3,100-Mile 1968 Toyota Land Cruiser Restomod Makes Strange Vortec Noises

An average citizen wouldn't probably notice that this 1968 Toyota Land Cruiser is a very special one. Sure, the Grabber Blue paint job is bound to turn some heads. The tall lift and shiny 15-inch aluminum wheels that are wrapped in 35x12.5 Goodyear Wrangler off-road tires also work together to make this old-school Toyota visible from afar.

Of course, these upgrades point out that it should now be even more capable of taking to the dirt trails than when it originally left the factory floor. Also, this off-roader used to have a meager inline-six engine, which would only output slightly over 100 horsepower. As with any respectable restomod build, six cylinders just wouldn't be enough, and so the people over at Proffitt's Resurrection Land Cruisers in Western Colorado had to intervene.

Some 3,000 miles (4,828 km) ago, the old engine was taken out of this Land Cruiser. A larger, 6.0-liter Vortec V8 was added instead, increasing the maximum horsepower output threefold as compared to the original unit. Of course, this meant that a new transmission had to be fitted as well, and the builders opted for a GM 700R4 unit, which you'd usually come across in vehicles such as the Chevrolet Blazer, Suburban, or even the Camaro.

This FJ40 is currently located in Forth Worth, Texas, and comes with a $61,995 price tag. That makes it some $20,000 cheaper than the 2021 Land Cruiser, but then again, there's not that much room inside, and we are talking about a 50+-year-old vehicle, even though it hasn't been that long since it was completely restored. The seller has also provided a short video of the Land Cruiser, and we get to hear that Vortec rumble for a bit, which is just enough to raise our interest.