After Years in the Weeds, a Moss-Caked Land Cruiser Roars Back to Life

There’s a reason the phrase “un-killable Toyota” has stuck around for decades. Sure, the brand’s reliability scorecard has taken a few dings lately, but the legend was built on machines that limped through the Dakar with baling wire and duct tape, and pickups that survived wildfires and logged a million miles.

So when a video surfaced of a Land Cruiser starting up after sitting abandoned for years—looking like it had been fished out of a swamp—nobody was really shocked.

The footage comes from Australian YouTuber Steve’s Place Down Under, a channel that specializes in resurrecting forgotten vehicles. Someone tipped off the host about a 1990 70 Series Land Cruiser that had been parked for an unknown stretch of time. With the owner’s blessing, he dove into the project.

The 16-minute video shows exactly what it took to get the old beast coughing again. This particular model, a 70 Series with a gasoline inline-six, has been a staple Down Under since the mid-1980s. In fact, Toyota still sells a version of it today—probably because the thing is about as finicky as a brick.

Despite looking like a rolling moss garden, the engine turned over on the first try. No water in the oil. Cooling system intact. But corrosion in the distributor killed the spark. Cleaning the distributor and dumping fuel into the carburetor didn’t work either. So the host pulled the spark plugs, cleaned them, and gave the carb another shot.

That produced a brief ignition and a small fire. A few more attempts and the engine cleared its throat, running strong—but only on fuel poured directly into the carb. The fuel pump was working, but nobody wanted to test the stale gas in the tank. Oil pressure looked solid, so with a steady supply of gas, the engine could have kept humming.

Running and driving are two different animals, though. It’s still a question whether this Land Cruiser can shift gears, handle a load, or stop without the brakes crumbling. The tires are shot. But hearing that moss-covered heap purr? That’s the kind of moment that makes you believe in mechanical miracles.