SEMA-Bound Resurrection Land Cruiser Roars With Cummins Power
It’s a mean machine, but it doesn’t drink gasoline and has a powerful secret underneath its bodywork.
Proffit’s Resurrection Land Cruisers has been in the business of restoring and customizing Toyota Land Cruisers since 1995. That’s over 20 years of experience doing just about anything you can imagine from straight up restorations, to engine swaps, to building fully focused off-roaders. This 79 series is definitely a focused off-roader and this custom concept build is all ready to make its debut at the SEMA 2018 show in Las Vegas, on October 30–November 2. However, take a look under that bodywork, and all is not as it seems.
It is a 79 Series Land Cruiser Pickup body, but it’s actually mounted on a 1993 FZJ80 chassis. That makes a lot of sense because while the pickup is a great and hardworking tool, the FZJ80 is a purpose-built and heavily over-engineered off-roader. Locking differentials, a locking transfer case, and one ton axles makes this as close to unstoppable and unbreakable as you’re going to get. Proffit has taken things up to a whole new level by not just making it an authentic Toyota off-roading truck, but by also fitting it out with Bilstein shocks, a Warn winch, and a massive distance-extending 60-gallon fuel capacity tank.
The icing on the cake is the Cummins R2.8 4-cylinder turbo diesel engine. Off-roaders tend to prefer a V8 or V6, but the 161 horsepower the Cummins lump produces is dwarfed by the important number for getting out in the wild. It delivers a satisfying and very useable 267 foot-pounds of torque, and the big payoff will come when you mix the fuel economy of a smaller diesel, known to get double the MPG of some popular V8s, and the extended gas tank. This machine is built to go deep into the woods reliably and get you back without the horrible feeling of range anxiety. As a blend of body, chassis, and engine we can’t find fault in this build. It also doesn’t hurt that it’s very easy on the eye.
