1 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:24,270 [Intro] 2 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:35,810 Hi, everybody. It's Tyler, and you're listening to Toyota Untold. 3 00:00:35,810 --> 00:00:40,130 And if you're listening to this particular episode, chances are you love Land Cruisers. 4 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,330 I absolutely love Land Cruisers. 5 00:00:43,330 --> 00:00:46,140 My husband and I, we have three of them. 6 00:00:46,140 --> 00:00:50,090 But it's unlikely that you love them as much as today's guest, Greg Miller. Greg 7 00:00:51,380 --> 00:01:00,530 was such a huge fan of this endlessly capable Toyota classic that he found himself with six of them in his personal collection. 8 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:09,160 At that point, he realized no one, not even Toyota, was preserving the history of the Land Cruiser with the museum dedicated to its lineage. 9 00:01:09,170 --> 00:01:11,960 And the rest is history, literally. The 10 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:16,320 Land Cruiser Heritage Museum is a celebration of all things Land Cruiser. 11 00:01:16,340 --> 00:01:20,480 It's located in Salt Lake City with the goal of inspiring adventure. 12 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:25,400 This story takes us, well, way beyond Utah, but we'll get to that later. 13 00:01:25,430 --> 00:01:26,990 First, let's meet Greg. 14 00:01:33,100 --> 00:01:34,600 My name is Greg Miller. 15 00:01:34,630 --> 00:01:36,940 I live in Salt Lake City, Utah. 16 00:01:36,940 --> 00:01:41,830 And I am the Founder and Chairman of the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum. The 17 00:01:41,830 --> 00:01:47,370 way we're set up is we're open to the public, and we're open Monday through Saturday from 8:00 to 5:00. 18 00:01:47,380 --> 00:01:55,180 There's an admission fee schedule, depending on whether you're a senior, or a vet, or a student, or a child, or an adult. 19 00:01:55,660 --> 00:02:00,730 And folks are welcome to stop in and tour the museum at their own pace. Each 20 00:02:00,730 --> 00:02:07,000 vehicle has a placard in front of it that tells kind of the overview of that particular model. 21 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:14,360 And then, the second paragraph tells about that specific vehicle, and how it was used, and how it was acquired, and so on. 22 00:02:14,380 --> 00:02:19,090 Then, there's a little map that shows the area and the year of production run and so on. 23 00:02:19,180 --> 00:02:27,220 We have two full time employees that are very knowledgeable about the vehicles in the museum and about Land Cruisers in general. 24 00:02:27,820 --> 00:02:34,450 All right. Big time Toyota fans, especially those out West, you might recall seeing Greg's name elsewhere associated with the brand. 25 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:41,790 I don't know if the listeners would find it interesting to know that about two months ago, our family sold our dealerships. 26 00:02:41,790 --> 00:02:51,070 From May 1st of 1979 until just a couple of months ago, we were in the car business in a big way, which included probably ten Toyota stores in the Western states, 27 00:02:51,580 --> 00:02:55,540 three Lexus stores, and a host of other competitive brands. 28 00:02:55,540 --> 00:03:05,080 And so, having been in the car business officially from '79 until '21, plus the ten years or so prior to 29 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:11,710 that, we had a lot of deep and really meaningful relationships with the folks at TMS. 30 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:17,800 The Heritage Museum is the place to visit for fans of Land Cruiser, but where did it come from? 31 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:20,560 How and why was the museum founded? 32 00:03:21,370 --> 00:03:26,800 Land Cruisers have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. 33 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:30,880 My first memory of a Land Cruiser was when I was about four years old. 34 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:33,680 We lived in Littleton, Colorado, at the time. 35 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:37,930 And my dad was the park's manager at Stevinson Toyota in Lakewood, Colorado. 36 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:41,020 And I went to work with him one day. 37 00:03:41,020 --> 00:03:49,450 And while he was working, I wandered off and found myself in the back lot where a lot of the customer service vehicles were. And 38 00:03:49,450 --> 00:03:56,830 I remember seeing this really cool powder blue jeep looking vehicle, and I walked up to it. 39 00:03:56,830 --> 00:04:03,960 And I remember the door handle hit me about eye level, and I reached up and grabbed it and it opened. 40 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:10,320 And I climbed up in there - and I think I was four or five year old - and pretended like I was driving. 41 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:17,800 And I can still smell that intoxicating combination of rusted metal, Naugahyde, oil, 42 00:04:19,840 --> 00:04:29,530 rubber, dust that all kind of combines to have that euphoric smell that you can smell in a lot of the vehicles if you open the door at the 43 00:04:29,530 --> 00:04:31,360 Landcruiser Heritage Museum today. 44 00:04:32,650 --> 00:04:36,790 And that would have been in the early '70s. My 45 00:04:36,790 --> 00:04:40,080 dad started his career with Toyota in 1968. 46 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:48,880 And then, we moved to Colorado in 1970 and stayed there until my dad bought his first Toyota store in Murray, Utah in 1979. 47 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:53,770 And so, Toyota's have always been, like, the car that our families have driven. 48 00:04:54,070 --> 00:04:57,130 And most of the time my dad drove a Land Cruiser. 49 00:04:57,130 --> 00:04:59,380 He took us on family vacations. 50 00:04:59,380 --> 00:05:09,160 When we were in Colorado, we jumped in in an FJ55, and we'd either go to Disneyland, or Canyonlands, or up into Alberta, Canada, 51 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:11,140 Lake Louise and Banff, and so on. 52 00:05:11,590 --> 00:05:14,280 And so, there were a lot of fond memories there. 53 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:23,980 And then, when my dad bought his Toyota store, my mom always had an FJ60 as a demo, and that was the car that I took my driver's license test in. And 54 00:05:23,980 --> 00:05:27,010 I remember I bought my first Land Cruiser when I was 17. 55 00:05:27,010 --> 00:05:29,980 It was an 1970 FJ40. 56 00:05:29,980 --> 00:05:31,030 I'd love to buy it back. 57 00:05:31,030 --> 00:05:32,720 I've been looking for it and can't find it. 58 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:35,500 And I've just bought and sold Land Cruisers ever since. 59 00:05:35,500 --> 00:05:37,450 I love them. I love everything about them. The 60 00:05:37,450 --> 00:05:45,160 origins of the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum, I guess, there were a couple of trains on parallel tracks that eventually converged. 61 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:55,210 One, was that I had begun collecting Land Cruisers, I would say, I had one in the early 2000s. 62 00:05:55,210 --> 00:05:58,500 I had one FJ40 that I still own. 63 00:05:58,500 --> 00:06:03,160 And we call it Senior, because it's the one that I've owned longer than any of the others in the collection. 64 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:10,100 But then, I started to acquire others probably in about '06 or '07. 65 00:06:10,100 --> 00:06:12,710 I'd had probably a dozen Land Cruisers prior to that. 66 00:06:12,710 --> 00:06:21,130 But I was at a point in my career where I had the means to start acquiring multiples at a time, and so I had a small stable of Land 67 00:06:21,130 --> 00:06:30,880 Cruisers. And then, in December of 2012, my son, Oakley, and I went to Japan with Scott Brady, who's the 68 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:32,890 Founder and Chairman of Overland Journal. 