Land Cruiser 80 Series

LAND CRUISER 50 SERIES
	The Land Cruiser had been introduced as a cross-country type 4x4 vehicle, but people had begun to accept the idea that it could also be a utility vehicle for carrying things. So demand increased for a vehicle with a larger body that could carry more people and more cargo. Toyota responded by building wagons like the FJ35V and the FJ45V. After that, demand became strong for a genuine estate car. An ordinary truck could carry people or cargo, but after getting to a work site by road, trucks were frequently expected to cross difficult ground, often in severe weather conditions where roads might be washed out or otherwise impassable. The Land Cruiser satisfied these multiple needs. Toyota had put a priority on development of passenger cars such as the Crown and the Corona, and the design staff was too busy to work on the Land Cruiser. As a result, the design was handled by on-site technical staff working with little more than rulers and compasses. It was not until the 50-series that designers were able to pay serious attention to the Land Cruiser, creating design sketches and clay models. Leaving some traces of the original 40-series, in July of 1967 they released a new model, the FJ55V, to replace the FJ45V. The body was larger than a compact car, the ride was as comfortable as a passenger car, and it was designed not just for utility but for leisure use. Now the export market's influence really came into play. The 50-series was made to be sold in America and Australia. It was designed to cruise at 130km/h on US highways, and built tough to handle the rugged Australian landscape, the first time that a Toyota truck was build entirely with fully enclosed box cross-section welded members. It was also engineered to meet US safety standards established through frontal crash testing at 50km/h. Because of its shape, it was known affectionately in the US as the Moose.