Sant Joan

Project St Joan – Toyota Land Cruiser Restomod

Project St Joan is our take on the Toyota Land Cruiser, specifically the original FJ-shape that did so much to dethrone the Land Rover Defender as the de facto means of getting to far flung corners of the world in the middle of the 20th century. Admired for its innate toughness and rugged, go-anywhere capability, this generation of Land Cruiser has been a cult classic for some years now and values have long been higher than you might expect, which is why they’ve recently become a popular candidate for the ‘restomod treatment.’

A clue as to the brief for Project St Joan can be seen in its name, St Joan being the town on the Spanish Balearic island of Ibiza where the owner stores and uses the vehicle now it’s complete. It doubtless lives a charmed life as its keeper’s primary means of transport around the island, presumably mixing mountain passes and coastal back-roads with the odd bit of low-key off-road work and scrubland traversing thrown in for good measure.

That there was never any recourse to use the completed car on a daily basis and in all weathers helped shape the project, and is also reflected in the engine we decided to equip it with, the Lexus 1UZ-FE. A well-proven and well-regarded V8, the 1UZ-FE provides more than adequate motive force whatever the terrain while still keeping things ‘in the family’ in terms of vehicle and running gear. It has remained in standard fettle and so makes approximately 256bhp, so plenty given the nature of the vehicle it now powers.

The theme of rugged simplicity extends to the transmission, much of which we’ve carried over in standard guise wholesale. This applies to the differentials, both of which have been professionally rebuilt and repainted prior to re-installation. We have, however, supplanted the gearbox that came with the 1UZ with one from an early 80-Series Land Cruiser, a purely mechanical automatic unit without ECU control, and thus well suited to a life of limited maintenance. This in turn mandated a redesign of the transmission tunnel and gear stick surround to suit, but it was a price worth paying to ditch the less than inspiring factory unit.

Chassis upgrades were limited in scope, an understandable decision given the modest performance goals of the completed project. To this end we retained the leaf-sprung layout (though of course all components were restored prior to re-use) but have paired them with some custom dampers for improved road holding, as well an off-the-shelf brake upgrade utilising parts from an amalgamation of different Land Cruiser series.

Other aspects of the build were kept just as low-key, not least the bodywork and associated styling. Let’s face it, the FJ’s aesthetic is one of its best and most distinctive features and its rounded grille with integrated headlights constitutes one of the most recognisable ‘faces’ of any off-road vehicle, and as such we’d have been practically certifiable to mess with it. We did make some changes though, albeit low key ones. For instance, the Land Cruiser’s front-end is dominated by the spring shackle and bumpers, both areas we reckon we’ve managed to improve upon by tucking and re-shaping. We carried through the same treatment to the rear of the car and its prominent (but pretty unsightly) bumper mounts and lights.

Under the bonnet we’ve worked to preserve and expand the charming ‘pressed tin charm’ Toyota imbued the Land Cruiser with, albeit with provision for our more modern running gear and associated ancillary upgrades. We redesigned the radiator so that it is book-ended by fabricated expansion and washer fluid tanks, a relocation which (we think) makes the front of the engine bay look that much more pleasant from a visual (and symmetrical) point of view. Ditto the engine inlet, which is of a custom design so we can run a four-barrel replacement type throttle body setup in centre of the ‘V,’ which in turn permitted us to retain the traditional (and deeply cool) fabricated tin pancake style air filter box.

The interior of the Land Cruiser always erred towards spartan and functional rather than comfy and stylish, and as such we endeavoured to add in a handful of tastefully realised upgrades. We modified the dashboard so that a Vintage Air system can fit beneath the dash, and this have since been complemented by custom switchgear and various other tweaks, all in-keeping with the ethos and style of the car they’re housed within. In all we feel we’ve succeeded in making the interior a far more useful space, with the rear passenger compartment now boasting revised seating and lighting, and even a fold-down picnic table.

Project Sant Joan was completed in the middle of 2024 and was returned to its (delighted) owner shortly after that. It has since been transported to Ibiza, where it presumably lives a charmed life, transporting its loving family from house to beach and back again – and all with an utterly beguiling V8 soundtrack.