Toyota is now one of the largest carmakers in the United States. Its first years there were nearly a failure — and the vehicle that kept it going was the Land Cruiser.
288 vehicles
Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. was founded on 31 October 1957, in a former Rambler dealership in Hollywood. Sales began in 1958 and came to 288 vehicles for the year: 287 Toyopet Crown sedans and a single Land Cruiser.
The Crown was the car Toyota had counted on. In Japan it was a success, the standard taxi of the day. In America it was found to be underpowered and overpriced for roads and buyers used to big engines, and by 1961 Toyota stopped selling it.
The only Toyota you could buy
What remained was the Land Cruiser. For a time it was the only Toyota on sale in the United States, and its reputation for going anywhere and not breaking kept the company's American dealers in business. It carried the Toyota name alone until 1965, when the Corona arrived — a car designed for American drivers, with air conditioning and an automatic transmission — and sales began to grow.
The Land Cruiser of those years was the 40 Series. The FJ40 is the vehicle that bridged the gap between a failed first attempt and the company Toyota became.
The models
COBI makes the FJ40 at 1:35 in three versions: the FJ40 Expedition, set 24693, with 238 blocks and a figure, and the FJ40 in red (24694, 138 blocks) and blue (24695, 140 blocks). All three are built under an official Toyota license.
They are available to pre-order. The expected shipping month is shown on each product page, and you can cancel any time before it ships.
See the COBI Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 Expedition, set 24693
See the COBI Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 Red, set 24694
See the COBI Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 Blue, set 24695
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