• 4Runner, Land Cruiser get topless options

• Both built as concepts for SEMA show

Toyota has just brought back one of the coolest models it has ever made. The 4Runner TRD Surf brings back the best feature of the first-generation 4Runner, a removable half roof that lets the sun in. Then Toyota did the same thing to the latest Land Cruiser, chopping the roof off of that one. Except that neither of these is a production model. They’re just concept cars built for the SEMA aftermarket show.

Like the roof, the Surf name comes from the original 4Runner. That truck was called the Toyota Hilux Surf in Japan and a few other markets because it wasn’t much more than a Hilux pickup with a rear bench and a fiberglass cap over the back part of it. The concept this time around is inspired by the 80s, when the 4Runner was a staple at beaches in California, and the mini truck was king.

Shockingly, everything works. The top goes on and off; the rear windows work even though their doors are gone.

When one team was going after the 4Runner, another was going after the Land Cruiser. The Land Cruiser was offered as a convertible for decades, so the company wanted to make that possible again. Toyota’s design team in California and prototype factory in Michigan both played a part in changing the body of the truck and Toyota has made a short film documenting it.

This video is just part one of a series. There will be more to come before the full reveal of the Toyota Land Cruiser Rox at SEMA 2024.