Land Cruisers Restomodded by TLC Work Hard and Lie Low

Growing up on the coast of North Carolina, I had access to the somewhat cliche local privilege of four-wheeling on the north end of Carolina Beach, a very vehicle-friendly area called “Freeman Park.” We’d load up our coolers, chairs, and umbrellas and plow through the deeply rutted, soft sand, finally ending up with our tailgates just a few feet away from the Atlantic Ocean.

Throughout the years, the trucks that we used to ferry ourselves oceanside changed from bumpy, analog hulks with zero modern amenities to, in my high school years, someone’s daddy’s air-conditioned Blazer, the one based on the S-10. Currently, our beach chariot is the family Land Rover, which has a specialized 4×4 “Sand” program designed to lift the suspension above the still-deep ruts of what’s now a crowded beach, access to which requires a fairly expensive permit.

That first truck will always stick in my memory. It was a Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser from the early 1960s, owned by my stepfather. The grille and headlight bezels were white, the rest of the body a faded, locale-appropriate shade of Carolina Tar Heel blue. It was rusty, it was uncomfortable, it was finicky. I had no idea how special it was.

Most weekends, we’d find ourselves surrounded by all sorts of Jeeps, lifted Square Body trucks, and a few capable, foreign pickups. No one paid us or the Land Cruiser much attention, until we’d shed a body panel or side mirror while traversing an especially deep sand rut or after hitting a large, exposed piece of washed-up debris.

“Damned post-war steel. I swear it’s as soft as this sand,” my stepfather would quip.

My step dad loved his Cruiser, but he knew he was fighting a losing battle against poor Japanese metallurgy from an era when industrial resources were scarce, because an entire region of the globe was still recovering from the devastation of World War II.

In what now feels like a formulaic origin story for today’s iconic utility vehicles, the Toyota Land Cruiser was initially developed as a reconnaissance and cargo-hauling vehicle to support the Japanese Army during World War II. Years afterward, a new world conflict shaped the future of the nameplate via an unexpected partnership.

Increasing losses in the Korean War (June of 1950 to July of 1953) put the U.S. government in need of a battlefield vehicle that could be produced on the Asian side of the Pacific. The United States signed an agreement with Toyota to produce around 100 vehicles to the specifications of Willy’s Jeep for use on the Korean frontlines. Unlike the American version, the Japanese Jeeps were built with a first-of-its-kind low-range transfer case, which was more suitable for Korean and Japanese terrain. The Japanese Jeep was so capable that it became the first vehicle to climb to the sixth of 10 stages of Mt. Fuji, at a time when the country’s tallest mountain had little to no engineered roads. When they heard of this feat, the National Police Agency of Japan recognized the vehicle as a tool with immense importance to their cause and immediately ordered 300 or so.

As the Jeeps were now being ordered from Toyota outside of the company’s original deal with the United States, and Toyota was still building them via the specifications set forth by Willys and Jeep, Toyota retained the name Toyota Jeep. After threats of litigation, Toyota dropped the Jeep nameplate, modified the appearance of the vehicle, and set forth to build its own, completely redesigned off-road vehicle for the masses.

In 1954, Hanji Umehara, technical director for Toyota, was tasked with finding a new name for its hill climber. In distinctive Japanese form, Umehara took the dignity of the model name into the highest of considerations. “In England we had another competitor—Land Rover. I had to come up with a name for our car that would not sound less dignified than those of our competitors. That is why I decided to call it ‘Land Cruiser.’”

By 1955, the new-generation Land Cruiser began to roll off assembly lines, wearing a fresh, post-Willys/Jeep design that made it more attractive to foreign markets and for less utilitarian use cases.

During the ’50s, Japan’s steel manufacturing policies, put in place to prioritize rebuilding of infrastructure and to protect domestic industry, made things difficult for companies to satisfy demand. The overall quality of metallurgy suffered due to supply issues, tariffs, and lower levels of mixed carbon.

The softer, post-war steel was easier to weld and shape, but was more prone to rust and breakage, as I would find out first-hand many decades later on the beaches of North Carolina. In that early ’90s, pre-internet world, networking to find replacement parts and panels seemed impossible. You had to know a guy, and most North Carolina “guys” dealt mainly in steel made by American unions. As more pieces fell off and more curse words were uttered, we were finally forced to find a new home for the blue Land Cruiser.

