Well after a couple months of searching and finally selling the Corvette I am the proud owner of a 1984 blue FJ60 with 173k miles. I found it last Sunday, aka Mother's day. It was a bit of a tough sell to the wife on this particular day. I called on Monday. The seller is actually the owner of Niche Motors in Nashville. He’s a cool guy and a land cruiser addict. He has had numerous and lists several on his site for sale. He was selling this one because he found a very low mile silver FJ60 and decided to thin the heard. He gave some good information and said he wouldn’t hesitate to drive it six hours to Jackson. Of course, the seller also reported enormous amounts of interest...so I wired a deposit. Given how crazy the week was I only had Tuesday to pick it up. Not having a ride to go get it and given the amount of time for a roundtrip to Nashville, I booked a flight with Southern Airways. They fly prop planes in this region into and out of FBO's. I was a little apprehensive but honestly it was a good price and super smooth flight. I would recommend them over commercial anytime. We flew in a Cessna Caravan aka the Suburban of the skie. We stopped in Memphis for a quick fuel stop and landed at 10am. The seller kindly picked me up from the airport.
We drove to the dealership and pulled into the lot. The FJ60 sat there gleaming in the sun. I was pumped. It ran great aside from being incredibly slow. I knew these guys were all torque but man it was like driving a tractor. It did have a bit of wear on the paint but given no rust and overall condition, I was sold. After wiring some cash I was on the trip home.
I stopped at an Advanced and bought a few basic handtools and a quart of oil just in case. Ironically there is no TSA at FBO’s. I could have packed a whole duffle bag of tools and brought them. The first few hours were pretty uneventful. The seller had told me the tach was intermittent and included a used replacement with the deal. The tach gave out after a few hours but did return for the later part of the trip. Cruising speed was 60-65mph per the GPS on my phone. After about four hours I ditched the AC. Given the newfound “power”, I held right around 70 for the next 50miles. That is until it began to get warm. After stopping for gas, a couple gallons of water for just in case, and a 15 minute cool down, I was back off. The temp gauge stayed down the rest of the way while I maintained 60-65. I finally made it home about 845 tired but loving the new truck. My girls have affectionately dubbed her Bluebird which was also the name of my 7yo’s soccer team. All in all, a 30+ year old Toyota made a long trek without hesitation through the heat of the afternoon and has a new home. My girls cried when the Corvette left but are ecstatic that we have a new toy. We've been daily driving it this week and the girls have loved getting dropped off and picked up at school.
We drove to the dealership and pulled into the lot. The FJ60 sat there gleaming in the sun. I was pumped. It ran great aside from being incredibly slow. I knew these guys were all torque but man it was like driving a tractor. It did have a bit of wear on the paint but given no rust and overall condition, I was sold. After wiring some cash I was on the trip home.
I stopped at an Advanced and bought a few basic handtools and a quart of oil just in case. Ironically there is no TSA at FBO’s. I could have packed a whole duffle bag of tools and brought them. The first few hours were pretty uneventful. The seller had told me the tach was intermittent and included a used replacement with the deal. The tach gave out after a few hours but did return for the later part of the trip. Cruising speed was 60-65mph per the GPS on my phone. After about four hours I ditched the AC. Given the newfound “power”, I held right around 70 for the next 50miles. That is until it began to get warm. After stopping for gas, a couple gallons of water for just in case, and a 15 minute cool down, I was back off. The temp gauge stayed down the rest of the way while I maintained 60-65. I finally made it home about 845 tired but loving the new truck. My girls have affectionately dubbed her Bluebird which was also the name of my 7yo’s soccer team. All in all, a 30+ year old Toyota made a long trek without hesitation through the heat of the afternoon and has a new home. My girls cried when the Corvette left but are ecstatic that we have a new toy. We've been daily driving it this week and the girls have loved getting dropped off and picked up at school.
