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Hi Guys,

Does anyone own or have seen for sale a Toyota FQ 15, the M37 variant used in Japan? I was looking at pics on the web but have never seen one in person or heard of anyone owning one. So I'm curious.

thanks,
bob

I've never heard of one being imported to North America; I have seen pictures of them by the hundreds in scrap yards in Japan though. I'd be pretty surprised if most of them haven't been recycled into new Toyota's.

There is more information on the Ih8mud forum
http://forum.ih8mud.com/fj45-owners-clu ... -a-13.html

Those look like a cross between a M37 and the WWII WCs. I have no information on this but I wouldn't be surprised if the history is that they started copping the WC and added M37s design elements later. At least that's how it looks to me. Military Dodges are the original HMMWV copied the world over.

Don't forget about the M37 variant that was made by Nissan... the 4W73

lots of them in India

they need to send a shipping container full of those wheels over here...

For those who've never seen an FQ-15.....it looks like this..............


regards,
bob


fq 15 by w30bob, on Flickr

the Japanese must have captured one and copied t ,it looks almost exact to the m37, it would be great to have one of those ,are the parts interchangeable .why don't we have USA stamped on their products LOL.

macibell111 wrote:the Japanese must have captured one and copied t ,it looks almost exact to the m37, it would be great to have one of those ,are the parts interchangeable .why don't we have USA stamped on their products LOL.

By the time the FQ15 was produced the Japanese where are allies so we gave them all the technical information. Actually the truck looks like a cross between the WWII WCs and the M37. Probably their version of both.

Xcept the steering wheel is on the wrong side!! Yikes!

bob

w30bob wrote:Xcept the steering wheel is on the wrong side!! Yikes!

bob

Looks fine to me........

MM

What is scarier than the wheel, is the way its attached to the trailer.... Yikes indeed...

I once saw a photo of on of these taken in Hue city during the Tet offensive. It was burned out and battered but recognizable. I was never sure if it belonged to the ARVN or ROK soldiers.

I read they were contracted bythe US. the only reason they know how to build a 4x4 was because after WW2 we sent thousands of MVs there to be depot rebuilt for the Korean conflict. they took the WC 1/2 ton front axle design with Rzeppa (aka birkfield) joints, same steering design, and the smaller size of a jeep and came up with a land cruiser. so without Dodge there would be no succesfull toyota 4x4s. they dont invent much. expecialy back then. Land Rover essentially did the same thing but went a totaly different route on the frame design. So at the end of the day everything else is a wannabe Dodge and charge them extra when you winch them out of the mud hole.

Kaegi wrote:I read they were contracted bythe US. the only reason they know how to build a 4x4 was because after WW2 we sent thousands of MVs there to be depot rebuilt for the Korean conflict. they took the WC 1/2 ton front axle design with Rzeppa (aka birkfield) joints, same steering design, and the smaller size of a jeep and came up with a land cruiser. so without Dodge there would be no succesfull toyota 4x4s. they dont invent much. expecialy back then. Land Rover essentially did the same thing but went a totaly different route on the frame design. So at the end of the day everything else is a wannabe Dodge and charge them extra when you winch them out of the mud hole.

Toyota was contracted by the US in 1950 to build 100 vehicles using the Willy's Jeep specs, not the WC... After the successful run of the first 100, Toyota's "jeep" BJ series debuted as a prototype in 1951 (significantly different from the Willy's specs), and went into regular commercial production in 1953. The term "Land Cruiser" was coined as a marketing strategy in 1954, and rest is History.

So technically speaking, Toyota owes some small portion of its success, to Willy's Overland, for getting the 4x4's rolling though history (as does basically every other automobile manufacturer). Land Rover is English design through and through (prototyped from the Willy's), and they are about as close to being junk as you'd ever find with lousy wiring, poor drivetrain, and gutless engines. The only thing going for Land Rovers was the aluminum body's, but they used steel fasteners to hold them together, so they suffer from galvanic corrosion and rot out quite badly, just like everything else.
There is an old Australian saying that I've heard several times: " You can explore the outback in either a Land Cruiser, a Jeep, or a Land Rover; If you'd like to come home, take the Land Cruiser."