Intro

[505 crusher]

Hola, I'm Chad from Albuquerque. I've been debating for a while if I should join, as I don't have a lot of free time, but it seems like you folks don't demand a lot from members, and it would be nice to be in touch with others with worse Land Cruiser addictions than I have. I'm a member of a biodiesel co-op that I never have time for, but I'm whittling down the cars in my yard and soon I won't own any more diesels (that run). Can I send in a check, or should I just plan on getting to a meeting?

I own an 85 fj60 that I run as a daily driver. I've had it for about 2 years now, and rebuilt or repaired most of the major expensive components and systems. I hope my poser camera phone pic is up to HDC standards. We just took it 1000+ miles without a hitch over the long weekend up 285 to Denver and back to catch a 15 inning Giants game. Got home this afternoon averaging 15.5 highway. I rarely exceeded 65 mph, but with a new record for that truck's mileage I couldn't be happier.

I was born in Colorado, and raised in the far north valley. Moved to Denver after HS to get some technical training and start a career, lived and worked there for about 4 years, moved to the western slope and worked as a lift mechanic at a ski area for as long as I could with a wife and 1 year old at the time. Ended up in LA chasing the best jobs, back on career track "A". Burnout and homesickness kicked in after five years in the people's republic, so the fam and I made our way home for blue skies and fresh air. We live within a square mile of where my wife and I both grew up.

With the economy tanking as I moved home, it was hard to find work. So I started taking on clients, buying and selling cars, cutting firewood, got a CDL that has never been used, basically doing whatever it took to get it done. Here I am 3 years later a small business owner, with a roof over my head and a decent place to work that's close to home and my son's school. That's it in a nutshell, I've been lurking a while, the intranets still kind of freak me out, so I'm not a big poster. This is where I get the newb salute, right?

 

[sirenmoses]

Chad, yr a man after my own heart. official newbie salute deliverd, tho sumbody mighta swooped me before I pushed send.

whew: made it.

I too had to whittle down rigs, running and not, and believe that LC's and k9's go together like pbj sammy's.

I've made a whopping one meeting, and one mild wheeln trip, but these guys are brothers enuf to harass me for not getting out there, finishing my build, etc. They've also hooked me up w/goodies (and vice versa), hooked me up w/ Robbie the wrench and didn't charge me shop time, or parts delivery, and would give me the shirt off their backs if I had none. (after they took pix, I'm sure)

So... Welcome, even though I'm not an official member. If I did join a club, it'd be this one. Tons of great folks here, including the best OEM parts-dude in NA.

 

[78Cruzr]

Welcome!

 

[Daisy 53]

Welcome!!

 

[BionicCruiser]

welcome! I say come to a meeting. if you like you can join officially there. no hurry. we are a laid back group.

 

[FJGuy]

Camera pic or not - that is a nice looking 60! Any other shots?

 

[moabbound]

As a fellow newb. Greetings! Great looking 60 you got there.

 

[marcfj60]

There's no requirement to join the club to be able to post here. But if you hang around enough we'll harrass you like we do sirenmoses. She's threatened to send her money in several times but just can't seem to follow through. Welcome.

 

[Cruisergreg]

Another 60! Beowulf will be losing sleep.

 

[505 crusher]

Thanks for the warm welcome, I'll see if I can dig up any more pictures. I bought this 60 here in town, it was originally from Deming, so it's not rusty. I spotted a handful of these rigs in Denver over the holiday, but they all seemed to have major cancer. I looked over a few before I bought this one, the lack of rust is what sold me on it, even though it was smoking out the tailpipe.

It's not as nice in real life. It was originally silver, the PO painted it a mildly ugly pearl white, apparently the painter didn't budget for primer or sandpaper, so it has a lot of bad spots. I'm scared to wash it, any time I do paint peels. This is a truck that I can trust to get me in and out of some pretty hairy spots, so dents and scratches are normal, I don't sweat the cosmetics so much.

I'm going to try to make the meeting this week, depends if I can get done with work at a reasonable time.

 

[evanz80]

Welcome! If it works with your schedule, come on out to the meeting. Bring your family and your truck and get acquainted with everyone.

Evan

 

[Beowulf]

Another 60! Beowulf will be losing sleep.

I'll lose sleep anyway due to real life getting in the way of these obsessive hobbies of ours.

What would surprise me though is to start seeing some of these FJ60s show up for any of our off-roading events or camping trips or expeditions. Other than Jon's recently finished FJ40, all I ever see is the occasional picture of an FJ60 or pictures of the twenty or so FJ40s that guys claim to be working on all the time. Hell, I've seen more Isuzu VX's out on the trail and camping trips than I have FJ60s so far this year.

However, I do see Onur now has a full-time job selling Land Cruiser parts to the non-80 owners and I see a lot of FJ40 and FJ60 parts trading and swapping going on. I also see that Cruiserdan is too busy to come to meetings and he keeps buying new boy toys and always has a smile on his face so the Toyota parts business must be doing OK.

Seems like this club is just a bunch of old guys that e-mail more than they wheel. (Old joke for the newbies. )

-Mike-

 

[pappy]

Hey! Keep me out of this.

 

[frobuster]

welcome.

 

[alia176]

Chad,

Welcome and we look forward to having you join us on trail runs and camp outs...