1963 fj45

[locklaw]

Finally figured out how to load these pic of the ole girl (I thinks anyway) As you can see the roof is completely rusted. I'm thinking a fibreglass one down the track. Solid one piece cab which you never see around here. Think it was originally a fire truck. 3 speed box. Ford straight 6 250ci engine. Swapped out the original when I was young and dumb. Had problem with it and no money for rebuild. (Regret it now) I think it has insanely tall diff ratios. Jacked it up once and I'm sure a got two rotations on the drive shaft to one on the rear wheel. Which made for hard take off with a load (and I used to run 35s" ) 31s on it now.
Needs a lot of work but would love to some serious time and money go into it.

Seeing as that was not stolen, look after the locking petrol cap you have on there. It was a factory option and is becoming expensive to buy.

 

[Living in the Past]

Something to keep in mind the fixed top cab I believe is a little shorter than the removable top. The fiberglass cap seen available may not fit the fixed top cab. Just something to verify before spending the money.

 

[middlecalf]

Sort of a guess here as I’m not familiar with Aussie vs US date/model differences - so the guess here is this is a late ‘63 because the windshield has the attachment brackets so it’s removable (vs. fixed on early ‘63s) and the doors have the full door width rib (vs extend to the tip of the door knob only on early ‘63s). That last Theiss pic in post #18 above shows both of these features (and it has the embossed bezel ). If we could see the back cab panel that’d also point to early or late ‘63 by the size and number of vertical ribs - early are narrower and six in total vs. 4. The fixed top cabs are a bit shorter so the roofs are different.

 

[Matcat]

Come to think of it. Mine used to have this bracket on the steering column which looked like it would've had a gear lever on it. It was no longer in use when I got it. Had the floor shift instead.

 

[Matcat]

Sorry I haven't been on here for a while. It went into storage as I moved house twice. I am settled in now and the cruiser is out of storage and in my shed. Just reading back over this thread.
SILVER Star mine has 6 ribs in the back of the cab