Toyota Land Cruiser HJ45 Pickup Is One Rare Beauty
Left-hand drive Land Cruiser HJ45 lands in America after spending its life working on a farm in Southern Spain.
By now, you’ve seen probably every Toyota FJ there is to see. After enduring a revival years ago, finding a restored FJ is pretty easy — throw a rock, and you’re bound to hit one. What you don’t see a lot of, on the other hand, are a whole lot of Land Cruiser HJ45 examples, and for good reason.These long bed, four-wheel drive pickups simply weren’t produced in massive numbers, and many of them reside overseas.
That was the case for this gorgeous 1979 Toyota Land Cruiser HJ45, which we spotted over at Hemmings, in fact. It was originally sold in Las Palmas, an island in Southern Spain. And unsurprisingly, the pickup spent its life working on a farm until it was stored back in 2007. The seller located the rare left-hand drive HJ45 and worked with an importer to bring it here to the states with a mere 41k miles showing on the odometer.
Still, a life of hard work left the Land Cruiser pickup in less than desirable shape. So a professional shop stripped it down to the frame and completely restored it. It took quite a bit of metal work to make the old truck perfectly straight again. But now it looks better than new with a fresh coat of Toyota Beige. With all of that cosmetic work complete, the Land Cruiser finally made its way to the U.S. so it could be finished.
Interior and mechanical work came next, as did a fresh set of wheels and tires. A modern fuse box is one of the only deviations from stock, along with a newer radio. Now this gorgeous Toyota Land Cruiser HJ45 is ready to move on to a new home! And as seldom as these cool trucks are seen on our shores, we’re plenty pleased to see that happening!
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