About time to actually say hello! As is often the case long time lurker on this fantastic forum and now decided it is time to get more involved.
No stranger to cruisers, they are part of the family by now and we've had a few. My family live out in Zimbabwe and have been playing with land cruisers for the last 3 generations.
My grandfather had various 45 series pickups, he used to buy them to do up and flip as weekend projects with his sons. Dad's first car was a FJ45 back in the late 80's, and he still has the HJ60 he and my grandfather did a nut and bolt resto on in the late 90's - all original and with only 80K miles on the clock. Time moves on and he now daily drives a 250 'Prado' as we call them which he seems pretty happy with.
A couple of years ago we found a "well used" LJ71 to be my first car and I promptly learnt how much money you can spend on the noble trail of trying to bring them back to as new condition. Over a long while it has had wheels, tyres, springs, shocks, bushes, a complete engine rebuild including boring out, new oversize pistons, rings, new head (2LTE = will crack head one day), a complete respray in the original red pearl and loads of other little bits. Part of me wishes I swapped the 2LT for a 1UZ but dad decided there was no way 18 year old me was running round in a shorty with a V8. I've come to love the 2.4 turbo diesel and it's quirks, it is slow but look after it and it will always bring you home. Plus turbo noises... One very lucky boy, couldn't ask for a better first car and it won't be going anywhere.
There's a BJ40 in pieces the shed as well that dad and I picked up a couple of years ago waiting for when we get round to a full nut and bolt resto on it. We can't decide whether to keep it original and put the 2F sitting in the corner in it or put the body on top of a shortened Surf chassis (4Runner for the Americans here). I've cut one down in anticipation and the thought process if we did was keep the surf running gear, 1uz and auto box - be a cool weekend car. But dad is now quite keen to keep it original and I see where he's coming from. Time will tell
Anyways, none of this is 100 series relevant yet but don't worry we'll get there. I'm at uni in the UK and have roughly 18 months till I finish. A group of mates and I have decided when we finish our course we're going to drive from London all the way down Europe, ferry across to morocco and continue all the way down to Cape Town (because why not) before going back up a bit to my house in Zimbabwe. There are 6 of us and currently the idea is 3 pairs with a car each.
Cue the brits and their love for Land Rovers, one pair immediately went out and acquired (read: rescued from the scrapyard) a Freelander 1 (yuck) and the other pair are hunting for a discovery 1 / range rover classic with the 300tdi (better, but still...)
Thankfully the mate in my car has a bit of sense and agreed there were better options, so after initially considering taking the Ssangyong Rexton (Mercedes ML with a Korean body) in the yard at his farm I let my heart overpower my brain and we bought the car I've always wanted for a dream trip. A 2001 100 series with 148k miles and the 1HD-FTE that I've been in love with since I first heard the sound of one. Obviously 100 series and student budget don't go in the same sentence - we got ours slightly cheaper as the previous owner was cut up doing a U-turn and the car has a damaged fender and bumper as well as a broken steering rack as the front right wheel took all the force. Bit of work to do but good nick otherwise. All completely working and well spec'd as it is the European 'Amazon' with AHC, rear diff lock and all the rest.
I will try to keep this thread up to date with all the work that goes in preparing the car and then hopefully the trip itself. Plan is to get the hundy (we still need a name for it) back on the road and 'baselined' (that word scares me) and then DIY front and rear bumpers and spare tire carriers, as well as roof tent, long range tanks, winches, lights, camping kit and all the rest. Should be fun.
I'm also a big fan of AHC from the African roads back home, and whilst I know there will be some good debates on here about overlanding a 25 year old cruiser through Africa with AHC I've decided what the hell. It will be serviced and augmented for the load and worst case scenario we end up on our bump stops for a little while and find some non-AHC springs in the next closest place. Remember there's a Freelander 1 in this convoy so I think we're allowed to take our chances and if it goes wrong at least he will have a smile about it being someone else this time...