69 00:06:33,730 --> 00:06:43,720 And we were there to take delivery of a VDJ78 Land Cruiser, 2012 model, actually two of them, that we were going to use for 70 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:50,140 our expedition to drive around the world and actually drive the same Land Cruiser on all seven continents. And, 71 00:06:50,140 --> 00:06:58,060 of course, we set aside additional time on that trip to visit the Toyota museums and learn what we could. 72 00:06:58,060 --> 00:07:03,640 And, of course, we were excited to see the Land Cruisers that Toyota had on display at these museums. 73 00:07:04,210 --> 00:07:13,810 And we went to three different museums on that trip, all owned by Toyota, and saw not a single Land Cruiser on display inside. Now, 74 00:07:13,810 --> 00:07:19,570 admittedly, one of the museums was their Loom Museum, where it just talked about the origins of the company. 75 00:07:19,570 --> 00:07:23,580 So, the likelihood of seeing a Cruiser there was pretty low, of course. 76 00:07:23,580 --> 00:07:28,150 The other two automotive museums was really disappointing that there wasn't one there. 77 00:07:29,350 --> 00:07:37,940 And I had some idea of what Land Cruiser meant to Toyota in terms of Toyota becoming a global car company. 78 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:47,440 As your listeners probably know, the Land Cruiser was the first car that would enter a new market, and it would be there and it would establish 79 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:55,090 this reputation for Toyota being this legendary quality, dependability, reliability, bulletproof vehicle. 80 00:07:55,090 --> 00:08:00,340 And then, they would follow it up with a Crown or a Hilux or a Toyota Pat or other models. 81 00:08:00,670 --> 00:08:02,800 And that was their M.O. 82 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:04,150 for years. And 83 00:08:04,150 --> 00:08:08,020 so, it was surprising to me that there were none on display in the museum. 84 00:08:08,020 --> 00:08:11,710 So, I came home and that thought was kind of in the back of my head. 85 00:08:12,250 --> 00:08:19,900 And then, one day, not long after that trip to Japan, I was with a friend of mine, Kurt Williams, who owns Cruiser Outfitters. 86 00:08:19,900 --> 00:08:22,210 Most people in the Land Cruiser community know Kurt. 87 00:08:22,780 --> 00:08:31,210 And Kurt and I were driving to the middle of Wyoming to buy a Soft Top BJ70 Land Cruiser. And 88 00:08:31,210 --> 00:08:40,960 on the way to pick it up, we had our laptop and we started to sketch out what a museum might look like and what the parameters, the rules of engagement, so to speak, would 89 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:48,460 be, and what kind of facility would be required to house it, what kind of money would be necessary to procure all these vehicles, and so on. 90 00:08:48,460 --> 00:08:58,240 And I remember that night, the big takeaway was that we came up with about 100 different models of Land Cruiser that we would need to curate, but that included a 91 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:02,560 lot of different applications, like a fire truck or a police vehicle or an ambulance. 92 00:09:03,850 --> 00:09:09,730 And so, if you cut it back to just OEM offerings, that probably would have been in the 60s somewhere. 93 00:09:10,210 --> 00:09:19,570 And then, of course, you have historically significant ones as well, like the one that won the Baja and the car rallies and different things like that. So, 94 00:09:20,020 --> 00:09:29,650 anyway, we kind of framed it out and for a long time the spreadsheet that we created on that was the roadmap to building out the Land Cruiser Museum. 95 00:09:29,650 --> 00:09:33,760 I began building around that small stable of Land Cruisers that I had. 96 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:39,100 There were some interesting vehicles in there, but they weren't all necessarily museum worthy vehicles. 97 00:09:39,580 --> 00:09:44,320 But that gave me a small launching pad from which to launch the museum initiative. 98 00:09:45,250 --> 00:09:52,090 So, selling off the ones that didn't have a place in the museum and using the proceeds from those to chase down one that did, and so on. 99 00:09:52,090 --> 00:09:55,210 So, that was kind of the nucleus of the collection. 100 00:09:55,870 --> 00:10:05,800 The museum's history is closely linked to Expedition 7, an incredible global trek where Greg outfitted a number of 78 series Land Cruisers and took them on a journey 101 00:10:06,220 --> 00:10:11,200 around the world, passing through all seven continents, even Antarctica. 102 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:15,310 My friend, Kurt Williams, he introduced me to Scott Brady. 103 00:10:15,310 --> 00:10:24,670 I was able to arrange a meeting with Scott when he was in Salt Lake City a few years ago, probably in 2010 or '11, for a convention. 104 00:10:24,670 --> 00:10:26,530 And Scott and I went to breakfast. 105 00:10:26,530 --> 00:10:29,080 We were getting to know each other a little bit. And 106 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:39,070 Scott said just in the course of the conversation - he knew I was a Land Cruiser enthusiast - "You know, Greg, I've driven Land Cruisers on five different continents." And I interrupted him right 107 00:10:39,070 --> 00:10:40,330 there and I said, "Wow. 108 00:10:40,330 --> 00:10:43,190 That's cool. Was it the same Land Cruiser?" And he said, "No. 109 00:10:43,190 --> 00:10:48,220 It was different Land Cruisers." And I said, "Wouldn't it have been cool if it was the same Land Cruiser on all five continents? 110 00:10:48,220 --> 00:10:52,690 And wouldn't it be even cooler if it would have been on all seven continents?" And he said, "Yeah. 111 00:10:52,690 --> 00:10:56,200 That'd be cool." And I said, "Is that ever been done?" And he said, "No. 112 00:10:56,200 --> 00:11:01,360 It's never been done, but I've got the blueprint to do that trip." And then, I was hooked. 113 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:11,110 It was like, "Wow. You've already mapped this all out in your head." And so, we agreed that we would have a subsequent conversation where he would kind of walk me 114 00:11:11,110 --> 00:11:16,030 through what elements were required to pull that off. 115 00:11:16,030 --> 00:11:20,920 And he's a really busy guy, and it took us a month or two to reconnect. 116 00:11:21,100 --> 00:11:26,770 And I just remember in that period, it was like I was just kind of floating in space. 117 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:31,630 It's like I was so eager to get traction and started planning the trip. 118 00:11:31,630 --> 00:11:33,430 But I knew so little about it. 119 00:11:33,430 --> 00:11:40,060 Even with all of my adventure travel, I don't think that travel was relative on a global scale. 120 00:11:40,060 --> 00:11:43,510 And so, I really needed Scott's inputs. And 121 00:11:43,510 --> 00:11:46,150 when we finally connected, it was just magic. 122 00:11:46,390 --> 00:11:47,900 It was like, "Yeah. We can do that. 123 00:11:47,900 --> 00:11:49,420 We can do that. That's a great idea. 124 00:11:49,420 --> 00:11:53,490 What if we did this in addition?" And it just kind of took off. 125 00:11:53,490 --> 00:12:02,980 And my connections with Toyota, along with Scott's experience in overland travel on a global basis and his attention to 126 00:12:02,980 --> 00:12:12,390 detail, he's got the patience of Job, just a super high quality guy, along with some of the resources I was able to bring to the effort, it was a perfect combination 127 00:12:13,140 --> 00:12:15,460 of talents and resources. 128 00:12:15,460 --> 00:12:25,320 And as far as I'm concerned, we launched in that December 2011 trip when we went to pick the cars up and take them off the assembly line in Japan. And 129 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:28,740 then, there's so many side stories to this. 130 00:12:28,740 --> 00:12:29,850 Just one quick one. 131 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:34,210 We couldn't have the cars shipped directly to the U.S., of course, because they were non-U.S. 132 00:12:34,210 --> 00:12:38,970 Spec cars. They were 2012 VDJ78 Land Cruisers. 133 00:12:39,150 --> 00:12:43,650 We needed the one VDT engine, which is a 4.5 liter turbo diesel. 134 00:12:43,860 --> 00:12:46,360 We needed a front and rear diff locks. 