FJ40 Pics from "Back in the day" (70's, 80's) (2 Viewers)

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My grandfather had an FJ55 back in the day, but unfortunately, I don't think any pictures of it exist. I do, however, have this vintage picture my dad took of my mom, my sister, and his 1975 CJ5. Note the vintage Ramsey Winch. This was taken in Dayton, TN cira 1976.

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Early days learning by trial and error on Three Feathers in Redington Pass east of Tucson. Armstrong Norsemans on white spoke wheels. And who needs a roll cage?
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Dakardantan.com just posted a bunch of pictures from the BJ40 n°121 that participated at the first Dakar rally in 1978-1979.

This one is the famous one in cover of this book:
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It's a duo of antique dealers that decided to engage their BJ40 in this adventure...
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Trocadero, back when the Paris-Dakar really started in Paris.
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Not the only 40 series...
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Alger
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Tamanraset, they lost their bag with all their papers (necessary to pass borders) during the special... but luckily the journalists in the Matra found it and arrived a few hours after.
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Agades, it seems they broke their front leafs and some other parts of the front axle. They fixed it during the night with the help of the village blacksmith and adapting trucks leaves.
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Tahoua, they mention their nightmare on the corrugations.
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Talcho, they lost control at 130kph and did 2 rolls and ended on their side.
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They drove to Niamey without a windshield and with the help of the Toyota dealer fixed the car during the night to be allowed to continue to participate the next day.
Note the new windshield frame in black.
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To keep with the theme, all the Toyotas that participated to the first edition and with a picture available.

N°104, support vehicle for Honda bikes. They were 3 inside (not sure where sat the 3rd one), the 3rd one being a photograph for a moto magazine.
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N°106, also a support vehicle for bikes
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N°110
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N°112, father of famous Cyril Neveu (on bike) doing the support. Again 3 listed in the vehicle, must have been tight for 10kkm of desert tracks!
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N°114, rolled and finished in a tree during the prologue... this is the price for upside-down bezel.
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N°117
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N°121, Louvre des antiquaires
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N°125, no picture

N°133
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N°134, again 3 (co-)pilots listed!
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N°135, 3 women!
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N°136
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N°150
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N°151, no picture

N°155, it was one of the five medical vehicle for in-race emergencies...
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N°157, support vehicle
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N°160, support vehicle for Guzzi team
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N°161, same team than 160
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N°175
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N°176, 3 onboard again
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N°182, the very famous Max Meynier that was doing live streams of the race for radio RTL every days
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As far as I can recall all participants with Cruisers opted for the FJ vehicles (and not diesels) for obvious reasons.
For support vehicles I remember that they used mostly FJ45s, but I can imagine that the press and the medical vehicles were gazers too, in order to be able to keep pace with the participants...

PS. As a student at the time I followed this epic rally through the French specialized press (Auto Verte and 4x4 Magazine)
 
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As far as I can recall all participants with Cruisers opted for the FJ vehicles (and not diesels) for obvious reasons.
For support vehicles I remember that they used mostly FJ45s, but I can imagine that the press and the medical vehicles were gazers too, in order to be able to keep pace with the participants...

PS. As a student at the time I followed this epic rally through the French specialized press (Auto Verte and 4x4 Magazine)

Forgive my ignorance, but is the reason they didn't choose diesels, was because they were slower?
 
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The N°121 of the story is a BJ40. Actually in the story at some point they mention they miss power and are always at maximum in 4th (so maybe more a longer gear...).

For all the others, in dakardantan they are almost all listed as "Toyota BJ" but BJ is the common name used to designate 40 series over here... The only one listed as a FJ40 is the one from Max Meynier (182), probably as it's a famous one.
If you look closely you will see many of them have diesel badges, all the MWB soft-top are BJ43 also (as the FJ43 was never imported in the EU).
Of course you can also see some without the diesel badge in front so those are probably FJ4*.

So seems it's a good mix of BJ, HJ and FJ.
Also remember that for this first edition there was no official team, just a few independent teams (mostly for bikes) and for the big parts amateurs that came with the car they had. Note that many of the 40 series engaged were not from 1978 but from before (I count at least 5 1974 with wipers on top), so really the car they had.
If you look at the participants there are a lot of less powered vehicles and 2wd cars also... (a 1926 Renault KZ, a Ford Transit, many Renault 4 and 5, Citroën Dyane...)




Yes, someone did the first Dakar with that:
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And finished it with a rank!
Actually they participated twice with it.
 
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