I just found this website. I can't believe there is a 45LV resto site I have never seen before. The guy did a sill. This is from the STC website referred by Peter.
Studio Time Capsule(S.T.C) - Restoration of FJ45LV.
That is my old LV Shin is restoring. He is an interesting guy, for sure.
Kind of funny how he came to get the rig from me. First, Marv called me out of the blue to see if by chance I still had an LV, and if so would I be interested in selling it. The thing had been sitting for a year, and I was thinking of putting it up for sale anyways. I figured this was a sign that it was time to let her go.
I spoke to Shin on the phone several times before he came to get the truck. I knew that restoring cars was his gig, so I assumed he would show up with a trailer to tow the truck back to his shop, which is an hour or two from my house. Was I ever surprised when he pulled up in a Jaguar with a friend, who he said was going to drive the Cruiser back.
The rig had not run in a year, and I did not know much about it anyways because I only put 20 or so miles on it the entire time I owned it. My intention when I bought it was to fix it into a trail rig, but I never found any time at all to put into her. But, I had a few gallons of fresh gas in the garage which we dumped into the tank, hooked up a good battery, and she fired right up! Three pumps of the brakes, and they were nice and hard, and she seemed ready for the voyage.
I was still a bit concerned though, because it was quite hot out that day, and I was not sure how reliable the cooling system was. But I told Shin that and he wanted to go for it, so off they went.
Later that night, my phone rang, and I see Shin's number on the caller ID. I was afraid he was going to tell me they were stranded on the side of the road or something, but that was not the case at all. He actually called to tell me how great it did on the ride. He was gushing through the phone as he told me they did 70mph the whole trip, and passed several much newer SUVs that were broken down/overheated on the side of the freeway. He also liked all the comment he got when they stopped for gas then again for lunch.
I just love a story like that!
Anyways, I am excited to know of his website so I can see what he is doing with the truck. His intention is to restore it to look just as it did when it rolled of the assembly line in 1966. When he finishes, it is going to Portugal to live in a private Toyota museum. Pretty cool!
As for me, I still have another LV in the garage, which is all original, and in pretty good shape. One day I would like to restore it, but I need to save my $$ as I will have to pay somebody else to do it.
