Greetings and welcome to Forty 3rd which focuses on models within the 1/43 - 1/50 scale.
The 4th model we’re going to look at is the 1960 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 by Ebbro.
A little background of the company. Ebbro is the name of a model car range made in China by the Japanese company Miniature Model Planning since the end of the 1990s. Ebbro is producing very detailed die cast 1/43rd scale models for the collectors’ market. Most of them are copying current or classic Japanese road or racing cars.
This model comes in several colors and were release under the Oldies series. I would have loved to collect all the different colors available as I am a fan of the old style Land Cruiser but due to cost I limited myself to only one color. The Matchbox branded Land Cruiser is a different matter as I was able to collect more due to its affordability.
So how did Toyota came up with FJ. According to the FJ company blog the “J” stands for “Jeep” and the “F” indicates the engine type. This is why the early FJs were actually known as BJs–they had a Type B engine, not an F. I was impressed with the design as I love the look of the old Jeeps but is a step up with doors and windows unlike the Jeeps which mostly don’t have doors and has canvas roof. And it looks rugged and tough.
Of course Toyota not only did the FJ40 but came up with others like FJ20s which were built from 1950–1960 and are now considered the formative years of the FJ brand.
Ebbro did a good job in creating this wonderful model during the time there were not a lot of FJ40 made on this scale. There are no opening parts as this was intended as an adult collector for display purpose.
I gave it 5 out of 5 in detail, 5 out of 5 in quality control and 3.5 out of 5 for playable. Of course as with this kind of detail, caution in handling is required.