80 series Land Cruiser - extreme durability

This goes out to the survivalists & doomsday preppers: 1) It doesn’t seem so far-fetched now eh? And 2) When it all actually goes down… godspeed to the EVs & stancy-boy bubble-tea cars covered in I’m a virgin anime stickers. Shooo – I guess I woke up spicy today, it must be the coffee. Besides, there’s one on here too lol. Alright anyway... This is Geoff McDonough’s 80 Series Land Cruiser.

You may remember Geoff from Cedar Performance in TN…

He used to own a flushed-out, gray LS-swapped S14 that made its way into S3… and he owned an R33 more recently. Geoff loves the Japanese icons & spirited driving. But Geoff & his wife decided to move to Alaska for new adventures. And the lowered-lifestyle just wasn’t gonna cut the mustard. Good news is…

Geoff’s old S14

Car enthusiasts will always find ways to be car enthusiasts…

Sometimes you just have to adapt your approach. Because in Alaska – your life may very well depend on the dumb decisions you make lol. -40°F is real… as is the vast, uninhabited wilderness.

While initially scouting-out Alaska…

Geoff befriended some local off-road enthusiasts. On one hand, Geoff had always wanted an old Toyota 4×4 Pickup… but there was a concern of overall durability. Alaska ain’t the Hawaiian Islands. And if you break down in your old Tacoma, you can’t just crack open a Heine & watch the waves until help arrives. Old Toyota trucks are tough no doubt, but they kinda feel more warm-weather appropriate. What was really built for survival??

The Toyota Land Cruiser…

They’re just thicc. So Geoff set out to find a JDM right-hand-drive FJ80 Toyota Land Cruiser. A 30-year-old Toyota has it’s strengths. For example, we’ve transitioned to a tech-driven world where newer is NOT necessarily better. An old Land Cruiser is one of the most durable vehicles on the planet… and not so sensor-dependent. But it’s still a 30-year-old truck… so it was gonna need a strong make-over before heading that far North.

The Toyota Land Cruiser was outfitted for Alaska…

Geoff had the Land Cruiser’s engine, trans, and transfer case built up. The axles were rebuilt & air lockers were added, as was a 3” lift with Volk TE37Xs, Yokohama Geolandar MTs, and dual batteries (specs in modlist below). You can’t shortcut a build like this when it’s gonna see some of the world’s most extreme weather. And you really need to approach it with an aircraft failsafe mentality. Which is coincidentally fitting, because Geoff is an air traffic controller. That was the initial spark to move to Fairbanks in the first place. Prop planes are super-common up there… shuttling goods to harder-to-access towns. Thus, there’s always a need for air traffic controllers.

The Land Cruiser’s 4-liter 3FE gas engine…

Was chosen on purpose due to the extreme cold. Geoff said you’ll still see diesels around Anchorage, but by the time you get up to Fairbanks, gas becomes the method of choice, as diesels tend to gell-over in the hard-hard freezes. On one of those -40 nights, Geoff forgot to plug the Land Cruiser up to heaters, and it still managed to fire-up in the morning… barely.

In Geoff’s words…

There’s nothing like seeing the world… from a car. Specifically in Geoff’s case, from the dashboard old 90’s Toyota. And it’s true. When it comes to long distance travel, we tend to fly. But there is an unmatched sense of perspective that comes with seeing the world’s landscapes & landmarks from the windshield of your own car. It just hits you differently than a boarding pass & a rental car. Especially those Tom Brady Teslas lol. Next up, Geoff heads-off to the Panama Canal.