Land Cruiser • Every Generation • 2026
Every Land Cruiserin One Year
From a 1971 FJ40 to a 200 Series that got chased by a moose: every generation of Toyota Land Cruiser I photographed in 2026, in order.
Seventy Years, One Camera Roll
Most people see a Land Cruiser as one truck. Land Cruiser people see a family tree with a lot of arguing at the reunion. Round headlights or square. Solid axle or independent. Straight six or V8. Everybody has a favorite generation, and everybody else is wrong.
This year I got lucky. Between the 406 Cruisers run to Goose Lake near Cooke City, Cruise Moab, Cruisin’ on Main in Bozeman and the Roly-Poly Daily Driver Show, I photographed nearly every Land Cruiser generation that ever came to America. So here they are, in order, oldest to newest. Consider it a family photo where nobody had to stand still.
40 Series: Where It Starts
Built 1960 to 1984
The FJ40 is the one everybody pictures: short wheelbase, flat fenders, a straight six and a body shape that looks like it was drawn with a ruler. Expedition Portal puts its production run at 1960 to 1984, which is a long time for anything to stay the same, let alone a truck.
The best one I saw all year was the blue-and-white 1971 FJ40 known as the Prospector, driven up to Goose Lake by the youngest driver in the club, a 16-year-old. I wrote about that trip in Moose, Meteor Showers and a 16-Year-Old in an FJ40. Fifty-five years old and still climbing.
60 Series: The Family Wagon That Wasn’t
FJ60 1981 to 1987, FJ62 1988 to 1989
The 60 Series is where the Land Cruiser grew up and got a real back seat. It is still a body-on-frame truck with solid axles at both ends, it just showed up wearing a station wagon costume. Toyota sold it in the U.S. as the FJ60 and then the FJ62, per Expedition Portal.
The blue one at Roly-Poly in Bozeman had a roof rack, mud on the tires and absolutely no interest in being a show car. The white one in Moab spent the day proving the wagon costume was a disguise.
70 Series: The One That Never Stopped
Introduced in 1984, still in production
The 70 Series replaced the 40 and, according to Expedition Portal, never actually went out of production. It is the Land Cruiser the rest of the world kept working with, and you almost never see one on an American trail. I only caught one this year, in Moab, crawling over a ledge like it had done it a thousand times.
80 Series: The One Everybody Wants Now
Late 1989 to 1997
The 80 Series is the last Land Cruiser sold in the U.S. with solid axles front and rear, and it is the one the internet has decided is the sweet spot. Expedition Portal dates it from late 1989 through 1997, first as the FJ80 and then the FZJ80. It was the most common generation on the Goose Lake run by a mile, and the red one with the steel bumper led the parade through the high meadows like it owned them.
If you are shopping for one, start with So You Think You Want an 80 Series before you start with the classifieds.
LX450: The Fancy Cousin
1996 and 1997 only
Lexus sold the LX450 for exactly two model years, and Consumer Guide sums it up as essentially a dressed-up version of the Land Cruiser, with a 4.5-liter straight six making 212 horsepower. The leather wears out. The rest of it doesn’t.
Mine is TRPLOK, the big, fat, slow camera whale. It made the Goose Lake run with KC lights on the bumper and a Lexus badge doing absolutely nothing to help.
100 Series: The V8 Comfort Cruiser
Introduced in 1998
In 1998 the 100 Series replaced the 80, and in the U.S. it went to a V8 and independent front suspension. Purists grumbled. Everybody who has driven one for ten hours straight stopped grumbling. The silver one in Moab proved independent front suspension can still get a tire in the air.
The 100 Series buyer’s guide covers what to look for.
The 100 also had a Lexus twin, the LX470. I caught a black one in Moab wearing a snorkel and a steel bumper, which is not how Lexus intended it, and much better.
200 Series: The Last One We Got
2008 to 2021 in the U.S.
The 200 Series went on sale for the 2008 model year, and Toyota pulled the Land Cruiser out of the U.S. after 2021, according to Motor Authority. That makes the 200 the last full-size Land Cruiser sold here. It is enormous, it is quiet, and it climbs like a much smaller truck.
The white one on the Goose Lake run belongs to Mark, whose 200 got chased by a young moose the night before the run. The 200 survived. The story got better every time it was told. The black one in Moab came with a full set of recovery gear on the back, which is the 200 Series owner’s version of admitting they might get stuck.
More in the 200 Series buyer’s guide.
What I Missed
No FJ55 “Iron Pig” crossed my path this year, which is a shame, because the 55 Series is the strangest-looking Land Cruiser of them all. The 300 Series never came to America, so it was never going to show up at Goose Lake. Toyota did bring the Land Cruiser name back for 2024 as the smaller 250, which I have opinions about in The LC250: Not Quite a Real Land Cruiser.
If you want to know what any of these actually sell for, the Land Cruiser Market Tracker has real auction results for the 40, 60, 80, 100 and 200, updated every month. And if you can’t decide which one you want, Which Land Cruiser Should I Buy will tell you in seven questions.
Seventy-plus years, one family, and every one of them still being driven up something it shouldn’t. If your Cruiser is on this page, Find My Car has the rest of the photos.
Keep them on the trail.
Six More From the Family Reunion
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