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Toyota's production retro-FJ will be truer to the original, with a conventional backlight in the hatch, small rear-quarter windows that wrap from the back to the sides, and a conventionally thin C-pillar with glass filling in the remaining space. Colors may be retro, including the concept's shade of blue, which was offered on the original truck. Volkswagen has the original Beetle. Ford has the Thunderbird. Mini has the, er, Mini. And Toyota has the FJ 40. Sold here from late 1958 to 1983 as the first Land Cruiser, the FJ comes closest to an icon product for Japan's leading automaker. It combines Army Jeep compactness and off-roadability with Land Rover worldliness. And, like the FJ Cruiser concept that debuted at the Detroit show, the '06-model production version will be built off a modified Tacoma pickup platform when Toyota launches it in '05.

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Dimensions and overall style will be much like this FJ concept but with a taller greenhouse and a different design relationship between the glass and the B-, C-, and D-pillars. It'll have real, full-size headlamps in place of the tiny notions shown here, and the styling of the profile, below the shoulderline, will be more conventional. We expect the concept's 20-inch wheels and tires to be replaced with better-fitting 18-inchers. Most other dimensions will remain about the same, including its 106.3-inch wheelbase, 170.9-inch overall length, and 75.6-inch overall width. The concept truck was shown with a Toyota Racing Development supercharged 3.4-liter V-6 making 250 horsepower, with four-wheel drive and a four-speed automatic.

We expect the 2.7-liter/142-horsepower I-4 and 3.4-liter/190-horsepower V-6 to be engine options. The production model will have more conventional styling, although mirror-mounted lights could remain.

It's likely the FJ will be built at the Toyota/GM NUMMI joint-venture plant (Tacoma, Pontiac Vibe) in California.

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