We put ourselves at a tiny digression into the history of Land Cruiser:
When the Toyota engineers began with the development of a new light off-road vehicle back in 1950, they showed real ingenuity: The chassis of the one-ton Type SB truck was fitted with the 3386 cc Type B engine of the four-ton truck. Add a rudimentary open body hammered out to surround these components, and the result was a finished lightweight all-terrain vehicle in the "Jeep style".
However, they were less creative in naming it: it was a "Jeep" powered by a "B engine" – accordingly, henceforth it would carry the moniker "Toyota Jeep BJ". In Toyota’s nomenclature, the letter J would forevermore represent the vehicle we know today as the "Land Cruiser". Much as it might pain Land Cruiser enthusiasts, the letter J does indeed stem from the American off-road community’s infamous "four letter word".
In 1954, the creative Toyota heads suddenly got a damper: Willys Overland trademarked the name "Jeep" and barred Toyota from any further use of the name. For a brief transition period, it was simply called the BJ, until technical director Hanji Umehara had a "eureka" moment. Later, he would recount that he wanted to create a name with an absolutely unmistakable recognition factor. Moreover, it should resonate at least as well as that of its British competitor, the "Land Rover". In a creative master stroke, on June 24, 1954, the Toyota off-roader became the "Land Cruiser" (or, in Japanese, "Toyota Rando-kuruza").
(more about the history of the Land Cruiser in my little book "The Land Cruiser Legend", available at your local book store or via e-mail here: netzmeister@buschtaxi.de
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