The modern day Toyota Land Cruiser has come a long way from its rough and tumble beginnings. The 2016 Land Cruiser is filled with leather and technology that is specifically tailored for the American market. Elsewhere in the world you can buy a much more basic Land Cruiser. You can even buy an original! The Land Cruiser 70 series is only sold in certain markets and has been built continuously since 1984, but that may soon change. Toyota executive Greg Gardner told Motoring that "There are no plans to replace the 70 series."

Although America was not one of the markets to get the 70 Series, we still think that this is quite a shame. Selling an old car from the 1980s as new seems like a really cool idea. How many people would pay insane money to buy a brand-new E30 BMW M3? Gardner said that sales would continue in strong markets like Australia and the Middle East where the truck remains popular with fleets including mining and agricultural companies. Despite rising sales, Gardner believes that demand for the 70 Series Land Cruiser will peter out in around five years. Although Toyota just updated the 70 Series with ABS, more stringent regulations may force Toyota to stop production.

The 70 Series is a great example of the kind of thing we would love to see more automakers do. Building new versions of old cars sounds like the ideal way to buy a classic car without worrying about typical classic car problems. We wish that there were more government exemptions for cars like this and we could buy new versions of vintage cars.