We first came across The FJ Company’s work at SEMA 2016 and were impressed by their workmanship. The company’s latest promotional video gives a peek inside their shop, showing how much effort goes into building one of their FJ40s.
Unlike some of its creations that use 80-Series FZ sixes, the Classic model uses an original 2F engine, but completely rebuilt with new internals. The rest of the build, such as chassis balancing and paint, is just as impressive. The transmissions are 5-speed units from Japanese or Australian 60-Series.
Basically, they’re the Singer Porsches of the Land Cruiser world — classic vehicles with some modern improvements for comfort and drivability that don’t detract from the style and spirit of the original.
Beautiful. But, with a starting price of $85,000, even if I could afford it, I’d be terrified to drive it
That’s not an issue for the customers who buy these. For them, money is not an object, as is the case with Singer’s clients.
Interesting feature on the FJ Company and an FJC prototype Land Cruiser resto-mod in the April edition of Car and Driver. They found their “restored and lightly modernized” FJ43 (in Matt Dune Beige) drove like a mid-century truck, and rode like an ox cart, with steering like a farm tractor. It was ill-suited for cold or wet weather with its canvass top. All this plus a modern 4.0 V6 engine swap and a few nice options will sticker for just over $200,000. Ridiculous? Well, as the last sentence of the review notes, “Sure, it’s expensive, but you can hardly put a price on time travel”.
As the owner of an FJ60 I can attest that even in 1987 they were still driving like “mid-century trucks.” An experience with a first-gen Montero felt basically the same. It really shows why the original Nissan Pathfinder, Isuzu Rodeo and Ford Explorer really took off.