Years ago, when I was much younger, a good (non-car) friend of mine asked if I’d ever drive a SUV. I scoffed at the idea, but she persisted and said it would become a more desirable option when I had a family. I snapped back with, “I’ll just drive some European wagon.” Then I grew up, had a kid, and found myself looking at 4Runners. It was in that moment that I realized my love for Toyotas meant more to me than proving my friend wrong. And truth be told, I didn’t like Toyota wagons as much as Toyota SUVs, and European wagons look very cool, but I just didn’t trust them.
So what happened? Why did I soften the naïve beliefs that I once held so dear? Well, I moved to B.C. and you can’t throw a rock without hitting some type of Toyota 4×4 here. But more importantly, Eric Webber slowly crept into my peripheral vision. Eric was always building some cool Toyota, from crowns all the way to blit face swapped JZX110.
No matter what Eric was working on, there was always one constant about him: He always had some type of cool Toyota truck on the go. And by trucks, I mean Land Cruisers and his current Land Cruiser VX is no exception. I’m not going to pretend like I’m some type of expert in this field, but I will say they all slowly chipped away at my unwarranted bias towards SUVs.
Historically, truck culture and car culture were two very different things. Trucks were often big, loud and unapologetically flashy — sometimes in “a get off my lawn or I’ll shoot because that’s my God-given right” type way. I was mostly oblivious to Toyota 4X4 culture and all the different sub-cultures under that umbrella.
But, just like with cars, my favourite thing is when aesthetics and usefulness hold hands and run off into the sunset together. I appreciate when someone who “gets” tuner car culture builds a 4×4 Toyota truck — especially when they have an eye for detail. To put it another way: You know how it’s cool when drift cars look real good and then people actually drift them? Apply that school of thought to this Land Cruiser and you get the same winning combination.
Despite what you see in this photo, usefulness doesn’t just mean sliding a truck around. What I mean is when someone builds a vehicle for an intended purpose and then uses said vehicle for the purpose it was intended for. In Eric’s case, I believe that purpose is to go where there are no roads (without going Back to the Future). For some further context on what that looks like, take a look at this post from someone who understands this realm better than I do.
The moral of the story is that I was dumb and maybe I’m a bit less dumb now? I’m not really sure. What I do know is I see the potential of certain trucks and I think Eric may have played a big part in that.
1988 Toyota Landcruiser VX
- Rancho shocks
- Moto-Rage 6” lift coils
- 80 series big brake front, small disc rear for the option to run 15’s
- 80 series full float axles
- Trail Tailor weld-in front and rear coil suspension conversion kit
- Zeal rear sway bar
- LSD rear diff
- Epsilon Frontline Big Half wheels 16×8.5 -33
- Yokohama Geolandar MT tires 315/75/16
- Straight pipe
- Snorkel
- Koito NOS foglights
- All clear exterior lighting, red/clear tails, clear glass headlights with 4300k led.
- Homebuilt sleeping platform
- 390mm wood Nardi Classic
- Pioneer touchscreen stereo, Pioneer tweeters, JL speakers and Pioneer Carrozzeria Hyper 12” sub
- Checker mats
- factory heated seats that work!
- Zeal panhard bars
- toughdog steering stabilizer