The mother of late basketball star Kobe Bryant recently received a surprise, courtesy of Bryant’s former teammate Shaquille O’Neal. When Shaq noticed Bryant’s 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser at Pam Bryant’s house in dilapidated condition, he decided to pay for a restoration.
The stalwart SUV was Kobe’s high school car. The LA Lakers shooting guard attended high school in his hometown of Ardmore, Pennsylvania from 1992 to 1996, so he would have mainly driven the Land Cruiser during his senior year. Unfortunately, many years spent in east coast winters meant that 80-series had accumulated a notable amount of rust. Not only that, but Ms Bryant now lives in Las Vegas, which means the plastic and leather bits have also been cooked by the searing sun.
Shaq enlisted the help of a Riverside, California customization shop called Effortless Motors, which took in the Land Cruiser for refurbishment. The truck had been covered in a black wrap that looked quite worn in the before images, but it has repainted in a classic 90s dark green. Although the Effortless staff says the paint code returned white, the Bryant family remembers Kobe driving the green SUV. It looks to be a factory 6M1 Dark Emerald Pearl, and the timeline indicates that Kobe bought it new in ’96, so a repaint is unlikely.
In any case, the finished Land Cruiser looks great. Back in 1996 the Land Cruiser would have started at $40,000 or so, but could have gone as high as $50,000 fully loaded. It would have been a prestigious car for an up can coming basketball player. We wish the video had shown more of the restoration process, but in the end it’s one more J80 on the road. And because its 1FZ engine is bulletproof Ms Bryant can proudly drive the Land Cruiser for many years to come. August 23 would have been Kobe’s 46th birthday.
