Nissan VS Toyota: 46 Years Ago!!

And were already talking about electric cars way back then!

(see Toyota page, RHS)

Yep

Both dogs in comparison to today's vehicles. From my recollection the Nissan was considered to have a slightly better engine (both about 4 litre straight 6), however it was sorely let down by it's 3 speed gearbox with no synchro on 1st.
They were both very prone to rust. Particularly the Nissan due to the way the panels lapped.

There was quite an industry involved in the manufacture of fibreglass replacement panels.

However, having said all that, they were quite competent vehicles off-road ......... as long as you had a good quality kidney belt.

Thank god they came along so we could get rid of landrovers. Boy am I going to cop it.

I favoured the Toyotas. I don't know why as I drove both at the time.

The Nissans and Toyotas sure changed the face of 4wds for the better. Then later on about 1975 the little LJ50 2 stroke suzuki came along and it was a great light weight.

Great medium weight trucks of that era were the 6x6 and 6x4 Isuzu's, D6000 Toyota's and the best of all the 1418 Benz. Heavy weight B61 mack and the K 125 Kenny's. My choices only.

And most of these old 4x4's will go just about any where a new flash one will go and further in some cases and without 150 or 200 kilo watts under the bonnet.

What I find interesting about this article is that it instantly took me back 47 years to my apprenticeship which I started in 1966 at a little Toyota dealership in Queensland. Being the lowest paid employee in the shop I was the one who got sent to Brisbane by Fokker Friendship to pick up cars and drive them the 330 miles back home.
Agricultural is the best word to describe the Toyota LC at that time. In the middle of winter on the back road through Nanango Yarraman at night was a very memorable experience.
It's easy to criticize them now but at that time we had the option of LLLLLLandRRRRover [ just thinking of them makes me stutter, removing gearboxes through the floor caused psychological scarring I'm sure ] or Ex army Jeeps.
The 6 cylinder Cruiser was the best thing to ever hit the market for farmers and graziers where I come from.
The Nissan was a bullet proof unit even in those days, but the LC seemed to have better marketing and service network.
Just as a side issue, I bought German made Dowidat metric tools in 1966. I still have them and apart from some of the more commonly used sockets they're still as good as the day I got them.

I drove both the FJ45 ute and the 'luxurious' FJ55 wagons back in '69-72 in a work capacity, mainly between Perth and Eucla.
And the drum brakes on both weren't all that hot - I found that I could pull up quicker when pulling a caravan, using the caravan vacuum brakes as well (there was a manual control on the steering column for the caravan brakes).
The 45 was pretty hopeless at towing a heavy industrial caravan - the vehicle was all over the place. Judicious application of the manual caravan brakes seemed to straighten the wobble up.
I recall the 6-cyl engine was about 3.4 or 3.6 litres, supposedly of an old wartime Chev design. Quite poor torque, not helped by the 3-speed box; a 4 cyl 4-speed Landie was much better in sand.
Our fuel consumption used to be about 10mpg, but then we pushed them. The Landie we had gave us about 15mpg, but was much slooower. The 10 gallon fuel tank on the Landie was a joke - ok for GB, but useless out in the bush here in Oz. The Cruisers had about a 20 gallon tank (90L), I recall. Our 55 wagon had an aftermarket 20-gallon tank fitted behind the back seat, so range was quite good, though we always seemed to run out on one tank just as you were passing someone!
But the speed of the FJ55 was what impressed - we used to have no problem hitting 90mph out on the Nullarbor then, but it took nerves of steel to keep it on a steady course.
We used to frequently have wheel studs shear, and twice lost a wheel when towing a trailer (no, not at 90mph!). Luckily, no serious accident on either occasion. Our Automotive Plant gurus' response was for us to check the nuts every day before driving off.
One of our 55s was replaced in '71 with a much better 4-speed 55. Much better put together, better interior fittings, and a lot better in the sand. A bigger engine and a (slightly) better fuel economy - Toyota must have played with the tuning of the engine, as it was better all round. Unfortunately we rolled it at 8000 miles on the clock, writing it off, and we reverted to the older wagon. One ageing 55 blew the motor at about 85,000 miles, about 200 miles out on the Nullarbor. We had been pressing for a replacement wagon for some time, but this forced the hand of our employer. An expensive recovery back to town.
Other annoying things were the buzzing transfer case lever. We used to tie an occy strap to the lever and hook it under the dashboard to stop it rattling.
And the sunvisors! Turned down, they finished on a plane about 10cm above one's eyes, so were totally useless driving into the sun. I'm 180cm; ie, not short, so I don't know how Japanese drivers fared driving into the sun. To cure this, I used to hang a magazine over the visor so it finished on a plane just above my eyes.
The vinyl seats were terrible in hot weather out on the Nullarbor, so I used to put a towel on the seat (no a/c in those days). At least they were more comfortable than the square block of foam cushion that Landrover supplied back then.
Back then the Japanese weren't sure how much info to provide in their owner's handbook. There was a chapter on how to engage and disengage the clutch, change gears and apply the brakes!
Gerry