Anyone see FJ45 "restoration" on HD channel?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Mtbcoach

Mtbcoach

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Jun 29, 2006
Threads
179
Messages
4,391
Location
Carolina Beach NC
I was browsing through the channels and found a British show called Wreck Rescue on the Time Warner HD channel, where the focus was on a guy who wanted to restore and drive an '80 FJ45 to his hometown in South Africa.

Turned into a familiar looking restoration, had to go through the motor, did a nice frame off restoration until...he got to the bed. He replaced the stock bed with one off of a ROVER. Sacrilege. After going through it all, he cheeses out and puts a Rover truck bed and tail gate on a nicely restored FJ45.

Too bad he didn't finish it right. But, it was worth watching regardless...

YouTube - Wreck Rescue 1980's Toyota Land Cruiser
 
Haven't seen it but would love to.

I don't see a problem with it. Fj40's are incredibly rare in the UK and a 45 is practically unheard of. Defenders are all over the place over there (you think the amount of jeeps over here is bad :rolleyes:) It seems like a simple solution that will work.:meh: It's not like he swapped in rover running gear..... although a 300tdi:hhmm:
 
I guess I see it differently. The owner is quoted, saying he spent over $20k "quid" on the project. He cheesed out at the end with the Rover bed. After he wasted 5 months waiting on OEM parts from Oz, taking the easy way out at the end of the project is short-sighted. They showed the original bed being removed so he had something to work with.

He took away from the rarity of the FJ45, from behind, it's a Rover. No Toyota across the tailgate, completely different taillights and all. It simply didn't look right.

My guess is he did it to complete the project for the show not because it was part of the "plan". He did a beautiful job on all other aspects, a true frame-off restoration until then. I guess I should throw a Ford truck bed on mine, maybe a Mazda...
 
Mtbcoach said:
My guess is he did it to complete the project for the show not because it was part of the "plan". He did a beautiful job on all other aspects, a true frame-off restoration until then. I guess I should throw a Ford truck bed on mine, maybe a Mazda...
Click to expand...

If that's all you have to work with then so be it. Again I didn't see the show but if you say that he was waiting for so long for a replacement bed and had time constraints then again... no problem really. If the original bed gets there when he gets back then he can always put that on later. Its just a bed, doesn't take much to change it over. From that trailer it looked like he had time constraints and was planning a trip..... bed didn't get there i would have thrown a dodge bed on the back to make it.


Hell we were restoring an old 3 dr suburban back in high school for a trip to the river. Got everything done right except the interior never got shipped to us (or was backordered) so we just threw a tach, speedo from auto zone in there and seats out of our buddies econoline van. Got back put the interior in and sold it...
 
Again... not trying to argue but if the truck was built for a purpose, the trip, and not just to be a show truck then what he did should be fine.... as previously said the real bed can always be installed at a later time unless he did something that would negate that fact.
 
Time restraints were long gone, never made the drive to Capetown S.A.

Yup, it's his rig and your project to do as one wishes. One can build up anything as they see fit, I'd simply not be the subject of a tv show and finish it like he did. Speculate all you like, watch the show and see if you feel the same. Seeing the show, watching the dynamic between the FJ45 owner and the shop owner whom rented the garage space to the owner and the issues of doing the work himself compared to paying the shop to do it makes me speculate that instead of "restoring" the original bed he had off the truck, he cheesed out on the "restoration". The FJ45 owner didn't have the time to restore the original bed (though he was already well over his self imposed deadline) and was clearly tired of paying the shop owner.

The project nearly died due to this dynamic and it was brought back to life by the show's host. I'd bet the show didn't want to have all their film time, editing and other costs be thrown away and the time to restore the bed (they showed the owners learning curve doing body work replacing the rusted cab floor and other spots in the cab). Throw a bed off a Rover, paint it and call it "restored".

The owner goes on and on (as the shows host comments on the owner's unending discussion of his passion for his Landcruiser) of his childhood memories in Capetown and Landcruisers, that this rig came from his township, was driven from S.A. to London with his plan to "restore" it and drive it to Capetown.

Without sounding like a purist, that relatively small yet laborious task to "restore" the original bed, throwing a bed of any other vehicle, sh!t all over all the excellent restoration work completed up to that point.

I hope I don't make the same decision as my "resto-mod" project gets to that point...
 
lt1fire said:
Again... not trying to argue but if the truck was built for a purpose, the trip, and not just to be a show truck then what he did should be fine.... as previously said the real bed can always be installed at a later time unless he did something that would negate that fact.
Click to expand...

But you are, without any knowledge, not seeing the show.

I would speculate, seeing the show, that putting that bed on was not the plan when the project started. Of course, he can still restore the original bed and put it on. Yet, he will be remembered for taking a short cut just to help the host complete the show, something, in my opinion, ruined an otherwise great documentary, something I'm living right now...
 
Not having seen the show I was just going off of your posts. I will watch the show, if I can, and give my opinion then. :beer:
 
when does this chow come on???

I'm looking through HD theater for the next week at my sister's and I can't find any mention of it.
 
I used to watch it all the time but that was 7 years ago :frown:
 
I can't find part 1 anywhere but I found part two
Wreck Rescue Toyota Landcruiser part 2 - Car Videos on StreetFire

There is no mention in part two as to why he went with the Defender bed, so I can't really say anything on his reasoning. But if the earlier posts are correct, lack of money, time, stalls with parts shipping then I say again no problem.

I'll get flamed for this but I think that bed looks better than a stock one. It's taller and i've always though a 45 bed wasn't high enough.

apples to oranges

I like it and the toyota purists won't.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom