Would You Rather: Toyota FJ Edition
Let’s play a game of Would You Rather. You know the one: Would you rather eat 1000 cantaloupes or hang upside down from a tree for 10 days? Would you rather rake wet leaves for the rest of your life or commute every day on a tricycle? That sort of thing.
Except the twist to this game of Would You Rather is that it’s the FJ Edition, because right now, in one of those stars-aligned, sliding-doors, serendipitous, must-be-fate kind of internet things, Hagerty Marketplace has two Toyota FJs listed for sale: One is a 1975 FJ40 in factory green with a white top, and the other is a 2014 FJ Cruiser in Cement with a white top. The auction for the FJ40, currently at $7950 after 11 bids, ends this Friday, October 25, while the Cruiser, at $27,000 after 19 bids, ends on Tuesday the 29th.
The listing for the FJ40 states it was restored in 2002, though the driver-quality paint is bubbling and needs attention, with some rust and chips throughout, and the interior may need attention due to long-term storage. The 3.9-liter inline-six seems to run well and idle cleanly, and the truck is claimed to drive and shift well, but due to that extended storage, the mechanicals, too, may need some recommissioning.
Upgrades include a newer front seats, an aftermarket tuner and speakers, an auxiliary heater, a Weber carb, headers, electronic ignition, and an auxiliary fuel tank, while recent work done shows a new battery, new brakes and brake booster, new tires and wheels, and a new radiator. The odometer reads 15,252 miles, though actual mileage is unknown.
The rust claims in this listing are, if we’re being honest, not alarming in the slightest. Does “rust throughout” equate to see-through floorboards? Not even close. The rear leaf springs appear to be the orangest bits on the whole truck, but even that’s just on their surface. Sure, there’s some bubbling in a few places beneath paint, but nothing in the 201 photos accompanying the listing even hints at structural issues. This appears to be a solid #4 (fair) condition FJ40 with plenty of bumpy, slow, highly enjoyable life left in it.
The FJ Cruiser, meanwhile, comes from the final year of production. It’s an unmodified single-owner SUV with just 14,630 miles on its 260-hp 4.0-liter V-6, so it is hardly broken in. The listing states that the seller only drove the thing in summer weather, and that it is free from any substantial imperfections. Exterior goodies include a locking rear differential, rock sliders, a roof rack, and a tow hitch, while the inside features cloth upholstery, cruise control, a JBL stereo with 6-disc CD changer, rear parking assist, Bluetooth, power windows, locks, and mirrors, and on and on. All the modern conveniences, in other words.
The original FJ40 enjoyed a remarkably long production life, from 1960 to 1984 in most markets, with Brazilian production as the Bandeirante through 2001, and it did so relatively unchanged, even while the Land Cruiser lineup continued to evolve around it. They are hard to kill and almost universally loved, and for a few years there in the early 2010s, they were the utilitarian darlings of the collector car auction world. Accordingly, prices for the very best soared to six figures, and every so often we still see those results. Hagerty currently values them quite broadly, with #1 (concours) examples from 1975 hovering around $109,000 and #4 rigs like this one just north of $11,000.
As throwback vehicles go, the FJ Cruiser was a noble attempt by Toyota to capture some of that FJ40 love. Sales in the US only lasted seven years, though Toyota continued producing the Cruiser for overseas markets through 2022. Although it was by no means as barebones as its predecessor, right out of the showroom it was still a quite capable vehicle off pavement. Original MSRP hovered around $30,000, and they have held their value well in the secondary market, with Kelley Blue Book “Fair” pricing hovering around $25,000. A quick search of Edmunds.com shows 843 FJ Cruisers currently for sale nationwide, priced from $4150 for a 400,000-mile ’07 to $67,000 for three-owner 2012 with 4000 miles. Several with 150,000-plus miles on them that are priced around the mid-twenties. Which is all to say it will be interesting to see how astute Hagerty shoppers value this one in the coming days.
So, we ask you, astute Hagerty readers: Would you rather have a lumpy but loveable classic FJ40 for the low-low price of . . . at least $7950, or would you rather step into the cozy confines of a low-mileage, far more modern but perhaps less charming FJ Cruiser for a used-car price that could approach . . . $40,000? $50,000?
