First time Females and FJs

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i know of a New Mexico truck that is residing up here. REALLY nice shape. Farely overdrive. AC. a true survivor. the 80+ year old lady that owns it bought it in 96 to use for selling realestate in NM and then retired up here. she loves her truck but only puts about 100 miles a year on it over the last 10 years. she won't drive it when it is raining, no snow, no mud ... needs a carb and a dash pad.

i also tell people is buy the best you can afford up front, USUALLY the more you spend up front for the right vehicle the less you need to spend later to bring it back.

best of luck in your shopping.
 
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also, finding decent 40s in the last few years have been getting more and more difficult. the prices are moving upward again.
if it runs and looks as good as it does in the pics, $7K is not "high" it is about right. no harm is seeing if he will drop his price but be prepared to pay full price.

nice looking red jeep ... get used to it ... you will hear it a lot over the decades to come.
 
Compare the one you are looking at to this one: FJ40, FJ45 & FJ55 Toyota Land Cruisers Classifieds

He wants $1K more than your guy and the 1980 FJ40 has head rests, fuel tank outside the cab, later model 2F (recently rebuilt no less), factory power steering. So what you'll see is nothing is going to be perfect, you have to decide what kind and how much work you are comfortable putting into it.

If you don't mind driving around with either primer spots or mismatched shades of paint for a while, I would focus on solid mechanicals then ease into the beautification.

I can see rust bubbling up in the rear 1/4's above the wheel wheel. The later FJ40's used 18 gauge steel instead of 16 gauge like they did up to about 1978.
 
a "my first 40" story, love it. My obsession to buy a 40 finally ended two weeks ago after six months of searching and a cross country (CA to GA) trip in a green bikini top 3/77 FJ40 :bounce:. My hearing is finally back to normal...I think.

I chose to pay a lil more on the front end to get some mods that i otherwise would have spent time and $$$$ trying to do myself.

Patience is obviously key. Don't worry about missing what appears to be a great deal, as another will come along shortly there after. And don't be afraid of nationwide searches, nothing like an adventure to solidify the bond with your new ride. And mechanics aside for a brief moment, you'll know how the 40 was taken care of by looking and listening to the previous owner...you should be looking for someone with sellers remorse, a fellow cruiser head. For that, I was okay with paying a lil more.

Good luck with your first purchase, can't wait to see the new ride!!

:beer:
 
I forgot to mention that the end of my year-long 40 search was only about 10 miles from home. Hadn't ever seen it before then one day there it is. He was saving it for his kids who ended up not wanting to drive a stick at college in the mountains. I think his wife had more anxiety about selling than he did.

--john
 
Griffin said:
r...you should be looking for someone with sellers remorse, a fellow cruiser head. For that, I was okay with paying a lil more.

Good luck with your first purchase, can't wait to see the new ride!!

:beer:
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Ive noticed the 'remorse'..had a few phone conversations that made me feel I was being interviewed - which is funny - but Ive never been grilled by a bank as much as I have been by someone selling their LC ... and my new rule of thumb is if they dont 'grill' me ...they probably didnt love it enough to take care of it.
 
sarca said:
'
Ive noticed the 'remorse'..had a few phone conversations that made me feel I was being interviewed - which is funny - but Ive never been grilled by a bank as much as I have been by someone selling their LC ... and my new rule of thumb is if they dont 'grill' me ...they probably didnt love it enough to take care of it.
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x2..when i got my fj40 num 4,a 1970 RHD Japanese Model..the guy ask me in the phone ,,What are your plans for? did you will put a V8 engine? cos this it's not for you then..bla bla bla...No love No show !!!
 
Sarca,
Welcome! After years without an FJ40 my wife found one and "talked" me into checking it out. I ended up with a nearly rust free 77 with water in the oil for $2750. Turned out to be freeze plugs and I have been driving it ever since with a short break to take the interior tub down to metal and doing the POR plus Durabak liner and can't talk myself into parking it long enough to do more. It runs great but I have a fresh 2F on the engine stand waiting for clutch time. Keep looking, don't settle for junk and you'll be on the road. Good luck on your search. There have been some great deals on the Seattle CL lately. Lots of us up here would be glad to check out a rig for you.
 
myquestoyota said:
Keep looking, don't settle for junk and you'll be on the road.
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x2 on this advice.

Keep in mind that rust issues and 40 prices will vary regionally. You have a huge network of Cruiser nerds at your disposal, so don't limit yourself to the east coast. Most of us would be happy to check out any truck you find.

