![]() “It’s a pretty common sight in Japan and neighboring countries, but to see it on a city street in the U.S., they’re nonplussed by it.”įor his part, Rogers says he’s gotten a lot of joy from exposing his eclectic truck to Baltimore, both on the town and via social media (he runs Yama’s Instagram account, with the help of his two middle- and high school-aged daughters.) On occasion, he even takes it to school events and children’s birthday parties.īut, in order to keep up these appearances, Rogers has had to educate himself on the ins and outs of maintaining such a unique vehicle. “I think some people are puzzled,” he adds. Passersby on backroads and city streets (Rogers hasn’t driven it on the highway yet) are usually intrigued by the tiny truck. Vernon to The Senator Theater in Govans and M&T Bank Stadium in South Baltimore-attention follows. I take it out when the weather is appropriate- usually on a weekend.”Īs expected, almost everywhere that Yama makes a stop-it has popped-up everywhere from the Washington Monument and Belvedere Hotel in Mt. “It gets through traffic very well.”Īs for a typical outing, “I drive it in small doses,” Rogers says. Though, as he soon discovered, Yama’s tiny frame makes sharing the road easier. When Yama pulled up to their home aboard a trailer, Rogers was surprised at just how compact the truck was up close. “So, I asked my wife whether she thought it was a good idea. “I was looking for a very specific Japanese sports car, and when I saw the fire truck I thought, ‘I just can’t pass this up,’” says Rogers, who discovered it through an online vehicle importer. ![]() It all began when Roland Park attorney Brett Rogers was shopping for a new car last year. Perhaps you’ve seen it cruising down the Avenue in Hampden, or spotted re-shared Instagram photos of the vintage vehicle posing against the backdrop of local landmarks. ![]() Named Yama-which ironically translates to “mountain” in Japanese-it measures roughly six feet tall and less than 60 inches wide. On the subject of importing the car to America, Brian remarks ‘What’s interesting with this one, we had to do a full radiation test.’ This is a precaution after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.Ĭheck out the video of this fire engine and its new life in retirement.Last January, after almost thirty years of service fighting fires in the Japanese prefecture of Fukui, a remarkably small fire truck made the journey to Baltimore. The vehicle itself has only covered just over 11,000 miles suggesting that its 26 years of rushing to fires must have kept it in the local area. Sirens ablaze, Jay takes the Toyota for a ride complete with slightly comical tin fireman’s hat. This 4x4 now resides with Brian and his impressive collection. The Land Cruiser itself is in excellent condition, especially as it only retired from service in 2015. Every Japanese fire engine is given this design as a mark of tradition. ![]() Factor in Toyota’s bulletproof reliability and you have the makings of the perfect home-grown firefighter.Ī beautiful detail on this otherwise functional vehicle is an intricate Japanese insignia with a gold leaf stripe. So why did Japan choose this Toyota to be its frontline fire truck in the 1980s? In addition to being more compact for busy city streets than a regular truck, its' all-terrain capabilities meant that it could access harder to reach rural areas. It’s powered by an in-line six-cylinder engine that gives life to uprated axles via a five-speed manual transmission. Built by Toyota, this ‘bubble top’ Land Cruiser fire truck is based on a more rugged model that wasn’t available in America. This classic Toyota Land Cruiser served as a fire truck, and it’s the star of this week’s episode of Jay Leno’s Garage.īrian Corsetti has been a guest on Leno’s show before with his fleet of retro Land Cruisers, but this unusual creation stands out amongst his other Japanese SUVs. They need to be depended upon in the most critical of situations, and are usually driven hard for much of their career in the fire, police, and medical departments. This 4x4 fire truck had to be tested for radiation before being imported to AmericaĮmergency vehicles do some of the toughest jobs in the automotive world, charging into battle to help save lives.
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