Trio of Toyota Land Cruisers Roll into Jay Leno’s Garage
Jay Leno shares fascinating history of 60 series Land Cruisers and goes for a spin in a 1988 model.
Here’s something you don’t see much on Jay Leno’s Garage: an SUV. This isn’t just any SUV, though. It’s a Toyota Land Cruiser. In fact, it’s three of them.
Brian Corsetti of Corsetti Cruisers, an avid 60 series Land Cruiser collector and restorer, recently stopped by Leno’s garage. When he was a child, he would ride in the back of his family’s Land Cruiser on the way to junior high school. He likes Jeep Wagoneers and old Land Rovers, but the 60 series has always had his heart. “For me, these were an inexpensive kind of classic that I could drive every day and also fix myself,” he tells Leno.
Corsetti says that he already had a few Land Cruisers when he met his girlfriend. Her interest in them only stoked the flames of Corsetti’s passion for the off-roaders and caused him to buy more of them. He tells Leno, “I have 12 of them. These are three of the 12 and…I’ve just been restoring these for the last three years and all my life.” He enjoys the hunt for his next model and typically goes for 1981-1990 specimens with only one to two owners and less than 180,000 miles.
The trio of Land Cruisers Corsetti brings to Leno’s garage show a mild evolution of the 60 series. There’s a 1987 model with the carbureted 2F straight-six and a four-speed manual. Its meager 135 horsepower and 65-mph top speed make it more of a trail vehicle than a highway cruiser. Corsetti says, “It’s very slow, but it’ll pull anything out of the mud.” There’s also an ’88 with the 155-horsepower fuel-injected 3F 4.0-liter I6 and a four-speed auto that allow it to sail down the highway at 75-80 mph. According to Corsetti, it’s a “great daily driver” and his favorite of the three. The third Land Cruiser is a 1989 model with a lift and more equipment on it, including a better sound system and electric windows.
The two auto enthusiasts hit the road in the ’88. It’s a learning experience for Leno, who’s pleased by the Land Cruiser’s basic, dependable engineering and fascinated by the fact that he’s lived long enough to see this once common vehicle become a sought-after modern classic. He manages to teach Corsetti a lesson, though. While discussing Corsetti’s dozen Land Cruisers and his relationship with his girlfriend in the garage, Leno tells him, “I predict after the wedding, you’ll have three.”
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