Reiterating comments from Fast Eddy and others, calling a Land Cruiser an FJ is ambiguous. FJ could refer to a 25, 40, 55, 60, 62, or most recently an FJ Cruiser.

Call it a 40, please, and good luck with your quest. :cheers:
 
I found mine for around $4k- mind you this was 10 years ago now- and it was in great shape, not too much rust, and ran it that way for a long time. I didn't do anything to it for the first 4-5 years besides repairing occasional mechanical issues- starter, carb, brake booster, etc. I wasn't rich when I bought it- and still haven't found gold in my backyard- but I find a couple of dollars here and there and also from selling parts that I don't need anymore and upgrading to new things along the way. I might have put another $3-4k into it over the years and don't regret a penny of it. When I look at what a timing belt replacement cost me for my wife's acura, the FJ is bargain. Just look for solid body, electric that hasn't been fiddled with too much, and a half decent running engine. You'll be fine and just remember to enjoy the ride. You can click on my sig line to see what I started with. Just find your local cruiser club and you'll learn more in a afternoon about buying a FJ than in a weekend of asking questions on a forum. Cruiserheads are a great bunch and usually extremely helpful in lending a hand or answering a question. Good Luck!!
 
Welcome to Mud! Don't let some of the guys run you off, you can spend as little or as much as you want on your 40. The problem with them is that they become an obsession! Just buy one that you can drive and enjoy for right now, you can easily find that for 7K! Good luck! Here's what I have: https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/68646-how-i-spent-my-summer.html
After pulling the gas tank out because I had a leak I ended up taking the inside down to bare metal and repainting with rust preventative POR15 and bedliner. That's what happens though when you have the illness! Let us know when you buy and make sure you check out the tech links, a lot of good information on there. I was looking for a post I saw years ago that had all the things you needed to look for when buying a 40 but I can't find it, can anyone locate it for her?
 
That was fast, thanks Sea Knight. I'm definitely gonna save the link, some good stuff in there.
 
Dianna said:
Don't let some of the guys run you off, you can spend as little or as much as you want on your 40.
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I agree; there is a lot of room for individuality--different goals, different uses, and different budgets. One person will spend a few hundred bucks a year to keep her rig roadworthy and drive the heck out of it, while another person will drop 30 grand into a 40 and end up with a trail-only rig, while another person does a museum-quality restoration that takes it off the road for ten years. There are a lot of ways to love your Land Cruiser.
 
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i also tell people is buy the best you can afford up front, USUALLY the more you spend up front for the right vehicle the less you need to spend later to bring it back.

Congrats on your quest for an FJ40. I've owned a 1980 FJ40 since 1997. It had 76K on it and was all original and in very good condition. I paid $13K for it from the original owner(who lived in San Diego). I ended up w/ some body rot on the rear valance and around the lower edges of the rear 1/4 windows. I did the neccessary repairs and it turned into a 95% resto. The poor girl has turned into a 'trailer queen"......my fault, not her's. I dumped another $15K + in this phase. So, what's my advice? Well, if nothing else it's free.
Buy the best you can afford. Be picky, don't be rushed w/a certain timeline(this will be a lifetime adventure). Stick w/ a stock driveline. It is simple technology, very stout design, and relatively cheap to rebuild. Parts are mostly readily available thru SOR, Cool Cruisers, etc. PAY ATTENTION TO RUST. This will be, by far, the most expensive aspect of vehicle maintenance/repair/restoration. Hunt thru these wonderful forums and learn thru others experiences/mistakes. They don't make these rigs anymore, so scarcity is something you'll appreciate once you have your beloved baby. And get used to people stopping to talk w/ you when you're out w/ your baby. They are wonderful rigs, and deserve all your efforts to keep them running down the road. I can attest to the fact that owning one of these is a life changing event(like taking up flyfishing). Godspeed on your quest.:)
 
Buy someone else's hard work, but take someone in your area from mud. Use the clubhouse section to find the local fj40 club.


Even if you find a steal of a deal on a 1k truck, you will have far more than what a nice quick sale 7k rig has in it. Rig that have been sitting for sale for a long time are doing so for a reason. The nice ones go quickly.

Look for original paint with fading and patina with a solid sill, rockers, cowl and a 2f. Hard tops and doors!

This truck will not lie to you the way a repainted, engine swap truck will.

On the test drive:
Fold the windshield down if the top is off! Test the 4wd, take it up to speed on the highway.

Use the list alert and keep it up every day.

I use craigs pro app on my iphone. I can search specific towns in the entire state of texas i am willjng to travel to for the truck or parts i need.
 
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