We’ve enjoyed four Land Cruisers so far (and a few other cars that we probably won’t mention, except for maybe Bb’s miata… ). Stay tuned for updates on the buildup of each.
The original Sandcruiser was a brown 1984 fj60 that we painted two-tone, then was stolen, and repainted white, then driven hard and eventually parted out in Costa Rica. We called her Sandy.
In Costa Rica, we bought a 1973 fj40. Faded yellow and justly named “Buttercup”. She was a beast, however, so we shortened it to Bubba.
We parted out Sandy when we purchased “Louie”, our 1988 hj60. While a little newer than Sandy, the big attraction was the 2H diesel motor. Many of the goodies and parts that had helped make Sandy so special got transplanted over onto the new-to-us hj60.
In 2007 we stepped up our luxury a little bit and bought a 1991 fj80 that had been converted into an hd-t80 by adding a 1993 turbo-diesel motor. Big step up in power and smoothness. Also a host of headaches associated with creative modifications done during the motor swap. This most recent cruiser has defied naming, so far, but was reliable and fairly comfortable for the long drive back through Central America and Mexico and continues to serve us well in California, where Steve is steadily fixing it up for future expeditions.