Some sad news on the new car front. Automotive News (subscription required) is reporting that Toyota is making some changes to its long term plans thanks to the high cost of gas. The company sees this as a permanent change, with prices firmly pegged at $5.00 or more by 2015. Also, the Big T intends to make offer hybrid powertrains in all of its models.

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TORC’s 13th annual All-Toyotafest. [LINK]

One of our readers needs to get this, right now, and share the wealth. It’s a huge collection of NOS (new old stock) 1960s to early 80s Toyota parts from a closed dealership. The seller says it consists of a little bit of everything for old Corollas, Crowns, Land Cruisers, Starlets, Coronas, Carinas, Hiluxes and Cressidas. The actual mountain of parts includes taillights, headlights, exhausts, service manuals, relays, switches, trim, and sheetmetal. In other words, all the hard to get stuff. For anyone who has ever tried to restore an old car, you know this is a once in a lifetime chance. We already know we’ll be kicking ourselves in the future for passing on this opportunity. Someone buy this, please!

[Source: eBay]

Someone over at this T-shirt site must love Land Cruisers because they have at least 3 shirts dedicated to the old Toyota workhorse. Our favorite one is this one pictured, even though we’re not really sure what it says. The second of the big words on top is “kuruiseru” (though the actual Japanese should read クルーザー) but we’re at a loss for the others. We were simply sold by the tag line “Which way to Mt. Fuji?” The creator sure knows his Cruisers, which in 1951, were the first vehicles ever to reach the sixth stage of the famous Japanese mountain.

UPDATE: We got an email from the T-shirt’s maker, Tim McGrath, who writes that the shirt is meant to say “Fuji Cruiser” and “Japan” but found out later that the Japanese was wrong. He laughs it off, though, telling us, “Oh well. I thought it was kinda funny like those bad English shirts you would see in Japan.” There’s more coming too, including the FJ45 short bed, and FJ43. Thanks, Tim!

[Source: Sackwear]

For our dear readers who are observing the Lunar New Year by partying hearty this weekend, we at JNC would like to wish you a happy and prosperous Year of the Rat. To celebrate, here’s a photo of one of our favorite firecrackin’ SEMA cars ever, a Toyota FJ45 Land Cruiser done up in rat rod style, powered by a 750-horsepower Toyota NASCAR V8. The door says, “Toyota Motor Sales. New Cars since 1957. Hollywood, Ca.” How cool is that?  Go here for more photos of this beast.

The Toyota Land Cruiser has long been the off-roader of choice for those intent on spotting animals in their natural habitat. But what if you want to spot Land Cruisers in their natural habitat? Well Toyota’s Open Road blog has put together a Land Cruiser spotter’s guide, which stretches from the 1942 AK10 prototype to the all-new 2008 Land Cruiser and includes a model or two that you’ll never spot unless you travel to some distant continents.

[Source: Toyota Open Road Blog]

As part of the launch for the new 200 series Land Cruiser on sale in Japan today, Toyota has put together a minisite all about the venerated 4×4 that has become the chariot of choice for soccer mom and third world dictator alike. As one of two models that Toyota sold upon setting up shop in the US 50 years ago, the oldest Japanese model the US is actually a truck.  The US version will go on sale later this year.

[Source: Toyota]