After 30 years of aching and moaning, I finally secured my own FJ40 and I'm all sorts of stoked. Bought from All Terrain Motorsports in Woodstock, GA and trailered her back to her forever home in Charleston, SC.
1971 FJ40
Overall - In my view, she's an absolute beauty for a 50yo FJ that was likely used as a hunting wagon on some giant ranch in Texas. She's got a Chevy 350 that runs and sounds super solid (behold, the power!). A little rust overall, but very, very little compared to pretty much every other non-restored FJ I've come across.
Main issue is she seems to be stuck in low gear. Transfer knob (I'm sure I'm calling that wrong) that should facilitate the switch from 2wd to 4wd only works in one position. Essentially in neutral (no gears) in what I believe to be the high gear. She's a good and smooth ride, but I'm close to 5k RPM by the time I'm at 40mph. Open to insight on this one.
Upfront... I'm no purist on this one. She's already got Chevy parts and that sweet Camo paint job so no need to pretend I'm getting her back to factory specs. No highway use planned, just want to make her a reliable daily driver that my wife, four kids and me can enjoy whenever the need presents, whether to the shop or the beach.
A few specifics, in no um... specific order:
Paint - Perfectly patina'd Duck Camo. This is my favorite part!
Engine - Aforementioned Chevy 350.
Transmission - Believed to be original 3-speed. Shifts fine… but seems stuck in Low
Exterior - Light rust here and there, but nothing of major concern.
Frame - Barely a spot of rust that I've seen! Whooo!
Interior - Decent, but will take some cleaning and a few fresh stitches
Dash - Pretty much nothing works (except that cool little map light on the passenger side). Tach works, but no speedo. Haven't checked the odometer, but hey... let's not kid ourselves.
Glass - All in good shape. Haven't checked out seals.
Roof - Lip/rim is degraded on passenger side, there's a busted vent attached to the top and she needs a fresh headliner. Strong candidate for replacement.
Seats - Driver side seat needs replaced but nearly all else in solid shape
A/C - Present.
Heater - I think so.
Radio - Yeah, right.
Floor - Solid, all around. Not a single soft spot that I’ve found (so far).
Lights - This thing could brighten up a small city there are so many lights.
Battery - New, but she was dang near dead after 5 minutes with those lights on and the motor off.
Doors - Solid, but could use a good cleaning and new seals.
Windows - They go up, they go down. No issues.
Wheels - Oversize, brand new tread, chrome rims. Would like to add a couple inches of lift and paint the wheels white (or swap for white). Spare matches the other four.
Winch - There is a wench. Doesn't appear to be connected.
Bumpers - Heaven help the poor soul who runs into these things. Like they welded a brick house onto the front and back of a brick house.
1971 FJ40
Overall - In my view, she's an absolute beauty for a 50yo FJ that was likely used as a hunting wagon on some giant ranch in Texas. She's got a Chevy 350 that runs and sounds super solid (behold, the power!). A little rust overall, but very, very little compared to pretty much every other non-restored FJ I've come across.
Main issue is she seems to be stuck in low gear. Transfer knob (I'm sure I'm calling that wrong) that should facilitate the switch from 2wd to 4wd only works in one position. Essentially in neutral (no gears) in what I believe to be the high gear. She's a good and smooth ride, but I'm close to 5k RPM by the time I'm at 40mph. Open to insight on this one.
Upfront... I'm no purist on this one. She's already got Chevy parts and that sweet Camo paint job so no need to pretend I'm getting her back to factory specs. No highway use planned, just want to make her a reliable daily driver that my wife, four kids and me can enjoy whenever the need presents, whether to the shop or the beach.
A few specifics, in no um... specific order:
Paint - Perfectly patina'd Duck Camo. This is my favorite part!
Engine - Aforementioned Chevy 350.
Transmission - Believed to be original 3-speed. Shifts fine… but seems stuck in Low
Exterior - Light rust here and there, but nothing of major concern.
Frame - Barely a spot of rust that I've seen! Whooo!
Interior - Decent, but will take some cleaning and a few fresh stitches
Dash - Pretty much nothing works (except that cool little map light on the passenger side). Tach works, but no speedo. Haven't checked the odometer, but hey... let's not kid ourselves.
Glass - All in good shape. Haven't checked out seals.
Roof - Lip/rim is degraded on passenger side, there's a busted vent attached to the top and she needs a fresh headliner. Strong candidate for replacement.
Seats - Driver side seat needs replaced but nearly all else in solid shape
A/C - Present.
Heater - I think so.
Radio - Yeah, right.
Floor - Solid, all around. Not a single soft spot that I’ve found (so far).
Lights - This thing could brighten up a small city there are so many lights.
Battery - New, but she was dang near dead after 5 minutes with those lights on and the motor off.
Doors - Solid, but could use a good cleaning and new seals.
Windows - They go up, they go down. No issues.
Wheels - Oversize, brand new tread, chrome rims. Would like to add a couple inches of lift and paint the wheels white (or swap for white). Spare matches the other four.
Winch - There is a wench. Doesn't appear to be connected.
Bumpers - Heaven help the poor soul who runs into these things. Like they welded a brick house onto the front and back of a brick house.
Last edited:
