Media FJ40 Pics from "Back in the day" (70's, 80's)
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The brand of those shorts was Sportif. That's all I wore other than cutoffs
Real tough with a little stretch to them
Real tough with a little stretch to them
My first landcruiser! 1974 fj40 ! Early 1980's trail rides-mud runs-truck pulls-even car shows! My daily driver! It was my only vehicle. Fast forward to 2017 and I have owned 25 landcruisers over all these years!
Ha! I put a set of Desert Dog recaps on my '68 FJ40 for it's first run through the Dusy-Ershim in 1986. $35bux a tire!
I think my earliest pics of the 40 are all from that year. I'll try to remember to dig them out.
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The Desert Dog recaps came from a local tire shop that supplied tires to the company I worked for. When I was club racing I went to the tire shop owner and asked for some sponsorship help and he donated the tires. They worked very well! I raced for two years on that set, 18 starts with 13 first place finishes and one third. Won a total of $600. I believe the racing years were '77 and '78.
Well folks, this is what started it all for me! First day of ownership. Sixteen years old. March, 1978. Castro Valley, California.
Look at that smile!!
Found a couple of more photos: Bouldering at Spicer Reservoir, Hathaway Pines, California circa 1979. Also pictured is my buddy's lime green '69 FJ40 hard top with a Warn winch on front.
Then.....off to college. Davis, California, 1980.
Photo in my avatar also taken in Davis in 1980
Then.....off to college. Davis, California, 1980.
Photo in my avatar also taken in Davis in 1980
Ok, I found a few more. If I'm posting too many photos, let me know! The following photos depict the trip to Alaska with two of my buddies. Took us five days to get get from the SF Bay Area to Valdez, and those were some rough days. The FJ40 performed awesome, though. No mechanical problems whatsoever. One of the Tru-Tracs blew out after it ran low on air and we didn't notice (kept driving on a nearly flat tire). Tire got hot and popped. All photos: July, 1983
Here is three more, one taken on the Alcan Highway and two taken in Valdez.
I still have a few more photos to post, but still have to dig them out!
I still have a few more photos to post, but still have to dig them out!
Awesome!!! Keep posting pictures!!!
At the foot of Sheridan Glacier, near the airport, Cordova, Alaska.
On the shore of Eyak Lake with Mt. Eccles in backround, Cordova, Alaska. Both photos: August, 1983
On the shore of Eyak Lake with Mt. Eccles in backround, Cordova, Alaska. Both photos: August, 1983
Agreed, keep posting! This is my favorite thread
I agree. Cool pics and great thread.
This thread may need to be a sticky.
I love the pic in front of the Watson Lake Hotel--- I think there's a late 70's era Ford LTD station wagon there to the right. It's a far cry from a Land Cruiser but I had a hand-me-down 78 country squire as my first car. At the time, it was the antithesis of cool. Now I miss it.
College years: One of my roomates at UC Davis was Mike Duey. His parents owned a cabin up in Graniteville. Graniteville was (and probably still is today) accessible by gravel road. Anyway, Mike told me that he knew a gentleman in Graniteville that had a 1962 FJ40 that he was willing to give away, if I was willing to come get it. We drove up there one Saturday and, on the way, we stopped at Malakoff Diggins State Park, just in time to see the demo of a "monitor" which is a water cannon used in hydraulic mining. Notice that Mike (and myself) were the only spectators at that particular demonstration. Anyway, we arrived in Graniteville and found the 1962 FJ40 in the condition pictured. We hauled away the engine (which had already been removed) and the tranny/transer case on that day. We rented a trailer and came back a couple of weeks later. Brought the carcass to our rented house at 1826 Imperial Ave in Davis and stripped it for parts. Brought the frame and body tub to the scrap yard. I could kick myself for scrapping this FJ40, because it was salvageable with parts that I would eventually procure in short order. But I had no place to put it, etc etc. I still have the title for this vehicle. Most of the small parts are in boxes. I kept those jumpseats and doors for "many years" moving them with me each time I moved, but when I began to accumulate too much stuff, I finally had to throw them away. Foolish, I know. All three photos: 1985
Did not want to monopolize this thread, but I could not resist posting a couple of more (I have hundreds of FJ40 photos, but I'm only posting the "good ones"). Here are some young people enjoying their FJ40s! High school years. On our way down to swim in the Stanislaus River in Calaveras County, California. The paved road in the one photo is State Highway 4. First photo taken at friend's cabin in Blue Lake Springs, on the outskirts of Arnold, CA. My friend's FJ40 (the red one) was probably one of the first ones in our neighborhood and his dad bought it brand new. It was a 1970 model. Looks great in these photos, but it was doomed to be thrashed by the three sons as each reached driving age. Sadly, I've lost contact with virtually everyone in those photos. All photos: circa 1979.
OK, I've almost exhausted my collection of photos. These are getting pretty boring, but thought I'd post anyway as a tribute to the number of miles I put on my FJ40 back in the day. Off to medical school. During these years, I became "very familiar" with Interstate 10 between Pomona, California and New Orleans, Louisiana. I rented a U-Haul trailer to bring my belongings to New Orleans (photo with the U-Haul taken at a remote rest stop in Arizona, between Willcox and Benson). While living in New Orleans, I stumbled across a light green 1972 FJ40 for sale that did not have a title - $500. The seller told me that this Land Cruiser came from Puerto Rico and pointed out that it came from the factory with no heater (not sure if that was true, but indeed the FJ40 had no heater). I was smart enough to buy it, but then I was dumb enough to tow it back to my parents house in the San Francisco Bay Area (would not have attempted this if I knew then what I know now, etc etc). Miraculously though, I made it with no problems. Several photos taken along the way, all of them taken in the Desert Southwest (East Texas, New Mexico, Arizona). All photos: 1987 or maybe 1988
