Blanked out windows on Fred75's troopy

[beanz2]

Hi Fred,

Welcome to the board! I notice the 73 and 75 series landcruisers that were sold in Belgium and the Netherlands have blanked out rear side windows. Is this so that they could be classified as a van instead of a passenger vehicle or a bus?

Dave

 

[Fred75]

Actually it's only the dutch troopies that have the blanked out windows. It's indeed a legal requirement in The Netherlands to be able to register the vehicle as a commercial van, instead of a regular car (huge difference in taxes). Most dutch troopies only have three out of the four windows blanked(again, legal requirement). Mine however has them all blanked out, it used to be a service van for some big company. I imported the troopie into Belgium.

I kinda like it that way.. it adds to the security of the rear cargo space. It does not help visibility though...

 

[roscoFJ73]

Welcome aboard Fred . Your seats loook comfy

 

[Fred75]

Thanks

They are pretty comfy indeed... unfortunatly I mounted the passenger seat too high, a tall person can no longer see trough the windscreen properly ... Still need to lower that one.

 

[crushers]

welcome aboard there Fred, you are making us Canuks jealous.
cheers

 

[beanz2]

Fred75, is there cut out in the metal with a steel panel to fill in where the glass normally is, or is it just a depression in the metal? Just curious seeing them.

Dave

 

[Fred75]

It's a metal plate (it rusts!) in the place of the windows. The rubber window seals are still there, and it looks like the plate is being mounted just like a window would have been. Not sure though, as the inside is covered by a wooden plate. I am going to remove the wooden plate this weekend, I'll try to take some pics...

 

[troopie]

Dave

On the Dutch troopies there are different ways the windows have been closed.
On some the glass has been replaced with steel or aluminium using the old weatherstrip. On others there are plates glued in with sikaflex or some other product.
I worked on some to put regular glass in and to remove the glued in ones it takes about a full day to get them out and clean stuff up.

HTH

Mark

 

[Tapage]

welcome Fred .. those are factory seats .. ? looks very very nice .. !

 

[beanz2]

Dave

On the Dutch troopies there are different ways the windows have been closed.
On some the glass has been replaced with steel or aluminium using the old weatherstrip. On others there are plates glued in with sikaflex or some other product.
I worked on some to put regular glass in and to remove the glued in ones it takes about a full day to get them out and clean stuff up.

HTH

Mark

Interesting. I wonder why Toyota doesn't just spray the glass with body color?

Dave

 

[troopie]

Interesting. I wonder why Toyota doesn't just spray the glass with body color?

Dave

Well Dave, thats because of the rules. When you convert a vehicle from private registration to commercial registration, the conversion may not be turned back easy. Which means no paint on the windows, because that´s to easy to remove.
Shorter vehicles also need to have a higher roof, with a hole cut in the original roof, and a wall between the front seats and the cargo area.

I'll see if i can find a picture on this computer of my dad's 90 series, which is completely fawked up because of those rules.

It doesn't make sense, but we have to live with it or pay a lot more for a car.

Mark

 

[Fred75]

Emptied my cargo area yesterday and took some pics from the inside of the blanked out windows:

The carpet is factory mounted

 

[Fred75]

welcome Fred .. those are factory seats .. ? looks very very nice .. !

No factory seats... Those are recaro seats I got from a total-loss Alfa Romeo. Factory seats are the usual, van-like plastic seats. These are my old ones (sold them):