did i ever do a thread on my 1997 HZJ75?

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crushers

crushers

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Derwent Alberta
Back in 1996 i was pretty heavy into buying Cruisers. I had quite a selection at the time but no 75 series pickups.
A gent in Saskbush contacted me over the years to chat away. really nice guy, sad he is gone:frown:. anyway, he calls me up one saturday morning and tells me to go buy the heavy truck trader. when i asked he just said "do it, and then call me back".;)
curious i went and bought one and skimming through i come across a 1997 HZJ75 in immaculate shape. $28,500. a lot of coin but i had to take a look.
turned out the truck was about 4 blocks from my home, and i had never seen it. :doh:
i call him up, arrange a viewing and went for a drive over.
he backs it out of the garage into the sunlight and my eyes light up. :eek: it was beautiful.
we go for a ride around the block and i tell him i want to take it to show my wife. i also mentioned i might be gone a few hours. "no problem"
i drive home trying to figure out how i was going to convince her that it SHOULD buy it. we go for a long drive and i hit the bank before returning the truck.
bought it on the spot.
sadly, i don't have any original pics on my computer so this is after i stripped the original mine box off and installed a modified 45 series box. the factory mine box weighed in at roughly 2000 lbs, the 45 box at 500, if that.
we had no access to 75 series boxes back then.
i loved that Mits Jeep, i would take it over a cruiser for off road capability and comfort.

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i sold the truck to Jeff Zepp at time of my divorce. He wired the money up, i took a drive down to deliver it. i was in no hurry so i took all back roads from Calgary to Denver, what an amazing week. The deal i made, Jeff owned it but i kept it registered and insured in Alberta till he could find a way to legally register it in Colorado. fast forward to late 2003 and i get an email that he can't get it registered and he was tired of trying so i headed down to bring it back.
once back i decided to pull the mine box off and install the 45 box. i also installed a turbo, propane injection, the cage and storage boxes in the back.
in 2004 I had an oportunity to head to Pismo beach with it. with the fat tires, the turbo, the PI, the old girl was a joy to drive. i remember quite clearly driving into Portland at 8 PM and the traffic ... holy crap ... 80 mph, bumper to bumper, trying to find a house i had never been to, floating from lane to lane. Bryan, my copilot, was white knuckle on the holy**** bar. you put your foot down and that truck would MOVE.
2 bottles of propane from Calgary to Pismo, accelerating up the hills, it was set to come on at 10 psi so on the flat no propane was injected. pretty sweet setup.
here we are on the run down:

75 doorless 3.webp


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once in Cali i hooked up with an old bud Brett who took his BJ70 down as well from Sacramento.
once there i put the truck through its paces, high marking on the dunes. sand running is very much like snow running, momentum is your friend.
at one point i got bored of running the rim so i just turned and went over the top. one of the locals took me aside and cautioned me that was a great way to get hurt badly. seems if you don't have the angle just right you can end up in a barrel roll.
i got lucky.
this guy didn't:

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some ratchet straps and a bottle of air and 1/2 hr later he was back up and running

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the truck did attract some attention but i had a lot of fun.
the buds.

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at this time i was also heavy into importing from Japan so now I had access to Land Cruisers that were never sold to us Canadians and the 75 just didn't hold its interest for me.
I got a call from a gent that wanted to "talk". we went for lunch and chewed the fat for a while then he got down to business. he wanted to buy the 75 so we worked out a price. he then wanted it cleaned up and painted RED.
this is the process:
since the body was in really clean shape to begin with it didn't entail a lot of body work
time to start prepping for paint ...
off came the tarp, the cage, the boxes and propane tanks, the cab roof and back and windshield frame, doors

cage gone.webp


boxes stripping.webp


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more prep
i had a russian helping me, he had an old school way of doing things but it seemed to work.

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the purchaser also wanted a storage cabinet made for the back of the truck
5/8" MDF, strong, easy to work with but must be kept dry.
newly powder coated bumper and cage
a wayne special builds. very strong.

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I realize I am extremely biased, but there is nothing as cool as a 75/79 Series Ute.
Beautiful work Wayne.....
 
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thanks for the compliments guys ...
the buyer has now sold it to a gent in Ontario. the new owner brought it by last fall so i could take it for a test drive ... did THAT ever bring back memories!!
oh to take it for another drive...
 
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