Couple of pics below
Dad and I with our toys
My 71
Picking up the 40, body wasn't actually bolted onto the chassis hence all the straps
The mighty 100 looking a bit sorry when we picked it up (but not for long)
No stranger to cruisers, they are part of the family by now and we've had a few. My family live out in Zimbabwe and have been playing with land cruisers for the last 3 generations.
My grandfather had various 45 series pickups, he used to buy them to do up and flip as weekend projects with his sons. Dad's first car was a FJ45 back in the late 80's, and he still has the HJ60 he and my grandfather did a nut and bolt resto on in the late 90's - all original and with only 80K miles on the clock. Time moves on and he now daily drives a 250 'Prado' as we call them which he seems pretty happy with.
A couple of years ago we found a "well used" LJ71 to be my first car and I promptly learnt how much money you can spend on the noble trail of trying to bring them back to as new condition. Over a long while it has had wheels, tyres, springs, shocks, bushes, a complete engine rebuild including boring out, new oversize pistons, rings, new head (2LTE = will crack head one day), a complete respray in the original red pearl and loads of other little bits. Part of me wishes I swapped the 2LT for a 1UZ but dad decided there was no way 18 year old me was running round in a shorty with a V8. I've come to love the 2.4 turbo diesel and it's quirks, it is slow but look after it and it will always bring you home. Plus turbo noises... One very lucky boy, couldn't ask for a better first car and it won't be going anywhere.
There's a BJ40 in pieces the shed as well that dad and I picked up a couple of years ago waiting for when we get round to a full nut and bolt resto on it. We can't decide whether to keep it original and put the 2F sitting in the corner in it or put the body on top of a shortened Surf chassis (4Runner for the Americans here). I've cut one down in anticipation and the thought process if we did was keep the surf running gear, 1uz and auto box - be a cool weekend car. But dad is now quite keen to keep it original and I see where he's coming from. Time will tell
Anyways, none of this is 100 series relevant yet but don't worry we'll get there. I'm at uni in the UK and have roughly 18 months till I finish. A group of mates and I have decided when we finish our course we're going to drive from London all the way down Europe, ferry across to morocco and continue all the way down to Cape Town (because why not) before going back up a bit to my house in Zimbabwe. There are 6 of us and currently the idea is 3 pairs with a car each.
Cue the brits and their love for Land Rovers, one pair immediately went out and acquired (read: rescued from the scrapyard) a Freelander 1 (yuck) and the other pair are hunting for a discovery 1 / range rover classic with the 300tdi (better, but still...)
Thankfully the mate in my car has a bit of sense and agreed there were better options, so after initially considering taking the Ssangyong Rexton (Mercedes ML with a Korean body) in the yard at his farm I let my heart overpower my brain and we bought the car I've always wanted for a dream trip. A 2001 100 series with 148k miles and the 1HD-FTE that I've been in love with since I first heard the sound of one. Obviously 100 series and student budget don't go in the same sentence - we got ours slightly cheaper as the previous owner was cut up doing a U-turn and the car has a damaged fender and bumper as well as a broken steering rack as the front right wheel took all the force. Bit of work to do but good nick otherwise. All completely working and well spec'd as it is the European 'Amazon' with AHC, rear diff lock and all the rest.
I will try to keep this thread up to date with all the work that goes in preparing the car and then hopefully the trip itself. Plan is to get the hundy (we still need a name for it) back on the road and 'baselined' (that word scares me) and then DIY front and rear bumpers and spare tire carriers, as well as roof tent, long range tanks, winches, lights, camping kit and all the rest. Should be fun.
I'm also a big fan of AHC from the African roads back home, and whilst I know there will be some good debates on here about overlanding a 25 year old cruiser through Africa with AHC I've decided what the hell. It will be serviced and augmented for the load and worst case scenario we end up on our bump stops for a little while and find some non-AHC springs in the next closest place. Remember there's a Freelander 1 in this convoy so I think we're allowed to take our chances and if it goes wrong at least he will have a smile about it being someone else this time...
Couple of pics below
Dad and I with our toys
My 71
Picking up the 40, body wasn't actually bolted onto the chassis hence all the straps
The mighty 100 looking a bit sorry when we picked it up (but not for long)
