63 fj45 (australia) (1 Viewer)

[west aussie]

thought id share these pics of a 63 fj45. belongs to a mate of mine. ive known about it for year or so but only got to see it this weekend. its several hours north of me. very nice old survivor completely intact. original motor, cant get it to turn by hand. everything there; original generator, regulator, master cyls, hand primer pump, interior mirror, seats, horn relay. all the stuff that i find hard to source for these old girls. missing door is on the back. nice rust free roof but unfortunately has a nasty dent at rear of the cab and roof. somewhere in the next year or so im going to trailer this home and have a tinker for my mate. very possible i will end up with this; it is so my kind of project! front crossmember intact enough but has some unusual chassis rust near the frame number. has the 100mm chassis extension. same local? tray manufacturer as my project patina. also very nice spare wheel carrier under the tray; never seen one of these intact before in my parts. has the flat roof.

 

[west aussie]

few more pics

 

[west aussie]

a final look

 

[FJ404345]

I see It all started with (EMU) beer so it will all end up fine with the 45 !

Good luck with it !

 

[andrews520]

That could be the best one yet, Henry. Please keep us informed of its progress.


...via IH8MUD app

 

[west aussie]

most of my projects start and finish with emu beer. it is also plays a big part in the middle too.

this is still my mates find not mine. but he is happy for me to drag it home when i get the chance and have a play on his behalf. any parts it needs are probably here in my junkyard anyway. nothing too serious, just preservation, clean the cab, fit that door (hinges are missing), fit missing quarter window, missing horn, missing window winder, whatever else it needs. and see if i can get that old motor to fire up. couldnt get it to turn by hand but didnt have a crank handle and didnt try very hard.

may not get onto this for a bit; waiting for another party or somesuch in those parts to drag a trailer north and combine the mission. nice old survivor though. shame about the cab/roof dent and bit of chassis rust. parked as it is in the dry spiky old windgrass is not very conducive to sliding around underneath so sure i will find more issues once i have a better look. nice dry country for preserving them though!

 

[cult45]

west, can you stop doing this please?? I have exactly zero pre-'65 45's and you have four (?)! Nice find mate, and as usual I dig your plans. Do I note 5 x 16" one piece hub cap ready rims..?

 

[Aussie 25]

Good to see you have found one more old one. I found a few up here, I will take some pickies and put them on.

 

[cult45]

Nice work Aussie!

 

[west aussie]

pics are always good aussie25.

my mate found this further north again and dragged it south early last year. he has since married and moved south of me so dragging this back here makes sense. it is closer to him and in the ideal location for him/me to tinker. and that old saying about possesion being 9/10ths of the law hasnt escaped me haha, but i will add once again this is not mine. however who could resist having a play! battery at best; head and sump off at worst. to this end i dont even really want this here to distract me until i got project shorty at least mostly reassembled.

no rims unfortunately; that is a pile of mixed split rims. bet the rims are where it was though. i gave a couple early rims to andy budge; but only recently realizing how scarce they are. slowly asking all my dogger, contract musterer etc type mates (ie all the itinerate bush workers i know) to pick up any non split or hubcap split rim they find.

 

[Aussie 25]

I have a set of nonsplit rims hiding in a shed over here, I had to put them away, may be a good exchange for some 25 parts one day.

 

[cult45]

Don't tease me Aussie. You know you're only a short drive away.

 

[cult45]

Oh west, aussie25, catskinner and the rest apparently there's a styleside FJ45 SWB in the Cooma Toyota showroom. As in a RHD, Aussie delivered fixed top with the US style short bed. Here's a link to the FB page where they were discussing it, not sure if it's a private group or not.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152781699201800&set=pcb.859459147406754&type=1&theater

If the truck is what they say it is, it's the first US style bed [even US style truck] I've ever seen here. Be interesting to know the wheelbase.

 

[cult45]

Well it's confirmed. She's a RHD truck. Check out the pivot on the front frame horn. Turns out Utah Brown & Root subbied to Thiess.

 

[ozcrusier]

She's a beauty you must have somthing he wants to dangle a bait like that.

 

[west aussie]

well he did want to borrow a couple of my other cars for his recent wedding..... no probs i said! yea its a nice thing. my kinda style. better get project shorty back together first

 

[west aussie]

cult - very nice - you got any more pics of that? would love to see an old unrestored survivor sitting on a tiled showroom floor! reminiscent of the 40 in the wa motor museum i posted on the 25 page couple months back. very very interested to see the well body. i believe a few old well bodies were manufactued in aust. in the early days. my 62 fj45 has one. also i believe my family bought one in 63. this 63 got written off couple years later, stripped for parts, and eventually scrapped it seems but what i believe is the well body still exists. it is upside down, covered in junk and had large lumps cut out with the oxy for other uses. also think johnny c posted a pic of something similar once but i cant find it now. was parked on the side of a dam with the driver nearby from memory. are you out there johnny c?

it amuses me how from early days the australian market dictated we are not interested in your well bodies; local trays will be fine. and we are definately not interested in your column, vacuum, million breakable parts transmissions. send lots of stick shift cab chassis 45s please. even the stouts seem mostly trayback.

and am i missing something about the front pivot? just cant spot it?

 

[catskinner]

Nice 63 your mate has there west aussie, was there a special on white cruisers over there is that the original colour.

Please sir can you post some pics of your 62, i know the photo of 45 on the bank of scrivener dam looks to be a 62 with those rims. I do like the 1962s but not the rolls of crispys to get a purchase on one, unless i find one in some old codgers back shed

 

[ozcrusier]

I found a short wheel base ute tub thats running axel and draw bar on a property near me. I will try and get a few photo's next time I'm near the farm. I drive heavy tow trucks for a living so I get excess to properties and always scan for old cars trucks and motorcycles.

 

[west aussie]

that is interesting oz. you mean made into a trailer? pics are good!

the colour thing interests me also catskinner. i havent studied it much, but all the early stuff over here seems to be the same colour. i wouldnt call it 'white'; more of an off white or beige. my father called it grey. the above photos were taken on a cheap old camera on a glaring open flat so doubt that helps. and has prob faded a bit after 50 years baking in the sun. the weathered paint comes off easily and you get white hands just being around them; until theyve had a light rub down with a crc rag anyway. i am in love with 'look' of the old faded original paint (esp desert examples that the rust hasnt claimed) as much as the old tojos themselves! perhaps the tint varied a bit from year to year but all the earlies look pretty much the same australia wide to me; until well into the 70s at least. landcruisers slowly replaced the role of war surplus jeeps and landrovers so i believe the australian market just didnt really care about colour options (esp in the 45s). keep it simple; just send us stick shift, cab chassis, in the one colour, without hubcaps, or heaters, that can be put straight to work. landcruiser would do well not to forget this instead of their current fleet of digital dash, airbag, common rail, metallic paint, starter motor inside the bellhousing work utes. i own an 07; very nice car to be sure but i do my best to keep it on the smooth roads and dont relish the day when i have to do more than brake pads or oil changes. rant over!

my father bought a new red 47 in 1980. it was the first 'alternative' colour in our district and a minor sensation at the time. he didnt like the colour at first but it was the only one available at very short notive. mustard yellow turned up in the late 70s i reckon. we bought a new turbo 6 in 04. at the time told the old man we had been watching his lifes new landcruiser purchases. they were 63, 65, 69, 80 and 04. we noticed the time lapse seemed to double each time and commented that on this trend we not due for another new one until about 2050. this has not been proved wrong; more indicitave on the state of pastoralism than anything else.

the 62? yea will get some pics today. the well body is still over at our other property where she originally came from so might be a couple weeks till i get over there to pic that. i inherited it in bits; has been stripped down for parts over the years so dont have much mechanicals with it. the seats and fuel tank were removed to get it apart but the result is as perfect a dry cab as will ever be found. chassis needs work. front crossmember is shot, the extension needs work and there is some ugliness under the battery where i presume an old battery was left to slowly drip itself away for a couple decades. but a very deserving project thats for sure.