Colombia

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Picture

Well,

I figured out why the guy had a hard time. There is no vin number plate on the car. At least I think that is the problem.

I used a coat hanger to stick it thru the vent window and then under the latch and back around the lever and popped it open. From there I could reach in and unlock it.

The thing is SPOTLESS inside. Ok not really. The headrest wasn't broken it was just tilted back. No rips on the seats and the only one spot of almost kinda rust. I pulled up all of the mats and there seems to be a tiny leak under the drivers side. But the rust is barely surface and is just starting to eat thru the paint. Otherwise the thing was perfect.

I didn't get to take any more pictures as I had timed the amount of time the gaurd was roving around to break in. By the time he came back I had the doors open and wasn't even interested so I'll take more tomorrow of the interior.

I saw a thread on VIN plates but those don't look like the VIN plates. Unless The vin is the Frame #??? In that case I don't know what the problem was. And I'm not sure why there was two wholes on the a pillar where my old plate was on my 71?

Sorry for the bad pics i took them out of my office window which was filthy. I'll have better ones tomorrow.
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Jason, this is a great story to follow, I hope things pan out that you can maybe get this thing, hell you've already put alot of effort trying to get pics and info on the truck in what sounds like a unknown environment where little mistakes could possibly be costly.
 
Yep,

Hard to tell from the picture though. All of the wiring looks fine on this one too so I'm assuming everything works.

I think as soon as I get a bit more information from the Embassy I might be able to get to the DMV and get the paperwork started on this thing to see if it is doable. I've got one month to figure it out.

I know the picture looks horrible but when you look inside minus the dust and a tad bit of dirt/mold on the white top it looks like it just came off of the showroom floor. Even the undercarriage doesn't have a speck of dirt or grease on it. I'm assuming the previous owner had it cleaned for transport as that is one of the requirements.
 
Man I hope you score that thing. Good luck Jason.

:beer: R
 
Chances just got worse today.

The embassy personnel are horrible. I told them I would do all the work and they just hummed and hawed and talked about lawyers this and taxes this and money this and decisions this. I asked how long and she said it could be a few months. I told her that probably meant another 7 years becuase we all know that if it is not on your desk of the due todays and it is not in your lane and nobody is pushing you it will just sit. Just like it has for the past 7 years. She agreed and then went on about a bunch of Bull.

I'm still going to try though. I don't see why I just can't file the mechanics lean paperwork like in the US pay the taxes myself and then have the thing towed out. Or even better find a trusted agent (tow company that does that stuff) have them tow it...have them file the lien like they have had the thing for years, and then get it that way. None the less it shouldn't be that hard.

She also mentioned that the Engine number didn't match the VIN. But I don't know what the VIN is so how can I tell. I think I would be able to match it to a Frame number. She said nothing is stolen and the car is clean though so it shouldnt be that damn hard. #$%^^&* civilians man. No offense. I mean government employees.
 
I actually have thought of that. I was going to play the nice diplomatic way first but I can tell that is not going to work. Placency is gone by the way side. I'm going to talk to some of drivers, guards etc. The embassy has no legal recourse or anything. If it disapeared they wouldn't even know. They don't have the Title, keys, they don't have anything. All they have is it sits inside their gate and thus technically theirs.

I think I will come up with a decent bribe. Pay them off and get a tow truck inside and go from there. Of course after I make a trip to the DMV to see if it is really possible to get this thing done. I would hate to do all that to get it out and then have to do the same thing and abandon it.

GRRRRRR
 
Hang in there, I know it seems like alot of hassle and a lot of run around, but you will probably never get the opportunity to own a Cruiser like that for as little as money that it may take to get it.
 
You know,

I just got to looking around and talking with someone else.

I guess the Frame number is the VIN number (Also noted on the SOR FAQ site)

So if this thing is not missing any identification is there anything out there that could tell me if the engine number I have provided is not that engine that belongs with that Frame number? Again noted by Embassy lady....and also noted that it is not a stolen engine.

From the tag inside the passenger engine compartment.

FJ43L-KC
FJ43-67185
309 LL11
H41 K052

The frame number matches that of the plate.

Engine number is FJ43-24391

Even if it was a different engine why would this be a problem?
 
Yeah, I'm not sure that the VIN and the engine number were ever paired together. My VIN plate does not ID the engine (I'm inside but I'll check).
 
I hear stories about this thing everywhere. I have a new hook up though and I think we have it figured out.

It involves tearing the engine out. They said I could crate the engine up and put it in one of our ISU's for the flight home and the guy would take care of the shipping of the car home. Not sure how much beer money that is going to cost me and still need to go to the DMV but it sounds more promising than I thought before.

Not sure how I'm going to get the rig out of here to take the engine out but who cares....should be fun none the less. Hell if it is already out I should just go diesel and keep the 2F in storage just in case anyone wanted to go back.

I took a couple of horrible pictures. Almost got caught as the guards came out of nowhere.

I think it would be easier to ship a car without an engine. Parts car no?
 
Ohh and I think it may have been a sign. Our driver got in a wreck this morning and was late to pick us up. Then came the exact FJ43 I'm hoping to bring back. Except this one had a 4" lift some 35" tires a solid channle front bumper with 8724 snorkle and highlift mounted on the other side, with roof rack. I'm hoping he is buddies with the polish consulate guards as that is who he seemed to be talking to. They didn't habla englis so I just looked really quick.

INSPIRATION...maybe not quite to that extent.
 
poor pictures

Again these are not the best pictures but we are not suppossed to have cameras in there. And the guards popped out of nowhere though I doubt they would care the longer I am there.

Today I did more digging around. I really crawled under it today. Spotless under there. Really really clean and no rust.

I pulled up all of the mats and besides the drivers everything is spotless. You can tell in the corners and hidden areas though that it was resprayed for sure. I think the whole car was. I know the outside was and will need to be redone.

I crawled up and over thru the back and let the seats down. Again never been sat in. You can tell all of the seats in the truck were redone though so that explains a lot. Apperently not much is original on this truck but who cares it is in great shape.

I opened up the back and moved the tire carier and everything was again spotless, no rust, worked great. Someone did a good rebuild on this thing.
So who knows how many miles the thing really has.

Enjoy the crappy pics. I'll try and get some better ones next week.
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Progress

Ok Good progress today. The people here have been holding out on me. They had a file on this car and the guy that was 5 inches thick. And in there was amazingly the KEYS FOR THE CAR!!!

I found the owner of the vehicle today and he is in fact and registered here as the owner. I found his e-mail, location of work, phone number as well as all his personal information for his house and home phone online. Luckily it appears he is in the states right now (not to far from home..in Alabama).

I sent him an e-mail and am going to give him 24 hours to respond. If not I'm going to call his work and then that evening call his home. Hopefully he is cool about the hole thing. I found out today if the Embassy gets control of the car it is going out into the jungle as a team vehicle and will get thrashed and eventually become target practice.

It appears I'm going to have to take the engine out to get it home but that is to easy.

I also found out how much taxes will be and depending on how they calculate interested here it should be under 1K dollars.

But I am communicating with a local broker and he said it would be about 2500 to ship it home...I'm not exactly sure what that entails but it seems a tad bit on the high side to me.

Well anyway. If I can get ahold of this guy and get the paperwork done I can get it off, try to get it running, and then tear the engine out, bring it back and put in our ISU, and then get the thing off for shipping.

All depends on the owner. We will see. If he doesn't contact me and anyone knows someone in Jasper Alabama I might have to pay someone to go knock on his door :) hahah...I just might make this thing happen. All pray that this Commander contacts me and is realistic about what is going on.
 
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