135 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:48,720 And we needed air conditioning. And 136 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:55,440 at that time, the only market that those three features were available in was New Zealand. 137 00:12:55,560 --> 00:13:05,460 So, we had to form a company in New Zealand specifically for the purpose of purchasing and registering these cars before they could be temporarily imported to the 138 00:13:05,460 --> 00:13:08,010 U.S. So, we did all that. I 139 00:13:08,010 --> 00:13:17,640 remember when the cars finally made it to the port, I think it was in Stockton, California, my son, Oakley, and I, along with Scott and a couple of others, flew out 140 00:13:18,030 --> 00:13:27,060 and took delivery of them right from the port, drove them to Prescott, Arizona, where the first wave of modifications was done, particularly to the 141 00:13:27,060 --> 00:13:30,570 interiors where the sleeping platform was. 142 00:13:30,570 --> 00:13:32,550 And there were a couple of exterior mods. 143 00:13:32,820 --> 00:13:42,720 And from there, they came to Tooele, Utah, where Proffitt's Cruisers was at the time, and they did a lot of the mechanical modifications to them. And 144 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:51,670 then, in early April of 2011, the vehicles left Tooele, Utah, enroute to Prudhoe Bay or Deadhorse, Alaska. 145 00:13:51,670 --> 00:13:57,360 And a team from Proffitt's Cruisers and a friend of mine drove them up there. 146 00:13:57,630 --> 00:14:04,500 And then, I flew up with my three sons, and met Scott Brady, and the photographer, and a couple of other drivers up there. 147 00:14:04,770 --> 00:14:13,050 And the trip officially began, like the journey part of the trip began, I want to say, April 11, 2012. 148 00:14:13,620 --> 00:14:16,500 I learned a lot in the up fit of these vehicles. 149 00:14:16,500 --> 00:14:22,530 I think prior to connecting with Scott Brady, my thing was to just say, "Yeah. 150 00:14:22,530 --> 00:14:30,210 Let's bolt one of those on, let's put one of those on, let's do two of those." And what Scott taught me was the value of minimalism. 151 00:14:30,690 --> 00:14:33,060 He said, "These vehicles need to be capable. 152 00:14:33,270 --> 00:14:36,990 They're going to take us around the world and we need them to be outfitted accordingly. 153 00:14:38,220 --> 00:14:42,450 But we don't want a bunch of stuff on there that we don't want." You know, there's no roof racks on them. 154 00:14:42,570 --> 00:14:48,060 I mean, well, you'll notice that the roof racks that are on them are minimalist roof racks. 155 00:14:48,060 --> 00:14:54,660 And that's because we wanted to go for minimal weight, minimal drag. 156 00:14:54,690 --> 00:14:58,800 The racks didn't really get a lot of use except when we'd sleep on them. 157 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:02,640 There were a couple of times when we had a lot of people with us where we throw gear up there. 158 00:15:03,270 --> 00:15:07,800 But it's kind of like everything you need and nothing you don't. And 159 00:15:08,130 --> 00:15:18,120 if I were doing it again, which is a whole separate story, I would probably use those vehicles as a template to up fit whatever the second 160 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:22,050 round of those vehicles would be. When 161 00:15:22,050 --> 00:15:28,650 we first set out to assemble a team of participants in Expedition 7 - 162 00:15:28,650 --> 00:15:33,330 At this point, if you're like the rest of us, you're raising your hand, "Pick me. 163 00:15:33,660 --> 00:15:37,080 Pick me." Greg built his team from the best. 164 00:15:37,710 --> 00:15:40,650 ... the things that we were looking for were good drivers. 165 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:50,160 Of course, we knew we wanted to document it from a videography and photography standpoint, so we had premium photographers and videographers along with us. 166 00:15:50,610 --> 00:15:53,810 And then, beyond that, it was just good chemistry. 167 00:15:53,810 --> 00:16:01,800 Because when you're together that long in stressful, like, endurance type driving situations, you need to be with folks that there's a good vibe with. 168 00:16:02,430 --> 00:16:04,860 So, that's really what the criteria were. As 169 00:16:04,860 --> 00:16:13,740 we got more experience with that type of travel and in this particular expedition, we started to select for other qualities as well. 170 00:16:13,740 --> 00:16:20,850 Navigate a little bit of mechanical but, of course, we were in Land Cruisers and we knew that they were going to be pretty dependable and not need a lot of range turning. 171 00:16:21,450 --> 00:16:26,910 So, those would probably be the two that we added, the two attributes that we selected for until the very end. And 172 00:16:26,910 --> 00:16:36,750 then, what I realized about the time we hit the last continent was that the culinary aspects of E7 weren't even close to the other aspects 173 00:16:36,750 --> 00:16:40,830 of it. And so, my middle son, Josh, actually pointed that out to me. 174 00:16:40,830 --> 00:16:44,940 He's like me, he gets hangry when he doesn't have good nutrition or doesn't eat on time. 175 00:16:45,330 --> 00:16:49,240 And he said, "Dad, I'm sick of eating out of cans and out of cellophane. 176 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:58,440 I'm going to take charge of the meals on this thing and we're going to upgrade." And he did, to his credit, and it added a whole lot to it. 177 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:06,250 And then, that actually informed the subsequent Greenland Expedition, which if there's time, I'd love to talk more about that. 178 00:17:06,250 --> 00:17:10,440 So, that was really the attribute group that we selected for. One 179 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:17,700 of my favorite memories about these trucks happened after the expedition was over. 180 00:17:18,870 --> 00:17:24,420 And I'm sure a lot of your listeners are familiar with the ever better expedition where Mr. 181 00:17:24,420 --> 00:17:30,010 Toyoda decided he wanted to drive a 200 series across a number, I think it was five continents. 182 00:17:30,010 --> 00:17:34,620 And we were invited to be part of that journey when that expedition came through Utah. 183 00:17:36,060 --> 00:17:39,720 And so, we went down and visited that expedition in Moab. And 184 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:46,030 as part of that, I brought the vehicle that drove across all seven continents, this 78 Troopy. 185 00:17:46,500 --> 00:17:50,760 We went down there and I was invited to give a short presentation on Expedition 7. 186 00:17:51,500 --> 00:18:00,600 And I shared during that presentation that the only failure we had - I think it wound up being 187 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:10,200 140,000 collective miles driven across the Australian outback, and Africa, the Namib desert in Africa and so on - was the same failure 188 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:18,720 on three other trucks that was the solenoid that activated the rear diff lock. 189 00:18:19,370 --> 00:18:26,920 And that was after 1,000 miles in the Australian outback when we were going through the grass, and the sand, and the mud, and everything. 190 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:31,090 And the failures all occurred within 1,000 miles of each other. 191 00:18:31,100 --> 00:18:35,810 And it's because that solenoid was exposed at the time on the rear diff. 192 00:18:35,810 --> 00:18:45,770 And I didn't realize it at the time, but there were maybe a dozen TMC engineers, they were from Japan, in the back of the room, all with black pants and red shirts on. 193 00:18:45,770 --> 00:18:55,670 And as soon as I concluded my presentation, they all bolted for the door and ran out and crawled under the car with their flashlights and cell phones looking at it, taking 194 00:18:55,670 --> 00:19:04,820 pictures. And Kurt Williams was there and, of course, he was with us in Australia when the failures occurred, and he's an engineer by training, so he was able to crawl under there with them and say, 195 00:19:04,820 --> 00:19:14,510 "In order to remedy it, we just jumped it from here to here." And I'm pretty sure that within about a week or two they changed their manufacturing process and got that problem fixed. 