Today, there is an ever-increasing cadre of shops offering to rebuild the classic of your dreams into a vehicle that lives up to today’s expectations of comfort and convenience. Such “restomods” rarely stop at A/C and a disc-brake conversion; many shops allow you to customize your truck or SUV with custom carpet, stereo, and driveline. Some restomods are so thoroughly reinvented that few original parts mare maintained, and people have proven willing to pay well into the six figures for the highest-quality builds. The vast majority of these reimagined trucks are English and American, but with the Land Rover Defender dominating the 25-year import market, the Land Cruiser has been quietly attracting a market share that is absolutely ripe for the picking. One North Carolina shop wants in.

TLC 4×4 is based in Harrisburg, where it shares a building with US Legends Cars Organization, the chassis builders. TLC operates a sprawling facility dedicated to revitalizing these soft-bodied icons and their more modern, and more structurally sound, four-door brethren. The shop is a stone’s throw away from the Charlotte Motor Speedway, smack in the middle of NASCAR’s backyard. Founded in 1996 by Jonathan and Jamie Ward, TLC (you can probably figure out what TLC stands for on your own) buys, restores, and services Land Cruisers and Land Cruisers only.

I sat down with general manager Daniel Valjevac to talk about what sets TLC apart.

“I started a shop called Retro Design and we specialized in American and European cars. I always loved Land Cruisers and finally got around to buying an FJ60. I kind of rebuilt it myself, and from there, a couple of local guys asked if I would do their Cruisers.”

Like many other SUV restomod firms that I have gotten to know, a trusting partnership and the pooling of resources have been vital to the success of TLC. Valjevac had always looked up to Jonathan Ward and Icon, his well-known restoration firm in California, and the two serendipitously connected. Ward was having issues in California building customer cars to its preferred specs due to emission standards and stricter automobile regulations. Valjevac’s shop sat in an emissions-friendly motorsports hub. It made sense for the two Cruiser enthusiasts to combine resources and establish a headquarters just outside of Charlotte. As it continued to release quality vehicles into the wild, TLC’s business grew through networking and word of mouth.

Charlotte’s established place in the racing industry made it a logical choice for a restomod shop. As the home of so many NASCAR teams, the area was packed with mechanics and automotive craftspeople who had experience working on million-dollar builds with incredibly tight deadlines.

“A lot of the NASCAR shops are right around the corner, so we have a lot of resources such as high-end CNC shops, fabricators, carbon-fiber techs, and many other shops that specialize in composites. A handful of our craftspeople are straight out of NASCAR and simply don’t want to do NASCAR anymore.”

Simply stated, TLC has “some guys” from North Carolina.

Those craftspeople are already familiar with the sort of powerplant that TLC prefers for most of its Cruisers: a big American V-8, either diesel or gasoline, depending on customer choice. GM’s LT motor, paired with the corresponding automatic or manual transmission, is the overwhelming favorite. Its smooth power, ease of maintenance, and out-of-the-crate warranty make it perfect for a vehicle that will likely see the rigors of off-road use.

My personal history with the recently popular restomod SUV trend has been limited to shamelessly well-appointed yet appropriately modernized Land Rovers. TLC’s interpretation is different yet remains in complete accordance with the storied Land Cruiser culture of utility over luxury.

TLC’s customers differ from those seeking the ostentation of the wildly popular resto-modded Land Rover Defenders and Classics. Many TLC customers are high-profile individuals who simply want to blend in while stuck in traffic, Valjevac says. “I have a customer with a G-Wagon. He says, ‘I feel like an idiot driving a G-Wagen. With a Cruiser, [people] look at it and say, ‘That’s just another Toyota.”” Most TLC customers want to park in the middle of a mall parking lot and not bring any attention to what in reality is a quarter-million-dollar car.

Customers often come to TLC with a lifestyle they’d wish to supplement by adding a highly capable vehicle. They may own exotic Italian sports cars, but they’re also avid fishermen who want integrated tackle boxes; hunters who want safe, secure firearm storage; or experienced off-roaders who want space for extra tools, water, or emergency fuel tanks. TLC’s Land Cruisers are purpose-built and deliberately used.

