Toyota Land Cruiser 1984 News

This year it celebrates being beaten around the harshest corners of the world for 60 years. More than five million vehicles have worn its name in 188 countries.Toyota started down the 4WD path in response to a contract from the US Army for a Jeep vehicle for duty in the Korean War. It developed its BJ prototype in early 1951 with the intention of expanding the army contract into civil sales. Within six months of first turning its wheels, the truck-derived all-wheel drive Jeep became the first vehicle to be driven to the sixth hill station, 2500m up Mount Fuji. The feat won it a contract with the Japanese police fleet and success began with the first production model, the Type 25 BJ. In 1954, it was given the generic LandCruiser name.Though popular in Japan, Toyota found difficulty in exporting to major markets that were already served by US and European 4WD vehicles. So it looked at - and found success in - Australia and the Middle East, South America and South-East Asia.Toyota's LandCruiser concept was refined in the mid-1960s to follow the US trend for more refined vehicles.In 1966 it launched the first LandCruiser Station Wagon series - forerunner of the 200-Series - for family and commercial markets, and ran this model alongside the more rugged FJ-Series. The LandCruiser split in 1996 becoming (in Australia) the Prado that was a smaller 4WD than the 90-Series. It continued alongside the 70-Series FJ models.In its 60 years LandCruiser ancestors have travelled the world, seen the highlights and lowlights of man and nature and endured as the globe's most popular 4WD.In Australia, one of the first LandCruiser customers was construction magnate Sir Leslie Theiss, who bought several for use on the rugged construction trails of the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme. Its ability to cope with Australian conditions led to Australia being LandCruiser's largest single market, accounting for more than one in 10 of all LandCruisers ever built.TIMELINE1951 - Toyota "Jeep" BJ prototype was developed from demand for  military-type utility vehicles. It had a 63kW/215Nm 3.4-l six-cyl OHV petrol engine and part-time 4WD without a low-range transfer case. It became the first vehicle to reach Mount Fuji's sixth station.1953 - Regular production starts.1954 - The name LandCruiser was created by the technical director Hanji Umehara.1955 - The second generation, 20-Series is introduced. It had a 93kW 3.9-l six-cyl engine, longer leaf springs but retains the part-time 4WD system and three-speed gearbox.1957 - The first station wagon FJ35 is introduced with a 2650mm wheelbase. LandCruisers are imported into Aus. and used on the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme by Theiss Constructions.1958 - The FJ25 starts production in Brazil, the first factory outside Japan.1960 - The 20-Series was upgraded to the FJ40.1965 - Global production passes 50,000 vehicles. The LandCruiser is the best selling Toyota in the US.1967 - Production of the FJ55 station wagon begins, replacing the FJ45, with a 2710mm wheelbase.1968 - The 100,000th LandCruiser is sold.1972 - The 200,000th LandCruiser is sold.1973 - The 300,000th LandCruiser is sold.1974 - A four-cyl 3-l diesel is offered.1975 - The 3.9-l petrol engine is replaced by a 4.2-l unit. The FJ55 gets front disc brakes. The F engine is replaced by the 2F engine.1978 - The first BJ / FJ40 and FJ55 models were sold in West Germany.1979 - Power steering and airconditioning become options in the FJ40. The diesel engine grows to 3.2 litres (initially Japan) and optional 3.6 litres.1980 - The 60-Series is introduced.1981 - LandCruiser sales pass 1 million.1984 - Final year for the FJ40. The LandCruiser 70-Series is introduced with a 4-l 3F engine. A light-duty model - Bundera - has Hilux components including a 2.4-l petrol engine.1985 - The direct-injection 12H-T and 13B-T turbo-diesel engines are introduced.1988 - The petrol engine is upgraded to a 4-l 3F-E EFI engine. The FJ62G VX-Series is introduced.1990 - The 80-Series station wagon is introduced, replacing the 60. It has three engines (3F-E six-cyl petrol; a six-cyl 1HZ diesel; and 1HD-T direct-injection turbo-diesel). All 80s sold in North America and Europe have full-time 4WD while Aus. has a part-time system. Sales reach two-million.1993 - An advanced 24-valve, 4.5-l six-cyl petrol engine is introduced.1994 - The 500-only limited edition LandCruiser Blue Marlin series is introduced.1995 - Driver and passenger airbags, adjustable shoulder-belt anchors and ABS are introduced. The "TOYOTA" badge is replaced with the new logo, sometimes described as a "bean with a hat".1996 - The 90-Series Prado three and five-door is added to the LandCruiser range.1997 - The LandCruiser Collector's Edition is sold. The US sells the "40th Anniversary Limited Edition".1998 - The 100-Series LandCruiser is introduced to replace the 8-year-old 80-Series. It gets independent front suspension, rack and pinion steering and optional V8 petrol engine. The 100-Series formed the basis for the Lexus LX470.2000 - The 50th anniversary of the LandCruiser. Global production is 3.72 million vehicles.2002 - The HDJ79 is introduced to Aus. with the 1HD-FTE 4.2-l six-cyl 24-valve turbo-diesel EFI engine.2007 - The 100-Series is replaced by the 200-Series. It gets advanced "CRAWL" (a 4WD speed control system); Downhill Assist Control; multi-terrain ABS brakes; Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System; six-speed automatic sequential transmission; and optional 4.5-l V8 bi-turbo turbo-diesel engine. Toyota's first turbo-diesel V8 engine is released in the 70-Series.

