Flex Remakes Toyota Land Cruisers of the ’90s in ’80s Fashion

• Established in 1967, Flex Automotive has a sequence of fifty dealerships throughout Japan, taking fashionable Toyotas and giving them retro seems. Now the corporate is coming stateside.
  
• Launching in San Diego, Flex will provide Nineteen Nineties and 2000s Toyota Land Cruisers backdated to appear like the FJ60 of the Nineteen Eighties. There will even be a brand new U.S.-only providing primarily based on the Tacoma pickup.
• The creations are known as “Renocas,” an interesting mix of up-to-date underpinnings and nostalgia.

No person does nostalgia fairly just like the Japanese. At first, it was Nissan with its quirky little Pike Manufacturing unit vehicles. Then it was Japanese dealerships maintaining the unique Rover Mini on sale till 2000. Oddball coachbuilder Mitsuoka presently has a full order listing for its Buddy, a Toyota RAV4 gussied up like a Nineteen Eighties K5 Blazer. Now, a little bit of that mix of outdated and new is headed to this aspect of the Pacific.

Based within the late Sixties, Flex Automotive now runs a big chain of dealerships in Japan, each specializing in both the Toyota Land Cruiser or the Toyota Hiace (a minivan not offered right here). These are boutique retailers, the place clients are available in and spec their Toyota rigorously, creating one thing that appears outdated however drives new.

You’ll be able to obliterate the day’s productiveness with the corporate’s on-line automobile configurator. It is countless enjoyable, though, sadly, the likes of the friendly-looking Euro Field should not out there within the U.S. However the Land Cruiser choices can be.

Flex is opening up its first U.S. dealership in San Diego this winter, the place it will likely be completely located to half tech employees from their money. What may higher swimsuit a 20-year-old with a six-figure wage than a weekend journey machine that appears like a Nineteen Eighties Land Cruiser, however is basically brand-new beneath?

The conversions—known as Renoca for “automobile renovation”—are high-quality affairs, utilizing metal reasonably than fiberglass. Flex’s Marvel evokes the main points of the Nineteen Eighties Land Cruiser fashions primarily based on a Nineteen Nineties platform, whereas its 106 applies that very same ethos to a 1999 to 2007 Land Cruiser. The centerpiece for each is the entrance fascia, with its easy grille and spherical headlights.

The corporate has additionally introduced an upcoming Tacoma-based providing, which can be its first U.S.-only automobile. No particulars but, however primarily based on Flex’s established recipe, count on the weather of Marty McFly’s black Toyota pickup utilized to a extra fashionable truck.

Toyota pulled the Land Cruiser from the U.S. market, with the final run being the 2021 mannequin 12 months. Costs for used ones are by means of the roof already, which makes Flex’s boutique providing nicely timed. Pricing has but to be confirmed, however it must be within the vary of $20,000 plus the price of a donor automobile. It is not fairly the Singer of Land Cruisers, however it’s a actually cool strategy to get the brand-new golden-era Toyota truck of your goals.