I have owned Toyota Land Cruisers since 1970 when I purchased a new FJ-40 off the showroom floor. I drove that cruiser for 16 years, many of them involving geologic field work in remote and roadless regions of The Pacific Northwest, British Columbia and California.   One could argue that I was in to "rock crawling" long before it achieved its current level of popularity.  My Land Cruisers have been fantastic geology field vehicles, and with regular maintenance and care I never had any major mechanical problems. As an off-road vehicle, the FJ-40 is unsurpassed in terms of strength, power and reliability.

Our current Land Cruiser is a 1978 FJ-40. During my 28 years of driving and maintaining Cruisers, I accumulated numerous ideas of how I would like to modify one if I ever had the time, equipment, resources and family support.  This particular FJ40 was found by my son, Tivon, and we purchased it initially with  the idea of restoring it for him to drive.  The initial restoration involved minimal body and upholstery work, and with a new paint job (NASSON British-Racing-Green and White), this phase was completed in 1996.  In the fall of 1997,with Tivon off to college and the stock 2F showing signs of imminent failure, I seized the opportunity to fulfill my dream of building my ideal field/trail Cruiser. The results of our conversion projects are shown here, together with other pictures and links.