196 00:19:14,510 --> 00:19:24,230 But that was the only mechanical failure we had with, like I say, 140,000 or 150,000 collective miles of pretty 197 00:19:24,230 --> 00:19:27,550 intense driving. Land 198 00:19:27,550 --> 00:19:32,990 Cruisers have their legendary reputation for a reason, and they live up to it. 199 00:19:33,020 --> 00:19:42,320 Determined to touch every inch of the map, in 2018, Greg embarked on an extension of the Expedition 7 trip that took Land Cruisers to Greenland. 200 00:19:42,770 --> 00:19:51,700 So, Greenland came about actually as a surrogate for the North Pole when I was driving across Antarctica. 201 00:19:51,700 --> 00:20:01,370 As it turns out, when I was waiting to catch the plane from Antarctica back to Cape Town, we were in this little makeshift lounge. 202 00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:09,300 And a man walked up to me and said, "Are you Greg Miller?" And I said, "Yes, I am." He said, "My name is Inge Solheim. 203 00:20:09,570 --> 00:20:10,610 I live in Norway. 204 00:20:10,610 --> 00:20:17,160 And we have a common friend in Emil Grimsson." Emil was the CEO and founder of Arctic Trucks. 205 00:20:18,010 --> 00:20:27,770 Inge said, "Emil tells me that you'd like to drive to the North Pole." And I said, "Well, I would, but I'm not sure that the conditions would allow. 206 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:31,560 I know the ice is getting softer, and there's open leads, and pressure ridges. 207 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:33,030 And I don't want to get my truck wet. 208 00:20:33,050 --> 00:20:37,880 It's kind of important to me now that it's been to the South Pole." And Inge said, "I can get you there. 209 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:45,910 I can get you to the North Pole." So, in April of 2015, I flew to the North Pole with Inge. 210 00:20:45,910 --> 00:20:48,710 We went to the Russian Air Base and we did the whole thing. 211 00:20:48,830 --> 00:20:52,130 And it confirmed my suspicion that it probably wasn't a good idea. 212 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:57,050 Massive open leads, massive pressure ridges, totally unsafe, in my opinion. 213 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:02,060 And so, Greenland became the surrogate for that. 214 00:21:02,060 --> 00:21:06,410 I knew I wanted to do another polar adventure, arctic adventure, and polar region. And 215 00:21:07,580 --> 00:21:09,890 my truck was still in Iceland. 216 00:21:09,890 --> 00:21:14,720 That's where it went after the Antarctica expedition segment of E7. 217 00:21:14,810 --> 00:21:22,850 And it was there having maintenance performed by Arctic Trucks and just waiting for me to decide if I wanted to go to the North Pole or not. 218 00:21:23,330 --> 00:21:25,520 And so, it was relatively close anyway. 219 00:21:25,970 --> 00:21:31,160 And so, we began exploring the possibility of doing a north-south traverse of Greenland. 220 00:21:32,270 --> 00:21:36,380 And the more we looked into it, the more I became convinced that it was doable. 221 00:21:36,380 --> 00:21:38,270 And that's how that all came about. 222 00:21:38,270 --> 00:21:43,010 It's about 1,600 miles from the southern tip to the northern tip. 223 00:21:43,010 --> 00:21:50,330 And there's actually a little more if you count all the land of the northern end of the ice sheet, it might be 1,800 miles long. 224 00:21:50,870 --> 00:21:57,320 But if you take it and just lay it across North America, it looks like it's as long as North America, as wide, and it's not. 225 00:21:57,320 --> 00:21:59,120 It's about half that long. By 226 00:21:59,120 --> 00:22:03,650 the time we got to the Greenland Expedition, we knew exactly what we needed. 227 00:22:03,890 --> 00:22:07,580 We needed drivers, photographers, navigators, ice experts. 228 00:22:07,580 --> 00:22:09,500 We needed a medical guy. 229 00:22:09,500 --> 00:22:19,190 And we did need a tech because if we had a mechanical when it's 20, 30, 40 below and the wind's blowing the same, it could be life or 230 00:22:19,190 --> 00:22:22,340 death. And so, we had the ultimate avengers team. 231 00:22:22,340 --> 00:22:28,430 There were seven guys in three trucks, and that's Nirvana in terms of the number of people and the number of trucks. 232 00:22:28,430 --> 00:22:30,600 And it worked beautifully. And 233 00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:33,170 we weren't that well sorted. 234 00:22:33,170 --> 00:22:36,200 Even at the end of E7, we thought we were. 235 00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:37,760 We thought we were just totally dialed in. 236 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:42,170 But it wasn't as laser precision as it was across Greenland. 237 00:22:42,470 --> 00:22:46,400 Of course, after visiting Greenland, Greg would have been forgiven for skipping Antarctica. 238 00:22:47,150 --> 00:22:50,450 The leg they knew would be the most challenging and most dangerous. 239 00:22:50,450 --> 00:22:51,500 He didn't. 240 00:22:51,890 --> 00:22:57,110 Antarctica, it was a huge adventure, just as you would imagine. 241 00:22:57,110 --> 00:23:06,550 I mean, from flying a vehicle with you, I mean, when was the last time you ever flew somewhere and your truck was right behind that net and it got off the plane when you did? 242 00:23:06,550 --> 00:23:08,810 So, that was just epic to begin with. 243 00:23:09,170 --> 00:23:19,010 And then, to see the logistics that were there on the air base in Antarctica, combined with all the logistics that were required to get 244 00:23:19,010 --> 00:23:24,260 everything lined up, to actually be standing on the ice next to the truck . Including 245 00:23:25,730 --> 00:23:35,420 the intel that Arctic Trucks had gathered from a previous event in Antarctica where they knew where all the crevasses were and the route to safely navigate across 246 00:23:35,810 --> 00:23:39,860 the ice sheet without danger of falling into a crevasse and so on. 247 00:23:40,130 --> 00:23:45,350 I would say that's it. Just the preparation was an adventure in itself. But 248 00:23:45,350 --> 00:23:54,530 then, once we were actually on the ground, I think endurance was probably one of the first words that comes to mind because it's so cold, it's so windy. 249 00:23:54,920 --> 00:24:03,680 We were there between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so that was the time of year when the weather was theoretically best and it was light 24/7. So, 250 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,020 I'm one who can't sleep in the light. 251 00:24:06,020 --> 00:24:07,640 I have to have darkness to sleep. 252 00:24:08,180 --> 00:24:11,780 And so, I just didn't sleep in Antarctica. 253 00:24:11,780 --> 00:24:21,260 And so, it became then a debate as to whether we want to try to pull over and get some sleep or do we just power through and keep driving and get done and back to 254 00:24:21,260 --> 00:24:27,650 camp so that we can get some sleep in a dark environment, and in a horizontal, and in a bed, and so on. 255 00:24:28,130 --> 00:24:29,900 And so, that was part of it. And 256 00:24:29,900 --> 00:24:37,580 then, I think one of the things that I still shake my head when I think about, is, it goes back to logistics. 257 00:24:37,910 --> 00:24:47,840 I'm going to say it was 86 degrees south, there was actually an airbase - it might have been 89 degrees south - there was a base that was 258 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:52,480 manned by three Russian gentlemen and one man from Iceland. 259 00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:58,070 And they spent three months there supporting other scientific expeditions. And 260 00:24:58,310 --> 00:25:06,550 I don't know if you remember that Prince Harry was there with a fundraiser where they had some wounded veterans from the UK, Australia, the U.S. 261 00:25:06,550 --> 00:25:10,760 and Canada, and they were all skiing the last degree to the south. 262 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:12,680 So, that was going on at the same time. 263 00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:17,030 And so, that was one of the other expeditions that these four guys were there to support. And 264 00:25:17,030 --> 00:25:25,250 they were there to receive fuel when it was pushed out the back of an airplane with parachutes, and then they would go gather it with their Hilux. 