Classic Toyota Land Cruiser Gets 389bhp Twin-Turbo V6 For SEMA

The Turbo Trail Cruiser is a spectacular one-off in-house restomod, and we need it

27 Oct 2025

One of Toyota’s concepts for this year’s SEMA show is the Camry GT-S, mating a hopped-up, Max Power-spec visual overhaul with an otherwise standard Camry Hybrid powertrain. It’s just unveiled another one, though, and it’s basically the complete opposite.

It’s called the Turbo Trail Cruiser, and it looks, inside and out, like a largely standard Land Cruiser of the beloved FJ60 generation, hailing from 1985. It has a healthy suspension lift and some knobbly tyres, but there’s little else to visually suggest it’s anything other than a pristine ’80s Cruiser.

That’s very much the point, though, because that near-standard look is intended to hide the fact that under the bonnet, it’s had a heart transplant – the modern 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 that Toyota puts in its Tundra pickup in North America, producing 389bhp and 379lb ft.

That’s nearly double the output of the straight-six originally fitted, says Toyota, but perhaps more impressive is that it’s been shoehorned into the engine bay without altering the firewall or any of the rest of the car’s structural makeup. It’s almost like it was meant to be.

Naturally, some changes had to be made. The modern V6 sits on new custom engine mounts, and it’s been mated to the FJ60’s original five-speed manual gearbox by way of a newly fabricated adapter plate. The oil pan, wiring harness and heat exchanger are also all new, as is the exhaust system, which brings the added bonus of more noise.

That suspension lift, meanwhile, raises the ride height by 38mm, while the new tyres are 35-inch items. It’s largely original inside, too, although that central infotainment screen is obviously not an original 1980s piece, nor is the more subtly integrated modern JBL sound system.

Sadly, the Turbo Trail Cruiser is just a one-off crafted for SEMA, which kicks off in Las Vegas on 4 November, but it seems like nothing an enterprising restomodder couldn’t make happen. Anyone fancy building some of these to actually sell? We can offer at least £30 towards one.

Mike joined Car Throttle as a Staff Writer at the start of 2024, a role that sees him driving the news desk, as well as reviewing cars and (often unsuccessfully) pitching features on obscure Italian hatchbacks.