Got to ride around in this today
And got to meet a cool dude in the process. Its really hard to explain what it is Im showing you. It’s a Land Cruiser, but it didn’t come out of a Toyota factory. Its old but new. its a farm truck and a home. Its an odd duck.
Its the Maltec troopy. It starts life as a 90-91 German hzj80 series Land Cruiser. Then the frame is stripped and cleaned and stretched. Its then fitted with body and hardware mounts for an 78 series troopy body. A new HZ NA diesel engine, hf151 5 speed manual and transfer case are installed. Then a turbo is added. The axles are rebuilt and refreshed as new, a sub tank installed and new suspension, wheels and tires added. Then it’s fitted with the aforementioned 78 series body and interior (brand new). Then the interior is fitting out including a poptop carbon roof, sink, stove, fridge, diesel water heater, etc etc. Its a lightweight (5800 lbs all in), coil sprung, dual locked, turbo diesel manual transmission home. Its something Toyota never made, but should have and as I mentioned before is 100% street legal and registerable (its also lhd).
p.s. it costs $142,000 USD. Yeah, thats a lot of money, but this is a lot of truck and don’t forget, its a brand new 25 year import. so no aged plastics and worn out components.
Worth it? That’s up to you. bear in mind that a built up 4x4 conversion van is going to run you about the same, but not be nearly as capable or world travel ready it might be worth considering.
Also had a great lunch and chat with Phil, of Land Cruiser Products. really nice of him to reach out. Always fun to be a part of this community. very cool, very nice people.