265 00:25:25,250 --> 00:25:31,580 They had a specially prepared boom on the front that would allow them to pick up a 55 gallon drum of fuel. 266 00:25:31,580 --> 00:25:41,540 And they had them all staged there waiting for us and other expeditions to come through and help us refuel, and help us knock all the ice off 267 00:25:41,540 --> 00:25:49,010 the undercarriage, and give us a warm drink, and a little variety in terms of company and so on. 268 00:25:49,310 --> 00:25:53,240 So, there were just a lot of really cool things there about it. 269 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:57,530 And like you said, this could probably be a series of podcasts unto itself. 270 00:25:57,650 --> 00:26:05,150 Around the world and back again, Greg and his team accomplished a truly one of a kind feat that will stand the test of time, no doubt. 271 00:26:05,180 --> 00:26:13,910 Check out expeditions7.com for an in-depth coverage, photography, and detailed Land Cruiser specs from the entire adventure. 272 00:26:14,180 --> 00:26:18,410 Now, back home in Salt Lake City, Greg had a museum to build. 273 00:26:18,590 --> 00:26:26,180 The museum was probably founded in '05 or '06, so it predated the expedition by some years. 274 00:26:26,180 --> 00:26:36,110 It originated in Tooela at Miller Motorsports Park, which was a 500 acre racetrack that our family developed 275 00:26:36,110 --> 00:26:37,790 in '05 and '06. 276 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:45,380 And the first house for the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum was actually a repurposed building. I 277 00:26:45,380 --> 00:26:54,950 mentioned earlier that my dad bought his first dealership in 1979, that business grew very quickly, and about three or four years after he bought it, he actually needed to build a 278 00:26:54,950 --> 00:26:57,920 new facility just a few blocks from the original one. 279 00:26:58,370 --> 00:27:01,580 And as you can imagine, the budgets were fairly tight. 280 00:27:01,580 --> 00:27:07,560 So, we did kind of a prefab building that he had clad the showroom in brick. 281 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:10,820 But the rear portion where the service department, was just aluminum siding. And 282 00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:19,610 so, years later in about '05, '06, '07 it was time to knock that building down. 283 00:27:19,610 --> 00:27:26,800 I made the effort to save the service department, all the red iron, and we moved it out to the racetrack. 284 00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:32,840 The Miller Motorsports Park was about 10,000 square feet and we housed the museum there for a while. And 285 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:42,830 then, in 2015 we decided that we'd had enough fun throwing money in the black hole that was Miller Motorsports Park that we decided 286 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:47,540 to not renew our lease with the county and walked away from that. 287 00:27:47,540 --> 00:27:50,120 Which meant that I no longer had access to that building. So, 288 00:27:50,120 --> 00:27:59,330 I found the second location very near downtown Salt Lake City, and we were there from June of 2015 until September of 289 00:27:59,330 --> 00:28:02,360 2021, so a little over six years. 290 00:28:02,660 --> 00:28:12,500 And then, in September of '21, we moved into the third home for the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum, which, to me, it's the coolest thing ever 291 00:28:12,500 --> 00:28:13,670 with the museum. It's 292 00:28:13,670 --> 00:28:15,720 another repurposed building. 293 00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:20,030 It was a steel foundry that was built in the 1930s. 294 00:28:20,270 --> 00:28:25,850 And the first time I walked into it, the windows had a quarter inch of soot and slag on them. 295 00:28:25,850 --> 00:28:30,830 And you'd walk out the door after being in there for a minute with black on your face. 296 00:28:30,830 --> 00:28:32,570 It was terrible. 297 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:36,130 And I said, you know, we can do something really special with this building. 298 00:28:36,140 --> 00:28:39,730 So, we spent about a year completely remodeling it. 299 00:28:39,740 --> 00:28:46,570 Basically, everything with the walls was brand new, new floor, new ceiling, new roof, new lights, new you name it. And 300 00:28:47,110 --> 00:28:56,000 so, to me, I knew we were on to something when we had our soft opening in early September of this year and we didn't even have all the vehicles arranged yet. 301 00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:04,420 But we'd been closed long enough for the move that I thought, we're just going to open and just tell people, "Sorry about the mess. 302 00:29:04,460 --> 00:29:12,390 Hope you enjoy your visit." And the very first patron that came through said, "Don't worry about the vehicles being disorganized. 303 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:20,200 The building alone was worth the price of admission." And we get that comment quite a bit now, so it's pretty awesome. 304 00:29:20,410 --> 00:29:26,440 The Land Cruisers that took part in the expeditions are all on display, although getting much less action these days. 305 00:29:26,590 --> 00:29:34,140 Not surprisingly, one of them stands out as Greg's favorite piece in the museum, affectionately named Fernweh. 306 00:29:34,180 --> 00:29:36,750 It's the VDJ78 that we've dubbed Fernweh. 307 00:29:36,750 --> 00:29:46,300 The nickname Fernweh, F-E-R-N-W-E-H, which is a German word that describes the emotion you 308 00:29:46,300 --> 00:29:54,220 feel when you stand on the dock in the harbor, and you see the ships coming and going, and you long to be on one of them. 309 00:29:54,220 --> 00:29:56,200 That's the way Fernweh was described to me. 310 00:29:56,200 --> 00:30:00,250 So, we thought that was an appropriate name for that car. As 311 00:30:00,250 --> 00:30:04,660 far as I know, it's the only vehicle that's ever been on all seven continents. 312 00:30:04,660 --> 00:30:14,320 I've heard rumors that maybe a motorcycle had done it, but I have looked and looked, I've scoured the internet, and I don't have any evidence that that ever took place. 313 00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:20,500 If any listeners to this podcast have information on that, I'd love to hear about it. 314 00:30:20,980 --> 00:30:24,250 And so, that's the one that's been on all seven. There's 315 00:30:24,250 --> 00:30:32,170 a twin to it that we named Mateship, like friendship only using Australian mate, Mateship, that was on all six continents. 316 00:30:32,170 --> 00:30:39,850 We opted not to spend the money to take it to Antarctica, so it's a close runner up. 317 00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:48,640 And then, there were three other vehicles, not counting the red Hilux that we drove across Antarctica, that were part of the E7 fleet. 318 00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:57,910 One's a VDJ76, one is a VDJ79, and one is actually an FJ62 - actually, I take it back, it's an 319 00:30:57,930 --> 00:31:04,400 HJ62 that has 79 series sheet metal on it. 320 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:10,680 And that six cylinder engine just had too much trouble keeping up with all the V8s, so it only made a portion of the journey. 321 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:13,960 But all six of the E7 fleet are on display at the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum. We 322 00:31:15,250 --> 00:31:16,480 don't drive Fernweh. 323 00:31:16,510 --> 00:31:20,980 It's kind of a unique concept that occurred to me. 324 00:31:20,980 --> 00:31:23,620 There's so much equity in that car. 325 00:31:23,620 --> 00:31:30,520 And I remember the closer to home we got as we checked the box on another continent, I was thinking, what if this thing gets stolen? 326 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:32,590 What if it gets wrecked? What if it catches on fire? 327 00:31:32,590 --> 00:31:34,090 What if it falls off the boat? 328 00:31:34,090 --> 00:31:40,990 So, by the time we'd been to all seven continents, it was almost like I wanted to put this concrete vault around it and just ship it home. 329 00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:45,760 And so, I think, unfortunately, Fernweh has been retired for good. 330 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:53,050 But, thankfully, enough other Land Cruisers in the fleet that we can go out and explore the world in that we're not going to be cramped. 