From $700 beater to $30,000 pristine 1986 FJ60...refresh thread. (1 Viewer)

[DieselOx]

Sure. That's the plan. Brief history: 175,000 miles. Originally from CA. No accidents, ever. I'm 3rd owner, Ursa is stock, except for the hack-a-thon smog delete (Just ripped out everything but the bare necessities). Bought her from a friend in 2012, the second owner, who used her from about 2000 to 2012 as a farm tractor. 95-2000, daily driver. Previous owner, who knows.

No rust in the frame or undercarriage. Partial penetration rust on outside of rear fenders and tailgate, easy to fix.

As she's never been lifted or modified in any way, and is 100% original and complete, I plan to do a totally stock refresh. I can do 100% of the work myself, in my heated shop, with a little help from family (dad has the mig welder, really nice one, and the CNC machining center and a lathe, for any weird parts we need to fix or make).

And brother in law and dad can help; both have done many no-bondo repairs to whole cars worse than this. We can bang out or replace anything, have the full set of body working tools: dollie/hammers/flatters, flanger, and stuff.

Worst of the rust.

Other side:

Tailgate. Have the original upper, just needs a window. This is ALL the rust anywhere.

 

[DieselOx]

Needs:

Front end seals, full set.
Clutch pilot bearing.
Valve guides (?? light smoke for 1 sec at first start of the day).
Smog pump delete (will get the replacement pulley).
Carb smog whatever dizzy, dilly-dally from the guy in So Cal.
New straight pipe from manifold back.
A/C compressor.
dings and dents, maybe 5, here and there.
Re-paint (will shoot it ourselves, no big deal).
Carpet kit.
Rear window with de-fogger grid.
Seats re covered with original replacements.
New dash top.
Various marker/tail light lenses.
New "TOYOTA" on front grill. Couple Insignias missing (4Wheel Drive, LandCruiser...)
Bumpers/wheels cleaned up.
Factory roof rack tighten up/repair roof rails, kinda dinged up, a couple missing.


That's really it. I think for a few $K and a winter's nights and weekends, I can have her just about perfect, ready to sell in the spring, in some crazy coastal hipster city (brother in SF, family in Puget Sound area, friends in Portland, can help with sale).

Not looking for reasons not to do this. Just looking for advice on anything I might be over looking.

And yeah, I love driving her as is, would love to keep her, but I don't $30K love her. That's just crazy talk. Give me a nice 68 Volvo 122 or a 74 BMW 2002 for that kind of scratch...

What could go wrong?

 

[Rube]

Document every single part and upgrade. Install a 5spd. Still will prob struggle to top 20k when you decide to sell.

 

[FJACS]

Not looking for reasons not to do this. Just looking for advice on anything I might be over looking.

To get past half of your target price, I'd think an OEM part, stock rebuild - including all smog components is going to be required.

You can definitely clean it up and flip it - 30 is very optimistic, but whatever, go for it. Look at what the big $$ 60's are going for on BAT and how they're spec'd.
Copy one of them.

 

[DickM]

$30k would be pretty crazy, but as P.T. Barnum said, there is one born every minute.
Good Luck, I hope it happens.

 

[DFXR]

You have my support... but as said above keeping the smog stuff will allow you a wider range of potential buyers - it's not just CA that is tough on emissions testing these days (and that means both visual and the sniffer have to be good).

My neighbor just picked up a running 122 project for a grand. Actually his wife got it for him for his bday. Nice lady!

Good luck-

 

[NCFJ]

$30K is optimistic

 

[cruisedeisel]

Just take 10 years to complete your build. Might be able to sell it for 40k by then. These trucks are VERY RARE! Especially up here in saltville.

 

[NCFJ]

They are not as hard to find as you may think. Start with dry climates and then more affluent areas within those climates. Both coasts are also pretty flush with old land cruisers as well. Not all are in good condition. There are also plenty of them to import if the supply here ever gets low enough to warrant the extra expense. Location location location

 

[DieselOx]

Thanks for the excellent advice everyone. I've been looking at comps on Autotrader, CL in coastal cities, and CarGurus. I just have not found any 100% stock for under 20k anywhere, with everything working.

After looking at BAT, I can see that low miles and original help, but every one under 30k has mods or flaws I won't have. Also, BAT seems to be low, not caught up in the hipster craze in SF/Portland/Seattle. They are off the hook. (OK, not so off the hook as a few weeks ago, seeing a lot more under 15k now than 4-8 weeks ago. Still, $15 to 20k would be worth it.)

Smog. Right. Need to dig through my box of junk.

Maybe just limit it to OR and WA hipsters. What the hell, you only live once, and every time I fix something up, I can't help but go whole hog, and get top dollar (mostly houses). I'll be out of here for a while, need to move stuff around in the shop, and get a bunch of parts coming in before I'll have any real updates.

 

[Super77]

As a Seattle hipster, I’d say you’re putting a lot of faith in Seattle hipsters.

 

[SteveH]

175K is what keeps it from being a 30K truck. If it had 75K and you did a show-grade resto, you might see something near. But, have fun, do your thing and see how it goes. I would poke around on Bring a Trailer for comps. Clean 60s have done well there in the last year.

 

[hoser]

Did you get the idea from this article?

Is the FJ60 Toyota Land Cruiser the next hot classic SUV?

 

[cruisermatt]

Not only do I hope these trucks never get that valuable I really hope the prices start dropping.

 

[barefoot]

dad can help; both have done many no-bondo repairs to whole cars worse than this. We can bang out or replace anything, have the full set of body working tools:

Does your dad repair TVs for a living?

 

[Trapper50cal]

Does your dad repair TVs for a living?

Nice Fast Times reference....

 

[White Stripe]

Plenty of people ask crazy prices for vehicles. Do they actually get those prices? It takes a long time if so.

 

[hj 60]

just a shy cruiser, wiggle it and the real rust will show, are we in chat now?

 

[Ian Crawford]

I've got an 85K mile 1983 model you can start with instead!

But seriously, I hope you get it! Rising tides raise all ships!

 

[CenTXFJ60]

Hmmmm...my build has a NOS 12HT with a brand new H55 and totally rebuilt axels (411 with LSD) And a decent repaint with no rust. 100% stock otherwise. I have a second one hitting the college ranks in a year. This truck may be the ticket
Seriously...I see crazy prices all over the Internet. Unfortunately it’s hard to know what they actually sell for. Good luck with your project and can appreciate your optimism/enthusiasm