While perusing the TLC shop floor, I found two customer builds in for “rejuvenation.” Both trucks had been originally restored by Valjevac and his team and were now back in after what can truly be called a proper thrashing. “We get a lot of these,” Valjevac says. “Customers use them as intended, and we love that.”

Approaching a TLC build feels perfunctory, until you notice the details. Every original piece of trim is there, whether sourced from halfway around the world as a new, unused piece or meticulously recreated via 3D printing or CMC milling in TLC’s engineering wing.

The vast majority of TLC’s builds utilize GM’s LT crate motor, known for reliability and ease of maintenance. These crate options come with a factory warranty, making them easily repairable at most GM service centers, allowing owners peace of mind while traveling almost anywhere in North America and beyond. A Duramax diesel option is also available, but the venerable LT has proven the most popular.

One build is an exception to the LT-all-day rule. It came to TLC as an already well known build from the generation of loud stereos and big bass: a 1993 FZJ80 that had been featured in a ’90s car stereo magazine for its outrageous sound system and rad (for the time) styling. The truck had been left in a state of disrepair and a new, enthusiastic owner wanted to bring it back to glory, this time with the legendary 2JZ straight-six and a big single turbo. With the fun parts custom-sourced from Australia, this extreme Cruiser will likely see horsepower figures somewhere around one thousand. Valjevac hasn’t decided if the 2JZ will be an option that TLC offers to all clients, but I suspect it would strike a chord among deep-pocketed fans of Japanese performance.

Due to TLC’s rigorous quality control testing protocols, the truck I was expecting to drive wasn’t available, but I was treated to a ride in an ’89 FJ142 through some of NC’s beautiful back-country roads on a crisp autumn day.

The truck had been commissioned by a Porsche enthusiast who wanted to include small details as an homage to his favorite sports car brand. Porsche particulars included analog gauges that rise and fall above a small digital display as well as cloth seats with contrasting plaid fabric paneling. The notoriously brittle, jet-engine-shaped interior air vents had been re-fabricated and moved like new, while the green digital clock——now classic, but incredibly modern for the time—remained as a dashboard mainstay. The iconic, long-throw T-handle shifter rose from the floorboard and was sturdily attached to a modern LT-mated GM transmission of the client’s choosing.

The only noticeable modernity was the addition of a touchscreen on the center dash. However, the functions of the display were limited to entertainment and navigation. The original climate-control sliders and fan controls had all been saved, along with the now obsolete push/pull cigarette lighter, which could still be used as intended.

This truck was built for a true 4×4 enthusiast, and the separate shifter for high and low-range four-wheeling proves it. Tucked cozily towards the dashboard, this low-profile stalk, now a long-lost relic of off-roading, maintains all of the mechanical personality that makes the old Cruiser a favorite of those, including yours truly, who remain skeptical of push-button 4WD technology.

On the road, it’s a true Land Cruiser. The turning radius is wide, the body roll is reasonable yet appropriate for a vehicle of its height/stance, and the subtle engine vibrato and mild cam rumble remind you that the power is there if you need it. Closing the doors is music to utilitarian ears: They shut with a “clang” that says, “Okay, let’s go to work!”

This is not a Range Rover Classic, and that’s the point. This is a truck for those who don’t require the softest, rarest of leathers, the lane-departure warning lights, or the engineered interior silence. Aside from its obvious off-road pedigree, this is a truck whose responsibilities include keeping your social status incognito. At stoplights, where a high-line, restomodded Defender would have drawn windows-down queries, no one paid us any mind. We were simply a boxy Japanese SUV of which someone had taken immaculate care. I couldn’t help but wonder if TLC’s trucks, characterized by hidden affluence and under-the-radar capability, indicate the next trend in restomodding, one in which true luxury means not being noticed.

The legacy of the Land Cruiser is now in the hands of a new generation, one that has done the whole “Hey, look at me,” thing and now places a higher value on privacy. The way that TLC discretely integrates modern comforts, GM reliability, and classic Toyota style while staying true to the utilitarian roots of the Land Cruiser caters to deep-pocketed enthusiasts who like to get dirty and have grown to prefer subtlety over ostentation.