First of all I would like to thank all of you guys that have posted on this forum. If it weren’t for your knowledge and passion for these machines I would have never began this cruiser addiction.
To begin, here’s a brief background about how I came across this website and eventually my 1986 Beach Cruiser. In April of 2010 my then girlfriend, now wife, and I began surf fishing the beaches of the Texas coast. By the end of our first trip I had landed a 32”+ “Big Ugly” and she had landed her first blacktip shark and for a lack of better words, we were hooked on surf fishing. We managed to do alright using my 2wd Tacoma to get around the popular touristy beaches but as our fishing interest grew, so did our need for a 4WD. We wanted to get to some of the more remote beaches where the sharks were bigger and the fishing was better. We discussed trading the Tacoma for a 4WD Tundra but the cost of a new truck plus the thought of tearing up a new truck from the salt and the sand didn’t make sense to us. My wife suggested we find a cheap 4WD that we could run back and forth in, that we wouldn’t mind getting salt and sand all over. And so the search began! I searched Craigslist night and day weighing out my options. I finally came across a FJ60 that I thought looked like it would fit the bill but the age, high mileage and my lack of knowledge made me hesitant and it sold. That’s when I started searching the internet looking for some information on Land Cruisers and that’s when I found ih8mud. After reading through your posts and seeing the passion you guys have for these trucks I knew if the right one would come along, I would have to scoop it up. Wouldn’t you know a few weeks later I came across one for sale by the original owner and I went to take if for a spin. After a short drive and about an hour of talking and looking through old photo albums of all the places the previous owner had been, from caving in Colorado all the way down to Mexico City, I knew it was the one.
Black Drum AKA "Big Ugly"
4' Blacktip
On my next post I'll try to bring everyone up to date on what I've done so far and what direction I would like to go.
To begin, here’s a brief background about how I came across this website and eventually my 1986 Beach Cruiser. In April of 2010 my then girlfriend, now wife, and I began surf fishing the beaches of the Texas coast. By the end of our first trip I had landed a 32”+ “Big Ugly” and she had landed her first blacktip shark and for a lack of better words, we were hooked on surf fishing. We managed to do alright using my 2wd Tacoma to get around the popular touristy beaches but as our fishing interest grew, so did our need for a 4WD. We wanted to get to some of the more remote beaches where the sharks were bigger and the fishing was better. We discussed trading the Tacoma for a 4WD Tundra but the cost of a new truck plus the thought of tearing up a new truck from the salt and the sand didn’t make sense to us. My wife suggested we find a cheap 4WD that we could run back and forth in, that we wouldn’t mind getting salt and sand all over. And so the search began! I searched Craigslist night and day weighing out my options. I finally came across a FJ60 that I thought looked like it would fit the bill but the age, high mileage and my lack of knowledge made me hesitant and it sold. That’s when I started searching the internet looking for some information on Land Cruisers and that’s when I found ih8mud. After reading through your posts and seeing the passion you guys have for these trucks I knew if the right one would come along, I would have to scoop it up. Wouldn’t you know a few weeks later I came across one for sale by the original owner and I went to take if for a spin. After a short drive and about an hour of talking and looking through old photo albums of all the places the previous owner had been, from caving in Colorado all the way down to Mexico City, I knew it was the one.
Black Drum AKA "Big Ugly"
4' Blacktip
On my next post I'll try to bring everyone up to date on what I've done so far and what direction I would like to go.
