Here's Where The Fj Cruiser Gets Its Name From

Yeah, yeah. We're good alert that Jalopnik's intelligent (and attractive!) scholar guidelines already knows that nan "FJ" successful FJ Cruiser is simply a tribute to Toyota's iconic vintage FJ40 off-roader. However, what astir nan root of nan FJ moniker successful general? Contrary to what immoderate enthusiasts believe, it doesn't guidelines for four-wheel drive. But we're getting up of ourselves.

Toyota rolled retired nan FJ Cruiser successful 2007, toward nan extremity of nan retro car craze that introduced vehicles for illustration nan Chevy SSR and Ford's 11th-generation Thunderbird. Critics praised nan FJ Cruiser's driving move and its unsocial styling that was amazingly small changed from nan splashy conception vehicle. That said, nan tiny ute had respective drawbacks, including mediocre substance economy, unsighted spots nan size of Montana, and a rear spot that was some cramped and difficult to access. 

After a fewer short years, Toyota pulled nan FJ from nan U.S. marketplace successful 2014, though it continued to beryllium sold elsewhere astir nan globe until 2022. As is nan lawsuit pinch immoderate artists and musicians, nan FJ Cruiser didn't spell viral until aft its death. Values for utilized FJs, moreover high-mileage examples, changeable done nan tile during nan pandemic, though prices person abated somewhat since then. And now, it's reported that Toyota will revive nan retro FJ arsenic a babe Land Cruiser arsenic soon arsenic adjacent year. With that successful mind, what's nan deeper meaning down "FJ"?

According to Car and Driver, nan communicative originates successful nan early 1950s, during nan Korean War. American troops stationed successful Korea needed trucks, and it seemed advantageous to root them from adjacent Japan, still occupied by U.S. troops pursuing World War II. Toyota developed an off-road-oriented conveyance that, like Britain's Land Rover, drew heavy from nan Allied force's plucky subject Jeeps. It was moreover called nan Toyota Jeep BJ, referencing its Type B six-cylinder engine.

Unsurprisingly, nan "Jeep BJ" explanation didn't beryllium good pinch existent Jeep-maker Willys, which threatened ineligible action. (That's a bully thing, too, aliases this article would beryllium talking astir nan BJ Cruiser, which sounds for illustration thing other entirely.) Although Willys coiled up fulfilling nan request for trucks successful Korea, Toyota forged up pinch its off-roader nether nan caller sanction Land Cruiser. The Land Cruiser grew celebrated and incorporated a new, much powerful F-Type engine, hence nan FJ Land Cruiser. So successful spite of Willys' litigious overtures, Toyota managed to sneak J-for-Jeep into nan sanction anyway. For nan record, Toyota ceased trading nan FJ40 Land Cruiser connected U.S. shores successful 1983.

So what astir nan "Cruiser" successful FJ Cruiser? One evident mentation is that it's a playful, shortened return connected Land Cruiser — for illustration nan FJ Cruiser itself. At nan aforesaid time, we can't thief but wonderment if nan sanction was cribbed from Chrysler's hugely successful PT Cruiser, different retro-styled conveyance of nan era. After all, Toyota had nary qualms astir lifting nan Jeep sanction erstwhile upon a time.