1978 Toyota Land Cruiser Travels More Than Four Miles While 100 Feet Under Water
Inspired by an urban legend, a team of divers and gearheads managed to reset the record books with their modified 1978 Toyota Land Cruiser.
If there’s one thing most automotive enthusiasts are aware of, it’s the fact that the Toyota Land Cruiser is an inherently tough vehicle. It may not have quite the reputation that the Hilux has earned – acquired largely via one famous television appearance – but the long-running SUV is still known for its ability to take punishment and keep on ticking. However, a rather large group of engineers, commercial divers, and gear heads recently decided to put an old, rusty, 1978 Toyota Land Cruiser to the ultimate test – driving it underwater, deeper and further than anyone had ever done in any road-going vehicle before, a journey that was recently documented by ABC News Australia.
This underwater cruise started out in Darwin Harbor behind the wheel of this modified 1978 Toyota Land Cruiser – nicknamed “Mudcrab” – and a team of folks proceeded to drive it 4.3 miles at a maximum depth of 98 feet, which – as one might imagine – requires some modifications other than a super long snorkel, as we’ve seen some folks attempt in the past with mixed results.
Rather, this classic Land Cruiser has been converted to electric power, which when sealed properly, is capable of handling underwater journeys far better than ICE. The team also filled the SUV’s tires with 330 pounds of water to keep them from floating the vehicle back to the surface, but other than that, this is just an old, rusty 1978 Toyota Land Cruiser. Heck, the team didn’t even have time to do more than one test dive in saltwater before it was time to go for a new record.
Regardless, with a team of 30 divers taking turns behind the wheel, the Land Cruiser just kept chugging along, though this wasn’t a walk in the park by any means. Rather, mud and silt at the bottom of the harbor caused the team to get bogged down on multiple occasions, at which point they had to use inflatable buoys to free it. The biggest delay, however, happened when the SUV had to be lifted over a gas pipeline – a process that took a whopping two hours to complete.
Ultimately, it took around 12 hours to make the 4.3-mile underwater trek, which is notable for a number of reasons. Turns out, another team attempted the exact same thing back in 1983 – also with a Land Cruiser. However, they didn’t make it all the way across the harbor, though that journey became a bit of an urban legend among Darwin residents, according to the team. And that’s precisely what inspired them to try and break the record set by that prior attempt.
Needless to say, that’s precisely what they managed to accomplish here – not bad for a rag tag team of folks and a vehicle that they purchased for $5,000 and spent just six months building and testing.
Join the Club Lexus forums now!