331 00:31:53,540 --> 00:31:57,580 Fernweh is without question the most meaningful vehicle in the collection. 332 00:31:57,580 --> 00:32:01,660 There are days when I think maybe there are others that give it a run for its money. Like, 333 00:32:02,170 --> 00:32:07,660 for example, we have the first Land Cruiser imported to the United States on display there. 334 00:32:07,660 --> 00:32:15,940 We have a Toyota Jeep, a 1953 Toyota Jeep, which is, obviously, before they were even called Land Cruisers that's there. 335 00:32:15,940 --> 00:32:22,300 And we have some 6,000 mile 40 series trucks and a number of others. 336 00:32:22,300 --> 00:32:29,050 But, you know, there are so many neat ones, but none of them were with me on all seven continents. 337 00:32:29,050 --> 00:32:33,100 None of them as emotional as I can become when we're talking about Land Cruisers . 338 00:32:33,180 --> 00:32:41,980 None of them evoke the emotion or provided the opportunities to make friends, and learn, and grow like Fernweh did. 339 00:32:41,980 --> 00:32:46,240 Fernweh was like a magic carpet for me that I got to travel around the world in. I 340 00:32:47,050 --> 00:32:50,290 look at the collection in three categories. 341 00:32:50,290 --> 00:32:54,480 We have the OEM category, which is minimally modified. 342 00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:57,490 Then, we have the historically significant vehicles. 343 00:32:57,490 --> 00:33:02,080 And then, we have the vehicles that were adapted for commercial application. 344 00:33:02,530 --> 00:33:06,280 So, as far as wartime vehicles go, we have three. 345 00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:10,520 One is a Japanese Defense Force Mega Cruiser. 346 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:16,330 One is from Australia, it was a Norforce Troopy, HJ47. 347 00:33:16,330 --> 00:33:19,650 And then, the other one is from South America and it's a Bandeirante. 348 00:33:19,650 --> 00:33:21,990 It looks a lot like an FJ40. 349 00:33:21,990 --> 00:33:24,520 And those are all ex-military vehicles. Then, 350 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:29,110 in addition to that, we have several different commercial vehicles. 351 00:33:29,110 --> 00:33:34,390 We have one that was a maintenance vehicle for a television network. 352 00:33:34,810 --> 00:33:39,460 And it has a little, like, six inch cathode ray tube CRT monitor in it. 353 00:33:39,460 --> 00:33:45,980 And it has an antenna that comes up out of the ceiling and a bunch of 1980s electronic equipment. 354 00:33:46,370 --> 00:33:48,350 As I mentioned, we have some fire engines. 355 00:33:48,350 --> 00:33:52,670 We have an FJ5 tow truck, and a handful of others. And 356 00:33:52,670 --> 00:33:59,510 I probably have a few additional commercial applications that we're out of space, again, even after moving to the new building. 357 00:33:59,510 --> 00:34:02,630 And I don't really have anywhere to store them now. 358 00:34:02,630 --> 00:34:12,440 So, unless it's just a super cool vehicle or a super good deal that I can't pass up, I'm just going to have to put the curation efforts on hold for a while, I think 359 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:13,940 . I just need a building stretcher. 360 00:34:13,940 --> 00:34:22,880 I think Dan told me there's 99 under the roof and that's leaving room for two additional 361 00:34:23,780 --> 00:34:26,000 vehicles to arrive that are enroute. 362 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:29,840 We have a couple that are still in storage at the old building. 363 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:36,380 We have a rock crawler that's on 47 inch tires. 364 00:34:36,380 --> 00:34:38,750 We got a barn door 55. 365 00:34:38,750 --> 00:34:41,090 And we have a really clean 62 over there. 366 00:34:41,090 --> 00:34:48,650 The ones that are enroute are an FJ24 fire engine, which that will give us a complete set. 367 00:34:48,650 --> 00:34:53,570 We'll have a 20 series, a 40 series, 50 series, 60 series, 70 series. 368 00:34:53,570 --> 00:34:56,630 We don't have an 80 series yet, so we may be going up a little bit short. The 369 00:34:56,630 --> 00:35:06,440 other one that's enroute is I had a friend that was in Saudi Arabia a while back and he was able to buy an FJ40 that had 370 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:07,820 never been assembled. 371 00:35:07,820 --> 00:35:14,600 It was still in a crate packed format that it arrived in when it left the factory from Japan. 372 00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:20,690 And it's going to go on display in the museum if we can ever get it all the way over here from Saudi Arabia. 373 00:35:20,690 --> 00:35:21,890 We've been trying for a few months. 374 00:35:21,890 --> 00:35:23,390 Hopefully, it's not too far away. 375 00:35:23,990 --> 00:35:26,450 We would leave it exactly as it's been its whole life. 376 00:35:26,450 --> 00:35:31,220 I think that would be one of the can't miss exhibitions of the entire visit. 377 00:35:32,050 --> 00:35:34,010 It will be so cool in that condition. 378 00:35:34,010 --> 00:35:41,050 And there's enough other really cool 40 series Land Cruisers in there that I think those will probably scratch the itch for me. We 379 00:35:41,050 --> 00:35:44,200 have two vehicles in the collection that are not Land Cruisers. 380 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:49,450 One is an FQ15, which many revere as a grandfather to the Land Cruiser. 381 00:35:50,260 --> 00:35:53,380 Produced in the late '40s and the '50s. 382 00:35:53,740 --> 00:35:56,050 The other one is a Hilux. 383 00:35:56,050 --> 00:36:05,920 And the Hilux is the one that was outfitted by Arctic Trucks out of Reykjavik, Iceland to make the actual traverse all the 384 00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:07,300 way across Antarctica. 385 00:36:07,300 --> 00:36:12,400 It has 44 inch tires on it, swingarm suspension, 200 series transfer case. 386 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:17,830 It has a crevasse bar on the front and a host of other features that make it suitable for travel in that environment. 387 00:36:18,250 --> 00:36:27,690 And so, the story behind that one is that we knew we had to take the 78 388 00:36:27,690 --> 00:36:32,880 to Antarctica in order to check the Antarctica box and have that vehicle on all seven continents. 389 00:36:33,330 --> 00:36:38,420 But I also knew that I probably wasn't going to get back to Antarctica any time soon. 390 00:36:38,420 --> 00:36:46,680 And that if there was an opportunity to drive to the South Pole and then eventually across the entire continent, this was going to be it. And 391 00:36:46,680 --> 00:36:51,390 so, we looked at modifying the Land Cruiser to make that journey. 392 00:36:51,390 --> 00:36:59,520 And in order to make that journey in a practical way, we would have had to have modified that 78 to an extent that it was irreversible. 393 00:36:59,820 --> 00:37:06,550 And I didn't want that vehicle to survive in that modified form, since it would have been such a limited part of its use. 394 00:37:06,550 --> 00:37:16,440 So, what we wounded up doing was modifying it as far as we could and still have it be reversible so that it was suitable for some travel in Antarctica. But 395 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:24,570 then, for the big journey, we opted for this Hilux, this big red truck that you see on the website, and it performed beautifully. 396 00:37:24,570 --> 00:37:28,200 And then, subsequently, we used that same truck to make the traverse across Greenland. I 397 00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:31,860 know the BJT is a 1953. 398 00:37:31,860 --> 00:37:38,130 It's one of a handful that were exported to Australia, imported in Australia. 399 00:37:38,130 --> 00:37:41,880 And I think there's less than 20 that survived today. 