Once a year, I fall happily down the Top Gear rabbit hole and binge the “Specials,” where the chaps generally buy old vehicles within a genre and start the episode off by putting the vehicles under extreme pressure to expose the vehicles’ weaknesses, thereby making them unreliable. They will then modify the vehicles to be ridiculous. The goal of this is to set up hilarious scenarios where the vehicles will inevitably break down, and two of the three will laugh at and leave the unlucky presenter (usually Hamster or May) stuck beside the road where he will miraculously fix the broken old car with a hammer (while neglecting to mention the team of mechanics and vans of spare parts which travel in convoy behind our heroes). At the end of the ridiculous jaunt, they will declare their undying love for the vehicles which had suffered and achieved so much, and Clarkson will declare his the best vehicle of them all.
The Bolivia special was especially entertaining as the trio dipped their toes into our world as overlanders. Having traveled many of the areas in that special, I can tell you they are full of it, but we don’t care. Watching the old Range Rover, Suzuki, and FJ40 trundle through jungles and high-elevation Altiplano and Chilean deserts is an absolute treat, and while Clarkson did indeed insist that “the most unreliable car in the world (the Range Rover) is the most reliable car in the world,” it was the FJ40 which stole the show.
The team at Legacy Overland was luckily not inspired by Top Gear when they laid their Connecticotian Connecticuter hands on a 1971 FJ40. Instead of cutting off the roof and installing oversized tires, the crew rebuilt the vehicle, presumably sourced in dry, rot-free Portugal, to be damn near perfect.
The truck exterior has been beautifully repainted in metallic dark gray while the frame received a fresh lick of black, and a few original details have been left to add charm and a sense of legacy, such as the eight-ball shifter knob and extra auxiliary gauges on the dash.
Powered by a mighty GM 350 V8 engine fed by a Holly 600 CFM carb, the FJ retains the four-speed manual gearbox but boasts disc brakes front and rear and power steering to bring modern ease to this stylish 50-year-old. For off-road performance, the short wheelbase mountain goat sports front Warn lockers, and if you still manage to get it stuck, there is a Warn M8000 winch and farm jack mounted on the front bumper beneath Halogen headlights.
The FJ is a hardtop with full front and rear ambulance doors; for safety, the vehicle is fitted with a black interior roll bar. Two front bucket seats are complemented by two rear sideways mounted benches. And the steering wheel is wrapped in luxurious leather, which you can tap while listening to the premium sound system and enjoying the under-dash air conditioning system.
BFGoodrich All/Terrain tires spin on black steel wheels at corners, and a rear spare wheel lives on the swing-out carrier.
The attention to detail is OCD level, and this vehicle appears superbly and tastefully built. No expense has been spared to breathe new life into this old legend, ensuring that it will continue to serve honestly and faithfully for another half-century.
This is one FJ40 that will not be “accidentally” rolled down a 300-foot sand dune near the coast of Chile—hopefully. Ideally, this vehicle will live on a ranch or in the heated garage of a cabin in Camp Connell, where it will wait for a weekend exploration to Lake Tahoe and a white Christmas. If it is really lucky, someone will bolt on a rooftop tent and take it for a slow drive down to Argentina.
Browse through the Legacy Overland website, and you will discover that this is no one-off. The team has brought new life to a number of classics, including the Land Rover Defender and Range Rover Classic, Mercedes-Benz Gelandewagen, and a handful of beautiful Land Cruisers.
If you have some gold burning a hole in your pocket, head over to the Legacy Overland website and complete the application form. Expect to pay north of $60,000 for this wonderful vehicle, safe in the knowledge that, if all goes to plan, it might actually be an investment. Keeping a full-service record with Legacy Overland can only help to retain and grow the value of your pride and joy.
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