Jaw-Dropping FJ25 Land Cruiser Is a Badass Blast from the Past
Specialist-restored 1957 FJ25 is better-than-new, ‘unapologetically basic,’ and totally awesome through and through.
Do you remember 1957? Elvis made his third and final appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Wham-O gave us the frisbee. Dwight D. Eisenhower is sworn-in for his second and final term as the 34th President of the United States. American Bandstand begins its journey from Philadelphia phenomenon to national television icon. Katie Couric, LeVar Burton, and Gloria Estefan are born. Humphrey Bogart, Christian Dior, and Laura Ingalls Wilder pass from this plane of existence.
And of course, 1957 was the year Toyota began exporting and selling cars and trucks to the United States, beginning with the Toyopet and the Land Cruiser. Regarding the latter, we happened upon this stupendous FJ25 in Hyman’s current catalog the other day, and realized it would be wrong not to share it with you.
This FJ25, as Hyman explains, “is an extremely rare and desirable early-production FJ-series Land Cruiser,” and was restored through and through in 2018 by a Toyota specialist. The result is a better-than-new machine, draped in deep green with touches of polished chrome all over the place.
Under the hood is a super-clean 3.9-liter F155 inline-six, which made between 105 and 125 horsepower back in its day, and likely makes as much now following the restoration. A three-speed manual handles the duty of moving those ponies around to the ground beneath the Land Cruiser.
The interior is just as amazing as the outside, with brown leather seating and a matching shift boot ready to welcome you to the adventure begin, and brown door straps to pull the rugged look together. You can also fold the window down, admire the classic beige gauges, and enjoy as much sun and fun as you can stand.
“This rare and fascinating early Land Cruiser is ready to be enjoyed in any number of events, or for merely ‘cruising’ to your local shops,” Hyman says, adding that the FJ25 is “unapologetically basic.” And when you have a beauty like this waiting for you, basic is as good as fancy, if not better.
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