Working Land Cruisers

The Forestry Agency, Tokyo Electric and other utilities and the construction contractors of the post-war dam programme ran the Jeep BJ and the 20 Series on mountain roads; the 3.4-litre B and 3.9-litre F engines and a truck chassis suited them better than the wartime Jeeps they replaced.

Thirty-two CKD Land Cruisers went to Latin America in November 1955, 52 to Venezuela in 1956 and 795 in 1957 for oil companies and ministries; Saudi Arabia (1955), Iran and the Gulf followed, and the Bandeirante went to Brazilian farms and construction from 1959. The Land Cruiser was Toyota’s foothold in every one of these markets before its cars.

B&D Motors imported the first Land Cruisers in July 1959, the first Japanese vehicle regularly sold in Australia; Thiess ran some on the Snowy Mountains scheme; the FJ45 and HJ47 Troop Carriers and pick-ups became the standard of cattle stations, mines, the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the Northern Territory police and Aboriginal communities.

The 75, 78 and 79 Series of the Pilbara and Northern Territory mines and of Australian farms and councils; the white 76 and 78 Troop Carriers of the UN, ICRC, MSF and WFP across Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia; the 70 and the 200 of oil and gas fleets in the Gulf and Central Asia; the Hilux as the pick-up of all of them.

The 60 and 80 Series as the Australian outback tourer; the 70 and 100 Series of East African safari operators; the Land Cruiser 100 and 200 in the Dakar Rally’s production class, won by Toyota Auto Body’s team every year from 2014 to 2021; the Arctic Trucks Hilux at the South Pole in 2010.