Well when it was set that I was getting a new 40 series cruiser, I said to myself that I would document it from day one on here. Whilst working on the last BJ40 that I owned I learnt so much from the folk on here, and I thought that if something that I post up here can be of benefit to someone else, then all the better. So here goes-
My old man had a 1978 BJ40 when we were growing up. It was the family car and every school holiday's we would take off somewhere in it with trailer behind. That truck never missed a beat, and I remember being annoyed when we got rid of it. Here's a pic of my sister and I being taken up river with our air mattresses to float down the river on a camping trip.
Well for the past two and a half years I tinkered about with an August built 1979 BJ40. I originally bought it with the intention of doing a swap with the old man, he drives a HJ75 troopy. After having a play around with the 40 for a week or two, I realized that I was going to keep it for myself. It was a great little truck, until I rolled it onto it side trying to avoid a head on with some knob who was texting on his mobile phone.
Well I was lucky and had it insured very well, so when it was written off by the insurance company, I bought it back and took what I wanted off it for the new project. Here's a shot of what was left after I pulled off what I wanted to keep, and anything else that I could sell off on eBay and to some mates.
Well it didn't take me long to find this one on eBay - a 1983 BJ42 LX model. I talked to the owner a fair bit and got a heap of photo's sent to me before committing, and after I talked to the
for permission (we live in a townhouse with only a single car garage, her car would have to be outside for a few months while the resto was happening) I got it shipped up from down south.
After a few weeks of anxious waiting for it to arrive, it finally arrived one evening last week. Before touching anything on it I decided to go nuts with the camera. Out of the 600 odd shots I took of it, detailing each little nook and cranny, here are a couple to show what I'll be working with -
My old man had a 1978 BJ40 when we were growing up. It was the family car and every school holiday's we would take off somewhere in it with trailer behind. That truck never missed a beat, and I remember being annoyed when we got rid of it. Here's a pic of my sister and I being taken up river with our air mattresses to float down the river on a camping trip.
Well for the past two and a half years I tinkered about with an August built 1979 BJ40. I originally bought it with the intention of doing a swap with the old man, he drives a HJ75 troopy. After having a play around with the 40 for a week or two, I realized that I was going to keep it for myself. It was a great little truck, until I rolled it onto it side trying to avoid a head on with some knob who was texting on his mobile phone.
Well I was lucky and had it insured very well, so when it was written off by the insurance company, I bought it back and took what I wanted off it for the new project. Here's a shot of what was left after I pulled off what I wanted to keep, and anything else that I could sell off on eBay and to some mates.
Well it didn't take me long to find this one on eBay - a 1983 BJ42 LX model. I talked to the owner a fair bit and got a heap of photo's sent to me before committing, and after I talked to the
for permission (we live in a townhouse with only a single car garage, her car would have to be outside for a few months while the resto was happening) I got it shipped up from down south.After a few weeks of anxious waiting for it to arrive, it finally arrived one evening last week. Before touching anything on it I decided to go nuts with the camera. Out of the 600 odd shots I took of it, detailing each little nook and cranny, here are a couple to show what I'll be working with -