The Brisbane truck and bus driver now owns four historic race cars and has run out of room in his shed. "I live in the past, my wife (Joanne) tells me," he says. Moore, 58, only started racing karts about 20 years ago having got his thrills as a youth playing rugby league for Valleys in the 1970s."I only had a few first grade games, broke a few things and never took it seriously," he says. "After that I suppose I was looking for some new form of excitement. Racing is a completely different type of adrenalin." So after his daughters grew up and he had more disposable income, he started disposing of it on cars."I've always had cars. I could have been retired by now if I hadn't had that many cars," he says. "I've had a big Dodge Phoenix, Chevies and other cruisers, plus XT and XW Falcon GTs at one stage."The cars I've bought and sold over the years, you have no idea."But they had to go when Moore started collecting race cars in 2000. His first was a 1964 EH Holden race car he bought for $6000."It had a bit of race history with it," he says. "It was raced in Sydney around the old tracks there and on the Central Coast. I'm doing a full resto on that. I've taken it back to the bare metal and painting it up in the original colours and I'll continue to race it."The EH was followed by a 1953 FX Holden he bought in 2004 for $12,000."The first time I saw the Humpy I had taken the EH to Oran Park to race a long time ago and I approached (the owner) and said if you ever want to sell that I'll buy it. I had my cheque book ready in my pocket. Then a few years later I was unloading the EH at Eastern Creek and he came over and said, `Get your cheque book out'. I still had the XW GT in the shed and came home and told my wife and she said I had to sell a car to buy it. The first bloke that saw the XW bought it. Three months later the price doubled and another three months later it doubled again."He ran the Humpy in the inaugural Cootha Classic last year and may give it another run this year. It was followed by a 1968 two-door Mark II Cortina belonging to a sick friend."He rang me asking me to buy it and named a price that I said was too cheap," he says. "When I rang him later to buy it at that price he said, 'No because you told me it was worth more'. "I ended up paying $7500 but it's a beauty with the original 1500cc four-cylinder engine running Webbers and hotted up."His final purchase was a 1957 FE Holden he recently bought for $2000.With his shed full of race cars plus his 1984 diesel LandCruiser and new Nissan Navara which are his daily drivers he has the FE "hidden in a mate's shed"."It's stock standard at the moment. We're going to cut the rust out, do the suspension, put a roll cage in it, then do the brakes and engine and go racing. I've always been a budget racer doing the stuff at home with a few mates. Brakes are the big problems with these cars. I used to get two or three laps in and then have no brakes. But I got some new drums cast in Sydney with heavier materials and some new brake linings - I tried carbon and kevlar but that was just too expansive - and I've finally got the package right."He races circuits up and down the east coast."I go ok. We have a lot of fun. There are races within races," he says. "There are the blokes up front with Falcon GTs, Camaros and Mustangs. Blokes like Jim Richards, Bo Seton and Andrew Miedecke but we don't play with those fellows. We're down the back in our own little battle group. There is a huge interest in these historic meetings now. I'd rather hang over the fence and watch the historics than watch the V8 Supercars go round. They're like slot cars."Moore prefers the rush he gets from making old cars go fast and keeping them running."I'll keep racing as long as I can afford it. I still hope I'll be doing it when I'm 80," he says. "I also have a huge desire to get a Vincent (motorcycle) sidecar like they used to race at the Ekka speedway. I'd love to get one, put my leg over it and go for a few laps. I'd put one of my mates I don't like on the side as the swinger."The Cootha Classic will be held on May 29-30 featuring more than 250 cars and about 50 motorcycles from the 1920s to today in timed sprints around a 1450m track up and down Sir Samuel Griffith Drive with seven corners and chicanes. Racing starts at 8.30am. Entry is $20 a day, $15 for concession, $30 for a two-day pass and $5 for parking in the J.C. Slaughter Falls carpark.

