AN ODE TO THE 28 SERIES LAND CRUISER

Our first blog post! We are going to be migrating some of our in-depth instagram posts to here so they are more easily findable/readable. This post originally was published on 10/26/2021. Enjoy! :  Today a little ode to the obscure of the obscure: the 28 series Land Cruisers. Toyota launched the 20 series Land Cruisers in 1955 with a completely new style body compared to the Toyota “BJ Jeep” it had produced before. That first model was geared for military/police use and the 20 series represented a real departure from that background and took the Land Cruiser into the general population. Toyota offered the 20 series in a few different flavors, probably the one we are most familiar with is the FJ25. However, Toyota also offered, in some world markets, a FJ28VA 2-door and 4-door wagon, as well as an uber obscure FJ28 pickup! These FJ28 wagons were THE first real Land Cruiser wagons, not the much-loved FJ45LV. The bodies of these cool wagons were built by the Japanese coachworks known as Gifu (they also built the FJ45LV bodies and many years later merged with Toyota). Some of these 20 series Land Cruisers also had custom bodies made by South American coachworks as well! The 20 series Land Cruisers ran until 1960 when they were replaced by the 40 series. A few of these 28 wagons have thankfully survived and popped up over the years. Two reside with the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum (LCHM) (photos 3,4) one is in Japan (5), I have seen hints of some in other parts of the world, and one is currently being restored by our friend @scoobiedubes (6)! I can’t wait to see it finished. Hopefully he gives us a full video tour of it. ;) I have always wanted one of those 2-door variants. Let’s all give a toast to the FJ28VA wagon, because without it… would we have had the 35,45LV,55,60,62,76,80,100,200,300? Would we even have had #wagonlife ?! I guess we will never know. Cheers all! – Chase