Hello All,
Long time lurker first time poster.
Sorry for the novella backstory:
So, as the thread title suggests I'm planning on importing my 60 to Munich where I've lived for almost 20 year....yes, I'm old and yes, I should have done this a long time ago.
For the bulk of my time in Munich, I lent my truck to close friends back in Texas, therefore avoiding letting it sit for too long. Then my younger brother asked me if he could drive it since he is a carpenter and had lost access to everything but beater BMW motorcycle. I was hesitant to do this because he's not the most responsible person in the world but I went ahead and did against better judgement. Turned out my fear were justified and he showed up at the airport in Austin (where I'm from) with an ill-fitting white hood and the gearbox had clearly been jammed froward but still seemed to function. He said he hit a deer which, I guess is possible since he lives in the hill country but whitetails don't grow that big in Texas....I know, I know.
Anyway, we had a pretty severe falling out and he relocated to Colorado and initially said he would take the 60 with him since he also had my '69 BSA Victor. He told me the 60 was being stored in his shed. Fast forward to a month ago and I told him via text I was going to pick it up off of his property. He did not cotton to that idea and left me a pretty awful message, saying there was no way I could get the TLC since it was locked on his property behind a gate. (Sorry for all this backstory but, just wait )
Undeterred I and my wife drove the rental out to his land and it had been 10 years and I wasn't completely sure I could find it...at one point in a fork in the road I went right instead of left and poked around a couple of folks' property (not too far because, well, Texas) but couldn't see the truck. We got back the rental and drove a bit further down the road and over a small crest and what do I see, about 10 old cruisers 40s, 55s, 60's all parked in a row and there was mine right in the middle.
Turns out a Land Cruiser specialist had opened a garage ~200 yard from my brothers place. I was confused but also a bit relieved since I no longer had to get onto my brothers property and trailer out my truck. We honked our horn a bit at the fence line but no one came out. There was a realtor sign near the gate so I called them, not expecting much on a Saturday afternoon but someone answered and I was able to get a contact that knew the name of the owner of the property.
We also noticed some neighbors across the road had come out and we introduced ourselves and explained the situation and he said, the owners father lived across the road down a bit and we would recognize him by his missing leg. Easy enough, I though. So we walked over and hollered a bit and all the dogs came out to greet and then eventually one-legged Jim. We explained the situation again and he said it was his son Danny's shop but he didn't know his number by hear and that he didn't think he was home but lived on the back part of the property. I told him not to worry because I had the number of the realtor and would try to contact him that way.
So, we head back to the rental car and start driving away back to Austin and I look yo my right and see a fellow sprinting across the field and I told my wife "That'll be Danny."
We got out and shook hands, made sure knew who we were and the whole story and he said, there had been a disagreement on the amount my brother wanted for my truck, initially only $1,200 and they agreed and Danny went and trailered it off only for my bother to call a week later saying he wanted $8K. And for ~18 months it had just sat at his garage waiting for some resolution, which, surprisingly came in the form of me. I told him I wanted to get her back on the road and so we shook hands again and I said I'd be in touch. We got back into Austin and my wife said she was craving a breakfast taco from Torchy's and so we pulled into the parking lot and I immediately noticed a blue FJ60 in the lot and parked next to it. It's got to be fated, I thought. My wife did too.
So, here are details of the 60:
- '86 FJ60
- 175K miles
- de-smogged
- headers installed 20 year ago, no Flowmaster, etc. was installed
- sitting for ~5 years
- stock carb
There are a lot of considerations when thinking about moving forward with the resto. Mechanically, the estimate is ~8.5K with some wiggle room. And then there are some upgrades I'm considering for when it gets here in Munich. See below:
- H55F
- 2" lift kit
-33" tires
- upgraded exhaust to realize benefit of headers
- possible conversion to EFI
- removal of non-stock metal rear bumper and add one that could do 2 swing outs for tire and jerry can?
In Munich we'll probably be using it mostly for toting my drums around and my wife's artwork. But would like to add some bits and bobs over here to allow us to do some overlanding/long term camping in Africa or ME. Some of our best friends also have a newer model LC that is setup for such.
The upgrades above are in an effort to allow her to more easily attain adequate speeds on the Autobahn/get a bit more oompf out of the engine/decrease the odds of running into any emissions issues when importing to Germany and possible improve gas mileage.
I'm thinking with the mechanical I'm looking at ~22K? That would included some much needed body work and a decent paint job.
Any, if anyone has made this far through the novella and has any thought, suggestions, feel free.
