Inside the LandCruiser Heritage Museum in Salt Lake City

It may come as a surprise to most people, but Toyota doesn’t have a collection of its venerable LandCruiser range.

That certainly struck home to Greg Miller, a keen LandCruiser fan and owner, who was at Toyota sourcing five 70 Series Cruisers for his upcoming Expedition 7 series of overland treks – a feat that eventually saw Cruisers traverse every continent including Antarctica.

That was back in 2011-12, and Greg decided if Toyota didn’t have a collection, he’d make one; hence the LandCruiser Heritage Museum in Salt Lake City, Utah. It might be the last place you would expect to find a museum dedicated to LandCruisers, but after hearing about it we decided to pay it a visit.

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Jules, the assistant manager, showed us around the collection of 98 different Cruisers representing every model of LandCruiser ever built. First through the door was a 1953 BJ ‘Jeep’, the forerunner to the LandCruiser range.

This particular one, one of few still in existence, was sourced from Australia a couple of years back. I remember writing about it saying how disappointed I was that it was leaving the country. And while it would have been great to see it in a museum in Australia, it’s gone to a bloody good home where hundreds, if not thousands, of people will admire it.

Beside the BJ are a couple of FJ25s that date back to the 1960s. Like the BJ, they had a torquey six-cylinder ex-truck engine that negated any need for a low ratio. Softly sprung, they were the vanguard of Toyotas that infiltrated Australia and then the rest of the world.

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My first real experience with a Cruiser was when we bought our HJ47 Series back in 1980. Similar to the one on display at the museum, our HJ had a 2H diesel engine and a four-speed transmission. Albeit not terribly powerful, our Cruiser took us everywhere around Australia, rarely missing a beat – and like everyone else, we just loved the reliability and toughness that is part and parcel of the LandCruiser brand.

While there are plenty of 40 Series Cruisers in the collection, there are 55s, 60s, 100s, 105s, Prados and 200s too. The 200 on display is a Hema Map vehicle that, after travelling much of Australia for the company, mapping its iconic Desert Tracks Maps series, was then dispatched to the USA to help map 4WD trails there.

Of the 98 vehicles on display at least a half dozen come from Australia, including a race set-up 70 Series and an old NORFORCE army one still in its camouflaged finery. Representing the 70 Series is the Expedition 7 vehicles which look untouched and unfazed from their seven continent expeditions.

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Some of the rare but not-so-old beasts were a couple of Mega Cruisers. Produced in the mid-1990s, there were only 300 ever built and there are two on display; one is a military version, while the other is quite a luxurious (in comparison) civilian model. What an expedition vehicle they would both make!

Not really LandCruisers but worthy of a place at the museum are an Arctic Trucks-sourced Hilux that was used on the first vehicle traverse of the Greenland Icecap, just a couple of years ago. While in another corner is an Icon lookalike of a 40 Series Cruiser, but with all modern running gear and engines; this ‘Cruiser’ will set you back around 250 grand – that’s in American dollars!

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Currently there is no 300 Series Cruiser on display, but I’m betting room will be made for the latest Cruiser to go on display not so far down the track.

We suggested that a 40 Series or even a 70 Series ‘bull catcher’ should be their next Cruiser that they procure and put on a pedestal. Maybe one from the hit TV show, Outback Ringers, would have enough ‘heritage’ to warrant a position.

We spent a good couple of hours wandering the halls and loving the displays. If you ever find yourself in the States, or especially Salt Lake City, take the time and make the pilgrimage to the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum; you wont regret it!