This was a special truck for me. I’m a huge fan of the 80 series Land Cruiser platform. My first ever Toyota was a 94 FZJ80 and ever since that truck, I’ve been in love with them. The first time I saw a HDJ81 however, I became fixated. I wanted to find one so bad. When the opportunity arose to buy this truck and Canada had officially reopened all of their border restrictions, I knew it was go time.

I purchased this truck in a suburb outside of Vancouver BC and drove across Canada before dipping back across the border just north of Sandpoint. The drive back was way hairy and I did it on fairly old mud terrain tires through the famed “highway through hell” and 3 more gnarly passes. It snowed basically the whole way home and the truck was sporting a very leaky washer fluid bottle. All this to say, the truck crushed the drive home and I only fell more in love.

Once back in Sandpoint, it was go time. I ordered up a grip of parts and got to work. The truck needed the starter rebuilt, the radiator replaced, all brakes gone through, boost leaks addressed, fresh wheels and tires, and some rust repair along with many other cosmetic fixes. The Nomad Sahara 503 in the Dusk color-way seemed like the only way to go for wheels and those got wrapped in a set of 315/75r16 Falken Wildpeak at3ws. Keeping in mind the sort of “safari” vibe the truck was giving off, a period correct Jaos basket rack was tossed on top.

Now let’s talk about what this truck is. This truck is a vx limited 1990 HDJ81 from Japan. The vx package came with the nicer sort of alcantara style heated seats and a center console fridge. This truck also came equipped with factory front, center, and rear locking differentials. If that wasn’t enough, Toyota also decided that the truck needed an electronic steel cabled winch. Thankfully, the factory winch controller was still stuffed in one of the side compartments in the rear of the truck. On top of all this, the truck is powered by the 1HDT 4.2L 12v turbo diesel engine. The ARB Safari snorkel and a 3 inch turbo back exhaust (with one small muffler) certainly make the exhaust note demand some attention. Parking, or getting fuel spark up a lot of “what diesel did you put in that thing?” conversations until they realize that the truck in RHD.

Anyway, if you couldn’t tell already, I’m pretty proud to have owned this truck and to have gotten to experience the ins and outs of an HDJ81. These types of trucks are definitely in the dream build vein and where I want to see The Dirt Tourist thrive. Here are some photos!

This truck has been passed on to a new owner down in the Bay Area of Northern California! It is definitely in good hands and I can’t wait to see what they do with it! Hope you like this truck as much as I do.