red66toy
Supporting Vendor
Hello all.
Its been a long time since I have been part of the 40 group but I am happy to be back! I was never expecting to be back honestly but fate had other plans.....
I purchased "Clifford" back in 2001 when I was 16. I paid $2000 for it from a guy name "Rusty" in Davis, CA. It just came with a bikini top, broken old seats, no doors (well it had chains that ran across the openings) or seatbelts and questionable brakes but it ran great. For some reason my mom let me buy it even though it gave her more grey hairs on her head as the years went by. At some point it had been repainted in a blue-green color, also had a weird aftermarket rear heater (no front heater), old school SOR roll bar and a GM alternator. Other than that it was pretty original. Here it is soon after I purchased it. My dad and I took it for a fishing trip up at Davis Lake.
I remember we walked out to the parking lot near our camp ground to find a big puddle of gasoline under the cruiser. The gas tank sprung a leak from a rust hole on the bottom. A trip to the local NAPA autoparts had us back in action with a patch kit (still holding apparently! ).
I drove this cruiser through the last years of high school and the first few years of college. At one point my dad painted it and it got bigger and wider tires. The drives between home and college would take me 7 hours in this rig. After 7 hours of sitting in these old seats with a screaming F135, you definitely felt a little beat up. But I still loved it.
Driving around with @pismojim :
The tires were used and lasted me a couple years until I could save up for the tires I really wanted... BFG 33x9.5! I also had @FJ40Jim rebuild the carb, I recovered the seats with the SOR kit at the time, swapped the front axle for a 69 FJ40 one and put on FJ60 front knuckles and brakes. Added a Chevy S10 brake MC with a spacer so it cleared the firewall rib. Swapped the old metal fan for a spacer and a plastic version from @65swb45 . Installed a Mojave front heater. I installed a stereo at one point hanging below the dash but took it back out after a while. Did a few other improvements but thankfully left it mostly stock.
Met some other cruiser heads in Humboldt county (@Russ in California )
After a while those long drives between home and college got old and it became apparent to me that I would need a more modern and faster car....so regretfully I decided to sell it. Sold it to a young man in 2007 and I remember shedding a tear as I watched it drive away.
Fast forward 11 years. Lots happened in between and another cruiser came into my life:
Greetings from Seattle...Fixing up "Blue Guy"
Then one day while looking for cruiser parts on craigslist, I spotted an unmistakable FJ40, MY FJ40!!!!! I think I literally jumped out of my seat with shock. There was my old FJ40, almost completely unchanged since the day I sold it. It was still in CA, now down near San Jose. A serious talk with my wife... and a call to the seller and it was on!
I didn't know anyone down there that could look at the cruiser for me, well until I realized that @Racer65 lived very close. I want to give a HUGE shoutout to Roger for being so kind and helpful for not only looking over the cruiser for me, but facilitating the final deal for me since I couldn't be there to swap money for the cruiser. Roger is really a great dude and I hope I can return the favor some day, at least shake your hand!
I would also like to thank @NookShneer @Kleatus @Aravind Dileepan and @KeilOver for also pushing to stop thinking about it and just buy the damn FJ40 already.
That brings us to present day. The cruiser is on its way to my family's farm in Dixon. I plan to fly down in November, get it road ready (new tires and full fluid and engine tune up) and drive it back to Seattle. Thank you @beno for helping me get those early 40 parts. It doesn't have a top except a bikini top so this will be weather dependent. I'll update as the journey commences.
As for plans for the cruiser. I am definitely going to give it the love I couldn't before on college budget. Basic plan is to preserve its originality as much as possible (with exception to the front discs). Definitely going to finally get the OEM style top I always dreamed of , fix the rear sill rust, and refurbish the rest as I go. I can't wait to drive it again.
Its been a long time since I have been part of the 40 group but I am happy to be back! I was never expecting to be back honestly but fate had other plans.....
I purchased "Clifford" back in 2001 when I was 16. I paid $2000 for it from a guy name "Rusty" in Davis, CA. It just came with a bikini top, broken old seats, no doors (well it had chains that ran across the openings) or seatbelts and questionable brakes but it ran great. For some reason my mom let me buy it even though it gave her more grey hairs on her head as the years went by. At some point it had been repainted in a blue-green color, also had a weird aftermarket rear heater (no front heater), old school SOR roll bar and a GM alternator. Other than that it was pretty original. Here it is soon after I purchased it. My dad and I took it for a fishing trip up at Davis Lake.
I remember we walked out to the parking lot near our camp ground to find a big puddle of gasoline under the cruiser. The gas tank sprung a leak from a rust hole on the bottom. A trip to the local NAPA autoparts had us back in action with a patch kit (still holding apparently! ).
I drove this cruiser through the last years of high school and the first few years of college. At one point my dad painted it and it got bigger and wider tires. The drives between home and college would take me 7 hours in this rig. After 7 hours of sitting in these old seats with a screaming F135, you definitely felt a little beat up. But I still loved it.
Driving around with @pismojim :
The tires were used and lasted me a couple years until I could save up for the tires I really wanted... BFG 33x9.5!
I also had @FJ40Jim rebuild the carb, I recovered the seats with the SOR kit at the time, swapped the front axle for a 69 FJ40 one and put on FJ60 front knuckles and brakes. Added a Chevy S10 brake MC with a spacer so it cleared the firewall rib. Swapped the old metal fan for a spacer and a plastic version from @65swb45 . Installed a Mojave front heater. I installed a stereo at one point hanging below the dash but took it back out after a while. Did a few other improvements but thankfully left it mostly stock.
Met some other cruiser heads in Humboldt county (@Russ in California )
After a while those long drives between home and college got old and it became apparent to me that I would need a more modern and faster car....so regretfully I decided to sell it. Sold it to a young man in 2007 and I remember shedding a tear as I watched it drive away.
Fast forward 11 years. Lots happened in between and another cruiser came into my life:
Greetings from Seattle...Fixing up "Blue Guy"
Then one day while looking for cruiser parts on craigslist, I spotted an unmistakable FJ40, MY FJ40!!!!! I think I literally jumped out of my seat with shock. There was my old FJ40, almost completely unchanged since the day I sold it. It was still in CA, now down near San Jose. A serious talk with my wife... and a call to the seller and it was on!
I didn't know anyone down there that could look at the cruiser for me, well until I realized that @Racer65 lived very close. I want to give a HUGE shoutout to Roger for being so kind and helpful for not only looking over the cruiser for me, but facilitating the final deal for me since I couldn't be there to swap money for the cruiser. Roger is really a great dude and I hope I can return the favor some day, at least shake your hand!
I would also like to thank @NookShneer @Kleatus @Aravind Dileepan and @KeilOver for also pushing to stop thinking about it and just buy the damn FJ40 already.That brings us to present day. The cruiser is on its way to my family's farm in Dixon. I plan to fly down in November, get it road ready (new tires and full fluid and engine tune up) and drive it back to Seattle. Thank you @beno for helping me get those early 40 parts. It doesn't have a top except a bikini top so this will be weather dependent. I'll update as the journey commences.
As for plans for the cruiser. I am definitely going to give it the love I couldn't before on college budget. Basic plan is to preserve its originality as much as possible (with exception to the front discs). Definitely going to finally get the OEM style top I always dreamed of , fix the rear sill rust, and refurbish the rest as I go. I can't wait to drive it again.
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Wish I could have been there.