The market is the ultimate judge, and its verdict on the Toyota LandCruiser is clear. Go to carsguide or any other classifieds website and you'll find that 20-year-old LandCruisers are still commanding prices of up to $8000, while many vehicles from the same era are throwaways, worth twice as much if their petrol tanks are full.An old LandCruiser is reckoned to be good for one last trip round Australia when its contemporaries are only good for a one-way journey to the scrapyard.Toughness is the core of the LandCruiser legend. Documented examples of the type's durability include one which was blown up for a Hollywood movie stunt, landed on all four wheels, and was able to be started and driven away.In New Zealand two thieves drove a LandCruiser over a cliff, leaping out at the last minute. To their amazement it landed at the bottom of the 60m drop with the engine still running. With the police in pursuit, the villains scrambled down, pushed the vehicle upright and drove off.And a Swiss couple, Emil and Liliana Schmid, have covered 617,359km in their 60 Series LandCruiser since October 1984, crossing 156 countries and territories in the process.A new chapter in the LandCruiser story is being opened at the Australian International Motor Show, where the new 200 Series LandCruiser wagon makes its world debut - not at Frankfurt last month, not at the Tokyo Motor Show in two weeks - here in Sydney.The launch is recognition that while it may be made in Aichi prefecture, Japan, the Toyota LandCruiser is an honorary Australian vehicle. Australia is the second-largest market for the vehicle after the Middle East and they are found all over the continent from Cape York to Coober Pedy and since the 80 series of 1990 have had considerable Australian design input and testing in the crucible of the outback.The 200 Series joined this tradition with more than two years of secret outback testing.It also incorporates new Australian-developed technology in its Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System. This hydraulic system, developed by Kinetic in Dunsborough, Western Australia decouples the vehicle's suspension rollbars in off-road conditions to allow extreme wheel articulation. Articulation means keeping the wheels on the ground, even over extreme terrain, and by allowing that, the Kinetic suspension keeps the 200 Series LandCruiser going in the most difficult off road conditions. Back on the road it recouples the rollbars making the suspension tighter, for more assured cornering with less body roll.The other significant change in the 200 Series is the adoption of coil springs, rather than torsion bars for the front suspension. But at the back the five-link coil-sprung rear axle remains, redesigned for the new ladder frame chassis but unaltered in principle, it has proved itself.Engines are a mix of the thoroughly overhauled and brand new. The 4.7-litre petrol V8 gains Toyota's VVT-I variable valve timing and comes joined to a five-speed automatic transmission. There is no longer a manual transmission in the 200 Series. The 4.5-litre V8 diesel is a twin-turbo version of the engine that made its debut on the industrial-strength 70 Series LandCruiser.A strong new six-speed auto has probably allowed Toyota's engineers to turn up the wick on the diesel for even more torque than in the 70 Series. At the same time fuel consumption is reduced, Toyota says.The LandCruiser's full-time four-wheel drive system continues with a newly developed heavy duty version of the venerable Torsen limited slip centre differential.The Torsen, short for torque sensing differential, is an elegant all-mechanical device. During normal cruising, it distributes drive power 40/60 front/rear, but seamlessly and without the need for sensors or electronic control it can also instantaneously select a 50/50 or 30/70 torque split to match road - or off-road - conditions.As Audi Quattro drivers know, the Torsen delivers outstanding vehicle stability as well as smooth starting, acceleration and cornering on all road surfaces. Its simplicity and inherent toughness make it a most appropriate addition to the new model.While making its reputation with conservative, tried and true engineering the LandCruiser also introduces new technology when it brings a distinct performance or safety advantage.The 200 Series brings in a crawl control system for technical off-road driving. Crawl control is in essence an ultra-low speed traction control system. When driving on surfaces that require delicate speed control such as rocks, sand or steep hills, the engine and brakes are automatically controlled to maintain speeds of walking pace or less, minimising wheel spin, and maximising control and safety. The system is engaged by turning a dial in the cabin, leaving the intrepid driver to focus on steering out of trouble.Computing power and sophisticated control algorithms are behind the multi-terrain ABS brakes that sense whether the vehicle is on dirt, gravel or sand and modulates hydraulic pressure for maximum stopping power.Hill-start Assist Control minimises roll-back when starting on steep hills or climbing slippery surfaces by controlling brake fluid pressure; as the driver's foot goes from the brake to the accelerator.All models in the 200 Series have electronic stability control (known by Toyota as VSC) as standard.The 200 Series can also be specified with up to 10 airbags including driver and front passenger kneebags. The already cavernous interior of the existing model is 175mm longer in the new LandCruiser wagon, thanks mainly to moving the windscreen forward, a move that also aids the vehicle's aerodynamic profile and cruising speed stability.What lies ahead for the 200 Series LandCruiser? Undoubtedly a tough life. Examples will find their way to the uttermost parts of the Earth and will be baked, flooded and frozen. And when the ordeal is over, it's a fair guess, based on past record, that more often than not they will shrug it off by starting and driving away.