70th anniversary edition 70 Series coming soon

Toyota Australia is expected to mark 70 years of building 4x4 vehicles with a number of 70th anniversary LandCruisers, and it has confirmed the first of them to get the treatment will be the most iconic of all surviving models: the 70 Series.

Toyota began building its BJ 4x4 in post-war Japan in 1951, but it wasn’t until 1954 that the name LandCruiser was placed on them after Willys filed a trademark on the name Jeep. Around this time the first petrol engine was introduced to the model, and thus the first FJ LandCruiser was born.

The 70 Series is the one remaining LandCruiser model that can truly trace its heritage back to those early vehicles, as it stayed true to the rugged and commercial offerings that were built to take on any condition.

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Ever since the 60 Series debuted in 1980, the subsequent LandCruiser wagons have taken on a more comfortable and user-friendly design than the commercial-grade 70s.

The 70 Series has been there for 36 of the LandCruiser’s 70 years, and today it’s more popular than ever.

The 70th Anniversary edition 70 Series will be based on the GXL model available in single-cab 79 pick-up (200 units), double-cab 79 pick-up (320 units) and 76 Series wagon (80 vehicles) variants.

They will be priced at $78,500 for the 76 Series wagon, $80,050 for the single-cab 79, and $82,600 for the double-cab 79.

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The special edition models will feature a black heritage grille with ‘TOYOTA’ lettering surrounded by darkened headlight bezels and LED fog lights and DRLs. A black front bumper, wheel-arch flares and darkened alloy wheels continue the dark look. A ‘Heritage’ LandCruiser badge is applied on the front guard, along with a ‘70th Anniversary’ emblem.

The interior of the 70 Series Cruisers remain quite Spartan, in keeping with their commercial use, but the Anniversary edition gets dolled up with black seats, black leather-accented door trims, and a black leather-wrapped steering wheel and gear shift knob. Faux wood-grain trim and instrument panel, silver accents for the air vents and black treatment for the switch trims on the doors complete the look.

A new centre console with two additional 2.1-amp Type-A USB outlets and a pair of cup holders surrounds the gear shifter. Traditional 70 Series owners will wonder what the world in coming to with such luxuries.

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All 70 Series LandCruisers retain the 1VD-FTE 4.5-litre single turbo V8 diesel engine backed by a five-speed manual gearbox and dual-range, part time four-wheel drive. Word on the street is that, while the all-new 300 Series LandCruiser wagon has dropped its V8 engine for a more powerful twin-turbocharged V6 diesel, the 70 series will keep the V8 for the foreseeable future.

The 70th Anniversary 70 Series LandCruisers will only be available in Sandy Taupe, Merlot Red and French Vanilla and are due in Toyota dealerships in September.

With the growing popularity of the 70 Series and the fact vehicles of this style are in decline and can’t be with us forever, you would have to think these limited-edition anniversary models could one day be valuable collectables.

Early leaked photographs of the forthcoming 300 Series showed some cars wearing 70th Anniversary badging, so you can bet we’ll see that model here when the new wagon arrives before year’s end.

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4X4 OF THE YEAR

Over its 70 decades the LandCruiser has won 4X4 Australia magazine’s 4X4 of the Year award six times.

The 80 Series took the award in both 1992 and 1993; the 100 Series won it in 1998 and then again in 2001 when the turbo-diesel was introduced and in 2003 for the 4.7-litre V8 100 Series. The 200 Series has never picked up a gong, while the VDJ79 single-cab won it in 2016.

Interestingly the LandCruiser Prado GXL diesel won 4X4OTY in 2005, and in 2001 the polarising FJ Cruiser beat the 200 Series GX.