As the title might suggest, this will be an ever evolving thread on how I have "built" and preserved this cruiser to keep it on the road for hopefully many more years. So, first just a small bit of back story. I have almost always been around the off-roading hobby and tinkered/wrenched on my Jeeps and Toyotas. Having really gotten into Toyota mini trucks and 4runners for years I had always wanted to own an FJ60. Really this was for many reasons, but the most important ones were the cabin room (family of 5) and the utility the truck has, for things such as camping and fishing. I have always kept an dedicated off-road rig, so this fantasy 60 would be my daily.
At the time of starting my search for the right 60, I was daily driving an all stock 1984 SR5 4Runner that another Mud member now owns. It was an epic little ride, and still is...however we were packed into that thing as a family with all our camping stuff. I've bought and sold a lot of these 4runners, parted a lot as well. This one was just a really great little truck, and we hated to see it go.
She is greatly missed, but on to the Landcruiser stuff! So this little guy sold not long after I purchased the first, and what I thought was "the one" 60. The 60 was shiny, clean interior, chrome was nice, most everything worked, it had recently been baselined...but would still need a few things. The color was what appealed to me the most. After having talked to the buyer a little over the phone (another Mud member), I sent a driver to go and pick it up and bring it to me sight unseen. I was excited to be driving a 60!
Behold, a beauty. So beautiful after about 5 or 6 months of ownership, I felt she was just to pretty to put in the woods camping and fishing. Great for a daily, and surely a head turner, but I just didn't want to use it the way we had used our 4runner. As fate would have it, one random Friday morning I got a call at the office from another local FJ60 owner whom I loosely knew. He proceeded to inform me of a situation involving his son's F150 and a ruined motor, and that he was needing money quickly to repair it so that he could take it back to school. He then hit me with the proposal to sell me his late 1985 FJ60 that had been sitting for about a year. I knew most of the story on it, and even knew two of the previous owners. What I also knew was that it was sitting because he had been unable to make it run correctly after attempting to red-neck smog delete the truck. He gave me a figure on the truck, it was to good to be true; so I went and picked it up with a tow truck the same day. Score!! I washed and posted the blue 84 cruiser expecting a long sale.
Well, she stop, start and steer. Didn't run very well, seemed to have an surge in power. The truck would occasionally die. It had a fender replaced because his son was driving and drug the passenger side a bit on a fence, thus the rage gold body filler on passenger front door. So, I knew given the buying price, and how rough the exterior was......this might actually be the "one". Did I mention every single item including the AC works, also the interior was about as mint as they come. The headliner is clean and free of tears, seats clean and free of tears, dash with no splits, carpet was complete but a bit faded, and it was only missing the passenger side visor. The seller included the original chrome wheels as well. A few weeks later I listed the 84 (blue) cruiser expecting a long sale. I had already started to purchase the items to do a Holley Sniper install on the blue one so I figured I would instead hold onto those parts and put them on this new to me brown cruiser instead. Remember that long sale I was expecting? Wrong. It sold locally in just 3 days of posting. It is now a garage kept occasional and Sunday driver, the new owner loves it...and I still see it often! Whew, this is more backstory than I thought!! Onto the "build"!
At the time of starting my search for the right 60, I was daily driving an all stock 1984 SR5 4Runner that another Mud member now owns. It was an epic little ride, and still is...however we were packed into that thing as a family with all our camping stuff. I've bought and sold a lot of these 4runners, parted a lot as well. This one was just a really great little truck, and we hated to see it go.
She is greatly missed, but on to the Landcruiser stuff! So this little guy sold not long after I purchased the first, and what I thought was "the one" 60. The 60 was shiny, clean interior, chrome was nice, most everything worked, it had recently been baselined...but would still need a few things. The color was what appealed to me the most. After having talked to the buyer a little over the phone (another Mud member), I sent a driver to go and pick it up and bring it to me sight unseen. I was excited to be driving a 60!
Behold, a beauty. So beautiful after about 5 or 6 months of ownership, I felt she was just to pretty to put in the woods camping and fishing. Great for a daily, and surely a head turner, but I just didn't want to use it the way we had used our 4runner. As fate would have it, one random Friday morning I got a call at the office from another local FJ60 owner whom I loosely knew. He proceeded to inform me of a situation involving his son's F150 and a ruined motor, and that he was needing money quickly to repair it so that he could take it back to school. He then hit me with the proposal to sell me his late 1985 FJ60 that had been sitting for about a year. I knew most of the story on it, and even knew two of the previous owners. What I also knew was that it was sitting because he had been unable to make it run correctly after attempting to red-neck smog delete the truck. He gave me a figure on the truck, it was to good to be true; so I went and picked it up with a tow truck the same day. Score!! I washed and posted the blue 84 cruiser expecting a long sale.
Well, she stop, start and steer. Didn't run very well, seemed to have an surge in power. The truck would occasionally die. It had a fender replaced because his son was driving and drug the passenger side a bit on a fence, thus the rage gold body filler on passenger front door. So, I knew given the buying price, and how rough the exterior was......this might actually be the "one". Did I mention every single item including the AC works, also the interior was about as mint as they come. The headliner is clean and free of tears, seats clean and free of tears, dash with no splits, carpet was complete but a bit faded, and it was only missing the passenger side visor. The seller included the original chrome wheels as well. A few weeks later I listed the 84 (blue) cruiser expecting a long sale. I had already started to purchase the items to do a Holley Sniper install on the blue one so I figured I would instead hold onto those parts and put them on this new to me brown cruiser instead. Remember that long sale I was expecting? Wrong. It sold locally in just 3 days of posting. It is now a garage kept occasional and Sunday driver, the new owner loves it...and I still see it often! Whew, this is more backstory than I thought!! Onto the "build"!
