Wanted FJ40 for My First Car and DD

1st- About me: For those of you who dont know my name's Brysen and im 16 and looking for a 40 for my first car and daily driver. I fell in love with 40's since i first laid eyes on one and my heart and mind is set on getting one (there's no talking me out of it seriously). I live in Charlotte,NC so its a bit of a challenge finding one around where I live, but I'm willing to travel to find the "right" one. I've been looking for over a year now, and have been on mid since march so i know something about 40's and cruisers (or at least i think i do haha). Ive talked with many members of my local club ONSC and I've got a tread on their page as well. I'm just ready to find the right one and hopefully y'all can help me out in some way or another.


2nd The Search Story: Still looking for a 40 for my first car and daily driver. Willing to travel a bit but I live in Charlotte,NC so it's gonna be a challenge to find one close by in my area. Don't really have a preference on year, but if life was perfect I'd like a later model one with the 2f, amby doors, etc. but like I said that's not my main focus and I'll be satisfied with any year as long as it's a 40 haha. The biggest thing that Id like is the body to be as rust free as possible (I know since they're older that they won't be perfect) and for it to be as mechanically sound as possible to begin with (again I know that they're older and it won't be perfect, and I'm going to have problems). I want to be able to learn and work on it myself and be able to fix it on my own (of course with the help of all of y'all too). My price cap is around 8k and I know what most of y'all are gonna say is that most of the really nice dd are 15k or more and they are but I'm not looking for a fancy sports car or something fresh off the assembly line and I'm not looking for a street racer. It's gonna be my dd to school,work,church, and around town. I'm not gonna be trying to go on cross country trips or fly 100 mph down the road so please don't think I'm some naive kid, because I'm not and I've done my hw and I'm on mud all the time reading and learning as much as possible. I love 40's and cruisers in general and want to be able to own one of my own and and preserve these great and legendary vehicles. Thanks for helping me out and please let me know if you have one for sale or if you know of any for sale. Thanks again. Contact me through pm on mud, post a reply here, or text or call me on my cell anytime at 704-516-4029 (if I don't reply right away leave a message and I'll get back to you ASAP). I'm serious about getting one and I know what I'm getting into so don't think I'm way in over my head cause I'm not. Thanks again and let me know.

-Brysen

 

[otool79]

If he asking 7500, doubt he will go under 6k for it. If starting out not a bad option tho. Yeah it's got a Chevy motor but parts super cheap and plentiful, and your pops prolly is familiar and could show ya stuff. Some good memories I had with my pops was working on my 65 chevelle. Possible good rig to " cut your teeth on ". If it's your first vehicle, I don't care how careful you try to be, ya gonna bang it up. Keep that in mind. You WILL bang it up. Trust me. Your young, dive in and figure it all out later dude. Just saying, don't be sooo overly cautious, good opportunities cruise by. ( no pun intended ) IMHO . Good luck ! Oh, and after ya get your 40, take it easy on the ladies, they will be flocking ! Hahaha

 

[greenbeast]

Brysen
My point is shoot for something around 5k that is mechanically sound. Don't be in hurry, the baby blue rig I found would be great cruiser for first car. It looks good and seems to be very reliable without any leaks but needs some body work. I would let my son drive this one but seriously doubt I would let him take my nice one without me in it.
When monies tight you will want something that will still drive, not something that looks good but won't run.

Many folks do the Chevy swap, I'm just too much of a purist but whatever floats your boat. Your gonna use and abuse your first car sooner or later plan on it! That's the fun of having a 5k rig instead of a 10k rig. It hurts a lot less with the cheaper one when something happens. I will keep looking but check out the blue one in Augusta, Ga.
Jon

 

[roy boy]

where did you see one in augusta ga.

 

[FJEnthusiast123]

So I've decided to go in somewhat of a different direction in my search for a 40 for my first car and daily driver. Long story short I'm going to buy one for about 1-2k with as solid of a body as possible and use the rest of the money in my budget, to fix-build it up over time. That being said does anyone know of any or have one in the 75-78 year range for that price? Needs to be titled as well of course. Will consider a early year if the body is in good shape. Let me know. The help is greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.

-Brysen

 

[FJEnthusiast123]

Any leads?

 

[Cocobills]

Brysen, contact me for a '78 diesel BJ40 in Costa Rica, real nice! 10k plus 1200 to ship to Miami. Come on down, inspect and drive it, pay for it and watch it load on the ship! Bill Sswampgass@gmail.com

 

[FJEnthusiast123]

Brysen, contact me for a '78 diesel BJ40 in Costa Rica, real nice! 10k plus 1200 to ship to Miami. Come on down, inspect and drive it, pay for it and watch it load on the ship! Bill Sswampgass@gmail.com

She's nice and all but a little bit too much for what I'm looking for right now and I can't come to Costa Rica. Glws though.

 

[FJEnthusiast123]

Anybody know of any around on the east coast? I live in Charlotte, NC but we're willing to travel to find the right one.

 

[overton]

I like your spirit but my advice is to get a nice used Camry and save the rest for gas and college. FJ40's are uber-cool, gas guzzling, low performance vehicles. At 16, you need something reliable and cheap you can jump in and drive wherever you need to go in relative comfort. If you buy a $1500 project, you will have $10K (or more...perhaps much more) into it before you know it. Anything on the east coast for less than $5K is going to be a rusted out POS! It's questionable if you will EVER be able to recoup the investment not to mention all the hours that you will have invested.

 

[Gun Runner 5]

I like your spirit but my advice is to get a nice used Camry and save the rest for gas and college. FJ40's are uber-cool, gas guzzling, low performance vehicles. At 16, you need something reliable and cheap you can jump in and drive wherever you need to go in relative comfort. If you buy a $1500 project, you will have $10K (or more...perhaps much more) into it before you know it. Anything on the east coast for less than $5K is going to be a rusted out POS! It's questionable if you will EVER be able to recoup the investment not to mention all the hours that you will have invested.

Counter opinion: I bought my son a 1971 Land Rover Series lll when he turned 15.
He learned how to drive it ( manual gearbox & RHD ) and drove it until he left for college. He is 28 and still has fond memories of that ole Rover.

 

[overton]

Counter opinion: I bought my son a 1971 Land Rover Series lll when he turned 15.
He learned how to drive it ( manual gearbox & RHD ) and drove it until he left for college. He is 28 and still has fond memories of that ole Rover.

The words "I bought my son" make all the difference. If you can get Dad to buy it, go for it!

 

[Gun Runner 5]

I was referring more to the "joy" of ownership than the "cost" of ownership.

 

[84BJ42Pharo]

https://forum.ih8mud.com/fj40-bj40/797016-84-bj42-feeler.html