Volume 1, Catalog Series #11

Mark Barry’s 1970 Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser

Mark, the Director of Minerva, the two-year portfolio program in creative advertising at the University of Alabama, acquired the FJ from his uncle, Jim Snell. Jim (pictured) restored the truck and gifted it to Mark a little over year ago, and just a few months before he passed away from cancer.

The FJ was originally purchased when it was a junker around 2000. Over the next few years Jim rebuilt it from the ground up. He put a rebuilt Chevy small block in it and gave it some some big ass shoes. It’s got some home garage body work in spots and a little rust lingering around here and there, but everything works. Well, that’s not quite the whole truth. The speedometer isn’t connected and the gas gauge runs backwards (#style). The four wheel drive locks in like a champ, though, and the wench does its job when times are tough. Not pictured are the matching hard top and doors that Mark begrudgingly puts on once winter rolls around. 

The FJ is loud, it drinks a lot, but as long as it’s not raining it’s Mark’s daily driver and reminder of his uncle. A man with a generous soul whose work lives on.