The epic land cruiser- a brief history

The production of the first Land Cruiser was in 1951. During this period there were 40 different series. The Land Cruiser comes with an option off hardtop, convertible, station wagon, multi utility truck. According to reports, in 1941 Philippines was occupied by the Japanese military. Here the Japanese found an old Bantam Mk II jeep, and promptly brought it back to Japan. The Japanese military authorities commanded Toyota to make a similar vehicle, but to not model the appearance on the American Jeep. The prototype was called the Model AK and was formally adopted by The Japanese Imperial Army as the Yon-Shiki Kogata Kamotsu-Sha type aa(4 compact cargo-truck). Its main rivals were Pajero, Land Rover Discovery, Nissan Patrol and Jeep. Till date there has been 55editions. The land cruiser I like is the series 70 it has a 4.5LVD-FTV turbo diesel V8.

Comments

The Monica 560 The Forgotten French Luxury Car That Time Forgot

The background This article is about a French automobile company started by a rich French industrialist Jean Tastevin. Jean Tastevin was a graduate engineer of the École centrale de Paris and he succeeded his father in his business which used to manufacture mining and railway equipment. Jean was always a huge automobile enthusiast and personally owned cars from brands such as Aston Martin, Facel Vega and Jaguar. Having owned such cars he always wanted to own a French built car of that quality and class. After becoming the chairman, he renamed the company Compagnie française de produits métallurgiques (CFPM) where he used to sell and rent train cars across Europe. His other company called Compagnie Française de Matériels Ferroviaires (CFMF) used to manufacture and store the rolling stock. This was his day to day bread winning job, however there was a fire burning inside of him to build a car of his desire to compete with the likes of Iso Fidia, Jaguars and Aston’s. Jean Tastevin ...

BSH: The Rare French Kit Car That Left a Lasting Impression

Introduction Imagine stumbling upon a mysterious photo of a rare French race car. That’s exactly what happened to me when I first encountered the BSH. After studying the car's unique stickers and design, I managed to track it down to its origins: the BSH (Benais Saint-Hilaire), a rare and fascinating piece of motorsport history. This article isn’t just about a car; it’s a journey to uncover the story behind a hidden gem from the 1960s and 70s. The BSH may not be glamorous by today’s standards, but it carries a distinct charm—a low-volume French kit car built for motorsport enthusiasts, designed to make high-performance driving accessible to those with the passion but not necessarily the budget for factory-built race cars. The Story Behind the BSH BSH was the brainchild of two passionate engineers, François Benais and Max Saint-Hilaire. Combining their last names, they created the company that would bring this unique car to life. Benais was an engineer with a deep love for motorsp...

Ford almost built a Mid-engined Corvette rival in 1986? History of the Ford GN34

Ford GT40 crushed the Ferrari at Le Mans in the 60’s but 20 years later it was still Ferraris and Porsches winning the sales with highly profitable sports cars. In the domestic market the Corvette was also a great success though it never offered the same quality or feel as its European rivals. It looked like Ford was just letting go of a great opportunity to grab some profits with their own sports car. Two design houses that were part of this project Behind closed curtains Ford's very own Specialty vehicle operations (SVO) decided to work on creating a fast mid-engined sports car that would compete with the other fast European premium sports cars but at the price of a Corvette. The project started in late 1983 with the code name GN34. The project would use resources from around the world with Italian styling, British chassis engineering, European assembly standards and would also boast of the built tough reliability. The full details of this project was never fully revealed ...

Aniruddha's Blog

Search This Blog