Dimensions

Left side shot. The front components of the FJ45LV look just like the predecessor FJ40, but moving to the side, we can see that front doors are slightly larger than the rear doors. The front doors have triangular corner windows. The chrome-plated handles are old-style, requiring a hard press of the thumb to open. In genuine condition, only the driver's door had a side mirror above the left fender. The air slits on both sides of the engine hood are set quite low. The upper and lower parts of the body have been pressed - one large, slightly inward depression (dark gray on-screen) on the upper portion and four, thin, slightly outward depressions on the lower portion. Just behind the rear wheel is the small square hatch of the gasoline tank opening. The earlier FJ45LVs didn't have this hatch, only a key-lock cap. As for seat height, the front seatback is hidden by the bottom of the window, but the rear seat feels more or less like its on top of the rear axle and sits higher than the front seat.

In genuine condition, the upper part of the rear 5 1/2 rim 7.00 -15" tires was partially hidden by the rear fender. So if taller tires were to be installed, a shackle two inches higher than the orginal had to be added for the necessary lift. The installation of wider tires, however, required offset-value consideration. In Japan, an assortment of wheels are available so this isn't much of a problem, but in Canada, finding the right wheel is tough and expensive, so I've stuck to the orginals. The spare tire is set on the left side of the rear cargo area. I'd like to hang the spare under the cargo floor panel, but where would I put the gas tank?! The rather long rear leaf spring makes for a softer ride than the short-body FJ40. You bounce all over in the FJ40, eh? But the 8 leaf springs are hard and the stroke is short. This creates a small right-to-left angle of torsion, which naturally makes crawling a pain. The biggest merit is undisputably the spacious cargo area. With 1,100mm from floor to roof, this area holds all the shopping items you want to stuff in there. In addition, the rear seat folds down to open up space for transporting longer objects with ease. It's great for family camping trips and taking big stuff to the dump! The windows in the cargo area don't open.

Length, overall (mm) ................................................4,660 (183.5 in)
Width, overall (mm) ..................................................1,720 ( 67.7 in)
Height, overall (mm) .................................................1,770 ( 69.7 in)
Wheelbase (mm) ......................................................2,650 (104.3 in)
Tread, front (mm) .....................................................1,404 ( 55.3 in)
Tread, rear (mm).......................................................1,400 ( 55.1 in)
Ground Clearance (mm) .................................................220 ( 8.7 in)
Overhang (mm.) (rear axle to rear end of body) ............1,260 (49.6 in)
Chassis Weight, bare (kg) ..........................................1,070
Net Vehicle Weight (kg) ..............................................1,850 (4, 070 1b)
Cab Seating Capacity ..................................................3 persons or 6 persons

From the front, the FJ45LV has the familiar FJ grill. The original round turn signals broke and were replaced with BJ lights. The wipers operate at a 90 degree angle at single-speed and stop right in the middle of the window. The engine hood is split-pressed and joined at the center. The seam is adorned with a chrome-plated ornament. An emblem, with Toyota written horizontally in tall roman letters, is set in the center of the radiator grill. The early Toyota Land Cruiser emblems are found on either side of the engine hood, lower part.

From the back, you see the open down/close up rear gate. The window doesn't open. The panel springs up. In the center of the lower part of the gate is a space for hanging the license plate and just above that is the key-lock handle with an imbedded light to shine on the license plate. To the left of the license plate is a long, horizontal, chrome-plated emblem with a TOYOYA on a white background. The long tail lamp is a one-bulb, two-filament stop lamp/brake light. As an aside, North American owners are in a bind because the lights aren't available anymore. Back to my FJ45LV, the bumpers are not the originals, and information has it that I can't get originals anymore. The FJ45LV apparently came with an optional hinged double door. I would have liked one of those...