The 60-Series trucks are absolutely considered classics by now, but are still entirely usable on a daily basis. This truck is one-family owned and had its engine rebuilt by the local Toyota dealer in 2012.

So, fun story: I recently got a set of “quad headlights” for my 80-Series truck. They are essentially same as the ones you see on this truck, but were used for a short time in the early years of 80-Series production. Yes, I’m intentionally making my truck look older, but the bulbs are H4, which represent a nice upgrade without rigging up some sort of half-arsed xenon system. Anyway, back to the truck at hand: this Land Cruiser has been one-family owned for most of its life and retains this incredible paint job and 80s decal kit. As an added bonus, this FJ62 looks to remain largely stock with no obvious modifications.

The interior is fairly spartan, with crank windows and other manual controls. The Land Cruiser comes with the optional automatic transmission, and I’m here to make an admission: I don’t mind automatics in trucks and SUVs. I am a “Save the manuals” guy to the death, but after owning my 80-Series and a 1989 Isuzu Trooper, both with Aisin automatic gearboxes, I have to say I don’t mind a slow-shifting, slightly dim-witted slushbox that just does its job day in and day out. The upholstery on the seats is in great shape, and the backseat looks like it saw very little use over the years.

Like the later trucks and before Toyota went to a V8 setup, the inline-six is torque-rich for horsepower-light. The 4.0L I6 makes 220 lb.-ft. of torque but just 155 horsepower. So, you’re not going to see anything past “leisurely” for acceleration speeds, but that’s not the point of a truck like this. As the seller notes, this Land Cruiser has been overly maintained by its long-term owners, and the rebuilt engine has around 65,000 miles on it. The chassis shows approximately 273,000 miles, and appears to be largely rust-free. The truck is listed here on eBay with bids to $8,600 and the reserve unmet.