Starting out with his Toyota LandCruiser restoration shop, TLC, Jonathon Ward then changed to the ICON brand some ten years ago. Based out of California in the US, there was a market for old school Tojo trucks, that they’ve filled. Here in Australia, you can get yourself a beat up old FJ in pretty good nick well and truly sub $10,000. Over in the US, however, that same rusty, slightly bent, engine missing on 3-cylinders old truck is going to set you back upwards of $40,000… Oh, that’s US dollars too. This massive price difference gave birth to the ICON FJ.
Gone are the days where ICON would rebuild FJ40’s (though, they will still rebuild yours, should you happen to have one in need of a ground up resto) and they now build FJ’s from scratch. They’ve taken all the new tech and engineering that’s been learnt since the original FJ40 was released, and put it together in a brand new box. Aesthetically the Toyota FJ40 and the ICON FJ are essentially identical. It’s under that infamous shell and shape that you find all the changes.
But what about the specs?!
From the ground up, you’ll find full Dynatrac Dana diffs front and rear, with uni-joints instead of CV’s. Brakes consist of four-wheel slotted and vented disc brakes, with the option of six pot Brembo’s. Suspension is sorted with coils on all four corners, with a triangulated four link rear, and panhard front setup. Fox Racing supply the 2.5″ Emulsion shocks, paired with Eibach coils giving it a full 12″ of travel front and rear. The chassis is an Art Morrison ladder frame. Made from 2″ x 4″ x 0.18″ mandrel bent steel rails, gives it a wrinkle free design. There is also the small matter of an entirely hand made alloy body too!
Heading to the power train you’ve got the option of an LS powered 6.2L L92 Gen-IV V8. Alternatively, there’s the four-pot Cummins R2.8. Both engines come with a mandrel bent full stainless system from turbo or headers back. They are both paired with either a 5-speed Aisin-Warner manual box, or the 4-speed 4L65E GM auto.
Into the interior, the whole setup has been given the once over, with new components everywhere. They have however managed to keep it looking identical to the FJ’s of old.
If you happen to have a spare $150,000 (ish) US to spare, or like the rest of us, just like looking at the pictures and day dreaming, head on over here to have a look at the hand made ICON FJ.