400 00:37:42,390 --> 00:37:46,740 I would say that was probably the oldest in terms of production. The 401 00:37:46,740 --> 00:37:54,540 newest is we have a 2021 200 series Heritage Edition down there with zero miles, maybe three miles on it. 402 00:37:54,540 --> 00:37:59,310 It still smells brand new inside and probably will for a long time. It 403 00:37:59,310 --> 00:38:01,350 depends on how you define rare. 404 00:38:02,010 --> 00:38:10,980 You know, certain attributes can make a vehicle rare, whether it's how it was used, or modified, or what its history is and so on. 405 00:38:10,980 --> 00:38:17,460 In terms of like you just want to go out and buy one, I would say that BJT is probably quite rare. 406 00:38:17,670 --> 00:38:20,250 There are a number that have super low miles. 407 00:38:20,430 --> 00:38:24,390 Like I said, there's some 40 series with 5,000, 6,000, 7,000 miles. 408 00:38:24,390 --> 00:38:27,000 There's a 55 with 11,000 miles. 409 00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:31,910 I actually have an 80 series with 80 miles on it. 410 00:38:31,910 --> 00:38:33,420 It came out of South America. 411 00:38:33,690 --> 00:38:36,840 So, those are rare but in different ways. And 412 00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:46,050 then, my favorite, aside from Fernweh, is I love survivor trucks, unmolested, Unrepainted, engines matching, 413 00:38:46,380 --> 00:38:49,110 original equipment, and so on. 414 00:38:49,110 --> 00:38:59,110 We have a 1966 FJ45 pickup that was owned, spent about 50 years of its life in the Carmel, Monterey area 415 00:38:59,110 --> 00:39:06,390 of California. And the way the story was told to me, there was an elderly couple that bought it new. 416 00:39:06,420 --> 00:39:08,100 They drove it for 20 years. 417 00:39:08,520 --> 00:39:15,270 And when he died, the widow sold it to another couple that owned it for about 25 years. 418 00:39:15,270 --> 00:39:19,890 And when he died, the widow sold it to the guy who flipped it to me. And 419 00:39:19,890 --> 00:39:24,300 that car still has the original registration in the glove box. 420 00:39:24,300 --> 00:39:28,230 It has the original tool kit that still has plastic on the wooden handled screwdrivers. 421 00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:36,300 The only thing that's been done to it is they reupholstered the interior, and they even did that with the correct stitching and material. 422 00:39:36,720 --> 00:39:39,150 And so, it's absolutely gorgeous. 423 00:39:39,780 --> 00:39:43,830 Like, when I get to the museum, it's the one that I walk in and look at. 424 00:39:43,830 --> 00:39:47,250 I want to give it a hug and just say we're back together. 425 00:39:47,250 --> 00:39:48,600 You know, it's kind of cool. 426 00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:49,890 I love it. I 427 00:39:49,890 --> 00:39:54,720 would say the most expensive vehicle in the collection is an ICON. 428 00:39:54,720 --> 00:40:00,150 Many of your listeners are probably familiar with Jonathan Ward, an ICON out of Chatsworth, California. 429 00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:04,040 Jonathan's a good friend and a master craftsman. 430 00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:13,950 And he takes a 1970 FJF40 and sets it on a modern frame, with modern drivetrain and suspension, and then all 431 00:40:13,950 --> 00:40:22,380 the stuff to make it pretty with the aluminum tub, and all the fancy upholstery, and so on. And 432 00:40:22,380 --> 00:40:29,850 so, I was in Mexico a few years ago when I got a text from Jonathan and he said, "Here's one of the ICONs. 433 00:40:29,850 --> 00:40:32,360 They don't come up for sale very often, but it's an FJ43. 434 00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:34,850 It's a four door. It's the good stuff. 435 00:40:34,850 --> 00:40:36,030 Powder coated and blast at. 436 00:40:37,470 --> 00:40:39,420 I think it had 2,300 miles on it. 437 00:40:39,420 --> 00:40:43,540 If you want it, here's the price." And I about fell off my chair. 438 00:40:43,540 --> 00:40:50,040 And he said, "Think about it, let me know tomorrow." And, like, 7:00 in the morning, he called and said, "Are you in or not? 439 00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:56,450 If you don't want it, I got six people kicking my door down, so I got to know now." And I told him I'd take it. 440 00:40:56,450 --> 00:40:58,710 And it's only appreciated ever since. 441 00:40:58,710 --> 00:41:00,650 They're still going up in value. And 442 00:41:01,230 --> 00:41:03,930 I don't know how much longer Jonathan is going to be doing what he's doing. 443 00:41:03,930 --> 00:41:07,470 He's had a great run and he's got to be getting tired. 444 00:41:07,470 --> 00:41:09,190 He's worked so hard for so long. 445 00:41:09,190 --> 00:41:17,260 But if the day ever comes where he decides to quit building those, I just think those things are going to go through the roof in value. I 446 00:41:17,260 --> 00:41:21,820 would say that every Land Cruiser has a story. 447 00:41:21,820 --> 00:41:25,450 And that story makes every Land Cruiser unique. 448 00:41:25,750 --> 00:41:35,110 I'm thinking right now of one owner, 1971 FJ40, that was owned by the a gentleman who was the sheriff in Butte County, 449 00:41:35,110 --> 00:41:43,090 California. And when the Paradise fires came through a couple of years ago, he raced home to try to save it. 450 00:41:43,090 --> 00:41:44,770 And it had a dead battery. 451 00:41:44,830 --> 00:41:49,540 All he wanted to do was push it over a little hill into a pond on his lot. 452 00:41:49,690 --> 00:41:55,810 And he's a guy in his mid-60s and he didn't have enough strength to push it up that little hill by itself. 453 00:41:56,140 --> 00:41:58,240 And it burned to the ground. 454 00:41:58,240 --> 00:42:00,790 I mean, it's gorgeous in its own way. 455 00:42:00,790 --> 00:42:07,120 It's a sad loss for him, but it's a great reminder of how quickly we can lose stuff that matters to us in an instant. 456 00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:08,470 So, cherish it while you can. 457 00:42:08,710 --> 00:42:09,820 But there's one. And 458 00:42:09,820 --> 00:42:19,810 then, 30 yards from that is a brand new plastic wrapper still on the seat 2021 200 Series Heritage Edition Land Cruiser. 459 00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:21,400 So, they're all unique. 460 00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:23,250 They're all beautiful in their own way. 461 00:42:23,260 --> 00:42:25,470 As far as I know. They all get along pretty well. 462 00:42:25,480 --> 00:42:28,570 I'm not really aware of one being too jealous of another. 463 00:42:28,570 --> 00:42:33,010 If they feel that way, they pretty much keep it to themselves. We 464 00:42:33,010 --> 00:42:38,440 have one rock crawler that, I think, is related to Christine, Stephen King's Christine. 465 00:42:39,790 --> 00:42:46,360 It actually ran over me one time and pinned me between it and another crawler. 466 00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:53,500 And I had the tire of that one on my chest and the big tire of the other one on my back. 467 00:42:54,100 --> 00:42:56,840 And I yelled to the person driving it, "Back up. 468 00:42:56,840 --> 00:43:01,480 Back up. Back up." And they got it off of me before I passed out. 469 00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:05,470 But that's probably as close as we have to any of them being possessed. 470 00:43:05,860 --> 00:43:11,370 A theme we've all heard on the show and elsewhere in the auto industry are the smells, right? 471 00:43:11,380 --> 00:43:20,680 Whether it's a new car or a flashback inducing waft of nostalgia, our sense of smell, low key, plays a big part in our emotional connection to cars. 472 00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:26,520 Josh Brooks from episode 38, Starlet Restoration Story, recalled as much. 473 00:43:26,520 --> 00:43:33,100 Running a museum of pre-owned, pre-loved, and well driven adventure vehicles, Greg has a keen sense for the same. 474 00:43:33,370 --> 00:43:36,790 You know, that smell is prevalent in the museum. 475 00:43:36,790 --> 00:43:46,510 The thing that's so interesting is, different vehicles have different smells, largely depending on which market they came 476 00:43:46,510 --> 00:43:56,030 from. So, for example, JDM vehicles, whether they're 40s or 90s or whatever, they smell like Japan. 477 00:43:56,030 --> 00:43:58,570 And Australian vehicles smell very different. 478 00:43:58,570 --> 00:44:00,910 And South American vehicles smell very different. 