Land Cruiser FJ60 With Vortec V8: How Much Would You Pay?
It’s popular to swap the Vortec V8 into a classic Land Cruiser. But is carburation a buzzkill for resale?
Land Cruiser prices have been on the rise for the last five years, and with the current generation set to exit the U.S. market by the end of 2021, it’s a good bet they’ll continue to climb. So if you’re looking to finally add one of these rugged off-roaders to your fleet, there’s simply no time like the present.
Because when the beloved beast leaves Toyota showrooms here in the States, its cache will only increase. Hell, even if Toyota follows my advice, and goes totally retro with the next-gen, that could mean even higher prices — depending on how right they get the new design. Those are my predictions anyway, but having been scared from when several of my dream machines suddenly became collectibles, I’m now much more of a buy now, think later type of dude. Obviously, your mileage may vary.
Which brings us to the question of this 1984 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ60 with a Vortec V8 swap. On auction site, market barometer, and extraordinary time-waster Bring a Trailer, it was recently bid to $20,000, but that’s where interest ground to the halt. Since that figure apparently wasn’t enough to crack the reserve, when the music stopped, this baby was left standing.
Now, looking at the BaT sales charts, it doesn’t seem like originality is a big concern with this swap, as this 1990 example, and this 1988 model, also had the Vortec treatment, and each went for about double the cost of entry on a 2021 4Runner. That’s a far cry from 20k, and I think it might have to do with the fact that while the American eight-pot is seen as a bonus, the fact that it’s still rocking carbs isn’t.
Honestly, if I was going to buy a car that had an engine swap done, I would want the previous owner to have gone all the way and banished the witchcraft of the carb in favor of fuel injection.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should probably mention that I’m always on the lookout for a classic Jaguar XJ6 with the Chevy swap. But at this point, I’m passing on anything with a carb, as attractive as some of them are, and I wonder if some prospective Land Cruiser owners are thinking the same thing. Because while the pics aren’t great, this FJ60 looks to be a pretty solid rig.
So what do you think? How much should this beige behemoth have gone for, or more precisely, how much would you have paid? Like I said above, the lack of fuel injection made this baby a no-go for me. But there are plenty of shade-tree savants unafraid of the carburetor’s intricacies, so I’m a little surprised this bidding stalled so low. Hit me up and let me know — I’m more than prepared to hear about how “carbs aren’t that bad!”
Photos: Bring a Trailer