Thanks
Zeek
Long time lurker first time poster.
Sorry for the novella backstory:
So, as the thread title suggests I'm planning on importing my 60 to Munich where I've lived for almost 20 year....yes, I'm old and yes, I should have done this a long time ago.
For the bulk of my time in Munich, I lent my truck to close friends back in Texas, therefore avoiding letting it sit for too long. Then my younger brother asked me if he could drive it since he is a carpenter and had lost access to everything but beater BMW motorcycle. I was hesitant to do this because he's not the most responsible person in the world but I went ahead and did against better judgement. Turned out my fear were justified and he showed up at the airport in Austin (where I'm from) with an ill-fitting white hood and the gearbox had clearly been jammed froward but still seemed to function. He said he hit a deer which, I guess is possible since he lives in the hill country but whitetails don't grow that big in Texas....I know, I know.
Anyway, we had a pretty severe falling out and he relocated to Colorado and initially said he would take the 60 with him since he also had my '69 BSA Victor. He told me the 60 was being stored in his shed. Fast forward to a month ago and I told him via text I was going to pick it up off of his property. He did not cotton to that idea and left me a pretty awful message, saying there was no way I could get the TLC since it was locked on his property behind a gate. (Sorry for all this backstory but, just wait
)Undeterred I and my wife drove the rental out to his land and it had been 10 years and I wasn't completely sure I could find it...at one point in a fork in the road I went right instead of left and poked around a couple of folks' property (not too far because, well, Texas) but couldn't see the truck. We got back the rental and drove a bit further down the road and over a small crest and what do I see, about 10 old cruisers 40s, 55s, 60's all parked in a row and there was mine right in the middle.
Turns out a Land Cruiser specialist had opened a garage ~200 yard from my brothers place. I was confused but also a bit relieved since I no longer had to get onto my brothers property and trailer out my truck. We honked our horn a bit at the fence line but no one came out. There was a realtor sign near the gate so I called them, not expecting much on a Saturday afternoon but someone answered and I was able to get a contact that knew the name of the owner of the property.
We also noticed some neighbors across the road had come out and we introduced ourselves and explained the situation and he said, the owners father lived across the road down a bit and we would recognize him by his missing leg. Easy enough, I though. So we walked over and hollered a bit and all the dogs came out to greet and then eventually one-legged Jim. We explained the situation again and he said it was his son Danny's shop but he didn't know his number by hear and that he didn't think he was home but lived on the back part of the property. I told him not to worry because I had the number of the realtor and would try to contact him that way.
So, we head back to the rental car and start driving away back to Austin and I look yo my right and see a fellow sprinting across the field and I told my wife "That'll be Danny."
We got out and shook hands, made sure knew who we were and the whole story and he said, there had been a disagreement on the amount my brother wanted for my truck, initially only $1,200 and they agreed and Danny went and trailered it off only for my bother to call a week later saying he wanted $8K. And for ~18 months it had just sat at his garage waiting for some resolution, which, surprisingly came in the form of me. I told him I wanted to get her back on the road and so we shook hands again and I said I'd be in touch. We got back into Austin and my wife said she was craving a breakfast taco from Torchy's and so we pulled into the parking lot and I immediately noticed a blue FJ60 in the lot and parked next to it. It's got to be fated, I thought. My wife did too.
So, here are details of the 60:
- '86 FJ60
- 175K miles
- de-smogged
- headers installed 20 year ago, no Flowmaster, etc. was installed
- sitting for ~5 years
- stock carb
There are a lot of considerations when thinking about moving forward with the resto. Mechanically, the estimate is ~8.5K with some wiggle room. And then there are some upgrades I'm considering for when it gets here in Munich. See below:
- H55F
- 2" lift kit
-33" tires
- upgraded exhaust to realize benefit of headers
- possible conversion to EFI
- removal of non-stock metal rear bumper and add one that could do 2 swing outs for tire and jerry can?
In Munich we'll probably be using it mostly for toting my drums around and my wife's artwork. But would like to add some bits and bobs over here to allow us to do some overlanding/long term camping in Africa or ME. Some of our best friends also have a newer model LC that is setup for such.
The upgrades above are in an effort to allow her to more easily attain adequate speeds on the Autobahn/get a bit more oompf out of the engine/decrease the odds of running into any emissions issues when importing to Germany and possible improve gas mileage.
I'm thinking with the mechanical I'm looking at ~22K? That would included some much needed body work and a decent paint job.
Any, if anyone has made this far through the novella and has any thought, suggestions, feel free.
Thanks
Zeek