479 00:44:00,910 --> 00:44:04,510 It's really unique, but there's a pattern to it for sure. 480 00:44:04,660 --> 00:44:13,870 It's one thing to have a Land Cruiser that you put on display, but if you're trying to source exciting specimens from around the world, how do you actually find them and acquire them? 481 00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:21,320 Originally, we curated the collection off the list that Kurt and I developed on our drive to the middle of Wyoming. 482 00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:27,250 And we knew that we needed an FJ40, and we needed an FJ43, and a 60, and so on. 483 00:44:27,250 --> 00:44:35,530 So, we would always just buy the best specimen of a particular model that we could get our hands on. 484 00:44:36,130 --> 00:44:44,860 And then, if we found a better model later, we would buy it and theoretically sell off the old one so that we were always improving. And 485 00:44:44,860 --> 00:44:53,130 so, to answer your question now, in the early years, we were proactively seeking a lot of these cars. 486 00:44:53,130 --> 00:45:02,860 At some point, I don't know exactly when it was, probably in about 2016, I would guess, we kind of hit a tipping point where there was enough 487 00:45:02,860 --> 00:45:04,950 notoriety to the museum. 488 00:45:04,950 --> 00:45:13,670 And the effort that was being made to preserve this Land Cruiser Heritage that the cars or the vehicles actually started finding us. 489 00:45:13,670 --> 00:45:17,590 For example, when this BJT hit the market, my phone blew up. 490 00:45:17,590 --> 00:45:20,860 I probably had ten text messages, "Hey, have you seen what hit the market today? 491 00:45:21,700 --> 00:45:23,810 " And that was true of others. 492 00:45:23,810 --> 00:45:33,710 Like, I would say, the last 12 or 15 acquisitions that we've made have been owners of those vehicles reaching out 493 00:45:33,710 --> 00:45:36,950 to us saying, "I'm ready to part with my baby. 494 00:45:36,950 --> 00:45:38,360 I want it to go to a good home. 495 00:45:38,360 --> 00:45:43,610 Are you interested?" And that's a real honor for us to be thought of in that regard. 496 00:45:44,870 --> 00:45:54,560 One of the last acquisitions that we made, probably three or four acquisitions ago, was 497 00:45:54,560 --> 00:46:04,040 one owner, 1966 FJ45 LB Wagon that had been with the same family since it was purchased 498 00:46:04,460 --> 00:46:11,600 new. And the owner was a bit odd and a bit squirrelly. 499 00:46:12,330 --> 00:46:14,790 And he only wanted cash. 500 00:46:15,510 --> 00:46:20,680 And I have lost deals before because owners have only wanted cash. 501 00:46:20,680 --> 00:46:23,230 And I've said, "I'm not going to give you a cash. 502 00:46:23,250 --> 00:46:26,680 That's just not the way I roll." And they said, "Okay. 503 00:46:26,680 --> 00:46:28,940 Then no deal" and "Okay. 504 00:46:28,940 --> 00:46:35,340 Have a nice day." This was a one owner LB, I wasn't going to let this one get away, so I agreed. 505 00:46:35,700 --> 00:46:39,810 And you never know, you're going to a stranger's home with a big wad of cash. 506 00:46:39,820 --> 00:46:45,600 Of course, I had a lot of friends, "Hey, here's where I am. 507 00:46:46,140 --> 00:46:55,680 And if I don't call you in ten minutes, send the cavalry in and so on." And, luckily, it turned out to be a nothing burger. 508 00:46:55,680 --> 00:47:01,220 It was a nice visit. And he told me a lot of stories about growing up with that car and stuff. 509 00:47:01,220 --> 00:47:04,170 And, now, it's sitting there in the museum bringing a lot of joy to a lot of people. 510 00:47:05,100 --> 00:47:08,270 And what about actually transporting them to the museum site? 511 00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:15,320 The logistics of this becomes seriously impressive when you hear how far some of the Land Cruisers have traveled to be put on display. 512 00:47:15,330 --> 00:47:19,830 We wondered, which of the Land Cruisers on display has traveled the furthest. 513 00:47:20,100 --> 00:47:26,040 The 76 that we bought in South Africa is probably a contender. 514 00:47:26,040 --> 00:47:30,860 But one truck in Australia that may be a contender, that's the VDJ79. 515 00:47:30,860 --> 00:47:34,940 And we've bought a couple of other out of Australia, a few others actually out of Australia. 516 00:47:35,390 --> 00:47:38,780 So, I would say it's got to be one of the Australian or the South African truck. 517 00:47:39,230 --> 00:47:42,260 The museum is ten years old this year and still going strong. 518 00:47:42,260 --> 00:47:44,510 We asked Greg, what does the future hold? 519 00:47:44,510 --> 00:47:46,160 More Land Cruisers, right? 520 00:47:46,190 --> 00:47:56,120 There are still a number of vehicles that I'd like to procure for the museum, and that doesn't really even include 521 00:47:56,120 --> 00:48:02,960 a lot of the historically significant ones that I'd probably be more interested in if I have the room. 522 00:48:03,350 --> 00:48:08,630 The good news is, we have room to expand the building to the north of our existing building. 523 00:48:09,020 --> 00:48:12,680 It's just a matter of financial resources to get that done. So, 524 00:48:12,860 --> 00:48:22,430 as far as the future goes, I want to continue to build out the collection with meaningful vehicles that help 525 00:48:22,430 --> 00:48:30,650 fulfill our mission, which is to preserve and celebrate the history of the Toyota Land Cruiser and to inspire adventure. 526 00:48:31,130 --> 00:48:35,090 A gigantic thank you to today's guest, Greg Miller and the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum. 527 00:48:36,020 --> 00:48:42,530 If you want to learn more about their work or even plan a visit for yourself, well, I'll let Greg take it from here. 528 00:48:42,830 --> 00:48:48,890 Our website is landcruiserhm.com, as in Land Cruiser Heritage Museum. 529 00:48:49,130 --> 00:48:58,230 We're also on Facebook and Instagram under Land Cruiser HM - actually, that might be Land Cruiser Heritage Museum on those. 530 00:48:58,230 --> 00:49:00,260 But if you just do a search, you'll find it. 531 00:49:00,770 --> 00:49:03,780 And we are located in Salt Lake City. 532 00:49:03,800 --> 00:49:07,070 Our address is 476 West 600 North. 533 00:49:07,100 --> 00:49:08,690 Google Maps knows where we are. 534 00:49:08,690 --> 00:49:10,250 Apple Maps knows where we are. 535 00:49:10,250 --> 00:49:14,120 So, if you're ever in town, punch us in, we'd love to say hello. 536 00:49:18,750 --> 00:49:21,530 Thank you everyone so much for listening today. 537 00:49:21,530 --> 00:49:27,000 Land Cruisers hold a special place in my heart, as I said at the beginning of the episode. 538 00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:28,110 I have three of them. 539 00:49:28,110 --> 00:49:29,830 I have a 200 series. 540 00:49:29,830 --> 00:49:31,240 I have a 100 series. 541 00:49:31,240 --> 00:49:32,670 And we have an 80. 542 00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:35,730 And my husband loves working on them with the kids. 543 00:49:35,730 --> 00:49:40,470 And if you can make it, please go visit the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum. 544 00:49:40,470 --> 00:49:43,680 I know we're going to try to make it as a family. On 545 00:49:43,680 --> 00:49:48,660 behalf of Kelsey and myself, Tyler, thank you so much for listening to Toyota Untold. This 546 00:49:51,360 --> 00:49:54,810 podcast is brought to you by Toyota Motor Sales, USA Inc. 547 00:49:54,810 --> 00:50:00,750 and may not be reproduced or redistributed in whole or in part without prior permission of Toyota. 548 00:50:00,900 --> 00:50:07,980 Modifying your vehicle with non-genuine Toyota parts can negatively affect your warranty, safety performance, and street legality. 549 00:50:08,280 --> 00:50:13,020 Other trademark and trade names appearing on the vehicles are those of their respective owners. 550 00:50:13,560 --> 00:50:21,030 The opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the guests and our hosts, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Toyota. 551 00:50:21,060 --> 00:50:27,680 Please note that Toyota is not responsible for any errors or the accuracy or timeliness of the content provided. 552 00:50:27,680 --> 00:50:28,770 Used with permission. 553 00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:30,750 All rights reserved worldwide.