In Nov of 2020 my family and I decided we needed to get back into a land cruiser. We had previously owned a US spec 94’ 80 series. We loved it, however the smiles per gallon rating could only go so far. We also need a more dedicated tow rig. So we had to sell our 94’ and we’ve missed it ever since.
That’s how we came to the decision we were going to start searching for our second cruiser. We had always dreamed of dropping a Cummins into our first cruiser, to attempt to gain some increased mileage, and torque. But after some research decided maybe we look into finding a Toyota diesel, and retain that legendary Toyota reliability.
(Not that the Cummins isn’t dependable, I own one)
And so our search began. Obviously the first place you think you look is Japan, and they do have a strong export market. Now, driving a right hand drive is not a problem. I myself lived in the UK for a year, and my wife is from that side of the pond.
However, we decided that toll booths, and drive throughs would be annoying to drive through in reverse.
Our search led us to Europe to find a European spec cruiser that would be left hand drive, diesel, I wanted a manual, and 3x locked.
I found Canary Island Rovers, out of you guessed it, the Canary Islands.
After searching through their website we decided to contact Adam and begin the process. Within a day Adam contacted me and we were able to set up a call and discuss the process a bit more in-depth. My wife and I decided we would use Adams services for 1 year.
Adam was excellent at communicating and making contact even when the market was slow, Adam would consistently touch base, and check in.
He was also a wealth of knowledge when it came to the various models of cruiser available in the Canary's.
We came close to pulling the trigger on several different cruiser throughout the year. That Adam was able to clearly show pictures and videos, and ultimately help us come to an educated decision on wether we were about to buy a project or not (we were more leaning towards the latter)
Anyway, our time was nearly up, and my wife and I were actually talking about the possibility of needing to extend our contract with Adam when he sent me a few pics of a “unicorn” and essentially said, he was on his way to look at it in the morning, and needed to know if we were interested otherwise he was going to have to pass it on to some of his other clients.
Well it was indeed a 96’ 80 series “unicorn”. It was everything that we wanted down to the color (my wife’s words, I couldn’t have cared less what color it was) it is 3x locked, manual, diesel, and of course LHD. With relatively low miles, garage kept single owner. It was literally a soccer mom car. It also came from the little island of La Palma, so the truck barely ever saw speeds above 90kmh, It was babied. So as I said, with Adam’s advice, we decided to move quickly on this one and we couldn’t be happier.
Now the worst part of the entire process is the waiting……. We decided on the this 96’ in Nov of 2021 and I’m still waiting. Between the boat ride, and different stops the boat makes along the way, and customs inspections it’s been about 7 weeks of waiting so far, and it’s the worst!!
In saying all that, again I cannot stress how great Adam has been. He’s checked in several times with me to see how things are going, and if I’ve received my cruiser yet. He even contacted the import company to get a status update and see if he could spur them along a bit, he truly went above and beyond in my opinion.
Anyway, all in all. If you’re thinking of doing a diesel swap, or importing a land cruiser, or any other foreign vics that we were never offered here in the US. I strongly recommend you look in to Canary Island Rovers for a no nonsense no hassle search for your dream car.
Any other questions feel free to contact me and I’ll do my best to answer your question, though you’re probably better off contacting Adam.
Cheers all
That’s how we came to the decision we were going to start searching for our second cruiser. We had always dreamed of dropping a Cummins into our first cruiser, to attempt to gain some increased mileage, and torque. But after some research decided maybe we look into finding a Toyota diesel, and retain that legendary Toyota reliability.
(Not that the Cummins isn’t dependable, I own one)
And so our search began. Obviously the first place you think you look is Japan, and they do have a strong export market. Now, driving a right hand drive is not a problem. I myself lived in the UK for a year, and my wife is from that side of the pond.
However, we decided that toll booths, and drive throughs would be annoying to drive through in reverse.
Our search led us to Europe to find a European spec cruiser that would be left hand drive, diesel, I wanted a manual, and 3x locked.
I found Canary Island Rovers, out of you guessed it, the Canary Islands.
After searching through their website we decided to contact Adam and begin the process. Within a day Adam contacted me and we were able to set up a call and discuss the process a bit more in-depth. My wife and I decided we would use Adams services for 1 year.
Adam was excellent at communicating and making contact even when the market was slow, Adam would consistently touch base, and check in.
He was also a wealth of knowledge when it came to the various models of cruiser available in the Canary's.
We came close to pulling the trigger on several different cruiser throughout the year. That Adam was able to clearly show pictures and videos, and ultimately help us come to an educated decision on wether we were about to buy a project or not (we were more leaning towards the latter)
Anyway, our time was nearly up, and my wife and I were actually talking about the possibility of needing to extend our contract with Adam when he sent me a few pics of a “unicorn” and essentially said, he was on his way to look at it in the morning, and needed to know if we were interested otherwise he was going to have to pass it on to some of his other clients.
Well it was indeed a 96’ 80 series “unicorn”. It was everything that we wanted down to the color (my wife’s words, I couldn’t have cared less what color it was) it is 3x locked, manual, diesel, and of course LHD. With relatively low miles, garage kept single owner. It was literally a soccer mom car. It also came from the little island of La Palma, so the truck barely ever saw speeds above 90kmh, It was babied. So as I said, with Adam’s advice, we decided to move quickly on this one and we couldn’t be happier.
Now the worst part of the entire process is the waiting……. We decided on the this 96’ in Nov of 2021 and I’m still waiting. Between the boat ride, and different stops the boat makes along the way, and customs inspections it’s been about 7 weeks of waiting so far, and it’s the worst!!
In saying all that, again I cannot stress how great Adam has been. He’s checked in several times with me to see how things are going, and if I’ve received my cruiser yet. He even contacted the import company to get a status update and see if he could spur them along a bit, he truly went above and beyond in my opinion.
Anyway, all in all. If you’re thinking of doing a diesel swap, or importing a land cruiser, or any other foreign vics that we were never offered here in the US. I strongly recommend you look in to Canary Island Rovers for a no nonsense no hassle search for your dream car.
Any other questions feel free to contact me and I’ll do my best to answer your question, though you’re probably better off contacting Adam.
Cheers all
