Values for Toyota Land Cruisers are on a stratospheric rise. Among classic Cruisers, the J80 generation, built from 1991-1997, is the perfect balance of drivability, ruggedness, modern creature comforts, and old-school simplicity. There’s no shortage of available J80 Land Cruiser mods, and they are known to run reliably for a quarter-million miles or more.
Examples like this 1995 J80 for sale on eBay Motors are fetching strong money.
The demand for Land Cruisers is partly due to the rising popularity of overlanding. The trend of living in a charming off-road vehicle—and posting social media-friendly photos from far-flung places—accelerated during the pandemic. There’s also been an increase in the number of preppers who want to be ready for anything, from natural disasters to the zombie apocalypse.
Shop now for Toyota Land CruisersTriple-Locking Differentials
If you can ignore the loose usage of the term “restored,” this lime green rig has a lot going for it. For starters, it’s a 1995 model, which comes with the improved 4.5-liter 1FZ engine introduced in 1993, as opposed to the earlier models’ 4.0-liter 3FE.
The seller also lists it as having triple lockers, which means locking differentials in both front and rear axles as well—and in the center for true four-wheel-drive traction.
At 155,000 miles, this J80 Land Cruiser still has plenty of life left. The eye-searing paint may not be everyone’s cup of tea. But it’s a quality paint job that extends to the door jambs, wheel wells, and under the hood and hatch. Even the engine bay, frame, and all-important solid front axle were recently painted black. The OEM wheels were also recently powder-coated in gray, and the original upholstery was redone in tan.
There’s more:
- The seller has added a Dobinsons suspension kit—good for a six-inch lift.
- Maxxis Trepador off-road tires on those original wheels fill out the wheel wells.
- Fox reservoir shocks and an Old Man Emu steering damper are high-quality aftermarket parts.
- A large bull bar and snorkel are common mods for any apocalypse-ready rig.
J80 Land Cruiser: All the Right Stuff
The $25,00 asking price is fair considering the work put into it. The only speed bump buyers is the color. But, we may have a solution for that. In the original Jurassic Park novel, Michael Crichton wrote about the dinosaur zoo:
A line of Toyota Land Cruisers came out of an underground garage beneath the visitor center.
The novel was published in 1995, the same year this vehicle was made. Crichton probably envisioned something just like it. Unfortunately, when the film adaptation came out producers opted for Ford Explorers instead. But as you might remember, they featured a lot of lime green. So this J80 Land Cruiser might be the perfect opportunity to create your own Jurassic-mobile.
