That’s kinda dirty.
Is owning a Pig a sign of aging?
- Thread starter greenbeast
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- Thread starter
- #82
This is sign of aging, daughter getting senior pics today. She wanted to use our old Ford. Figure Bob would get a kick out of it.
- Thread starter
- #87
That fella has more common sense then I could ever hope for. This only stands if he meant to do this.
Mom and Dads 84 Lincoln had small tree under it one morning when they woke up. I wasn't being dishonest when I said I didn't known how it happened. Amazing I am alive these days from my antics while I was in my youth.
Mom and Dads 84 Lincoln had small tree under it one morning when they woke up. I wasn't being dishonest when I said I didn't known how it happened. Amazing I am alive these days from my antics while I was in my youth.
.
or OCD!
I’m 56 and agree on the original stupidity comment. I saw my dad get a little grumpy as he got older and said I would never go that way. Well I am now a little grumpy too but really mostly pretty happy. I have a great wife of 33 years and all four of our children are married to great spouses. Just waiting for grandchildren. I’m a Partner at one of the Big 4 accounting firms, but I am on the consulting side. My firm requires me to retire at 60 which is great with me. More cruiser time ahead. I grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in upstate NY and was the first in my family of six to go to college. I didn’t buy my first car until I was 23 because I had to pay for my own college, and I also had to save money to serve as a missionary for my church. My dad was a car guy and always wanted to teach me how to wrench. I told him I was not interested and wanted to go to college. Skip ahead. In 2007 I bought my wife a 2006 Land Cruiser off eBay with 39k miles. I only buy used cars even though I can now afford new ones. Five years later she said she wanted a new car. I paid $1000 to have her Land Cruiser super detailed and it literally looked brand new. She smiled, gave me a hug, and said thanks. Six months later she said she wanted a new car, so we bought a used 2010 Lexus RX450H. I went to sell the 2006 LC at CarMax and they offered me $24k. I drove it away thinking there must be something special about that truck. I did some internet searching and found it was indeed special so I kept it. It became my daily driver. Still have it and don’t plan on ever getting rid of it. Of course it now has BFG KO2’s, sliders, bumper, and skids. More importantly it now goes offroad including annual trips to Silverton. A few years after my dad passed away, I decided I wanted to buy an old car and learn how to wrench. Four years ago I decided I wanted a FJ55 because it was quirky looking but the front grille and turn signals on the fenders really spoke to me. I figured I could teach myself to work on an old truck with an in-line six like the pig. Simple compared to modern computer cars. That’s what YouTube is for right? Ha! I spent two years flying to different states looking at FJ55‘s that were for sale. Most of them barely ran and were rust buckets. I wanted something original that drove and had less rust. I actually test drove an old Jonathan Ward TLC 4x4 FJ55. It was the best one I saw but had an LS swap which I didn’t want. I offered $35k for it, but the guy wanted closer to $50. Asked if I could go to $45k. I walked. A few weeks later he sold it on BAT for l$85k. I finally found one up in Washington. Ran pretty good and appeared to have minimal rust. I bought my 1969 FJ55 for $6000 and had it shipped home to Las Vegas. None of the lights worked…none of them. It took me almost six months to figure out the wiring. I spent a million hours on YouTube and IH8MUD learning about ground wires and relays. My wife and kids started calling me a YouTube mechanic! But I got all the lights working. I have driven my pig about 600 miles in total. That’s about when it overheated and cylinders 2 & 3 ended up at barely 30 during a compression test. After some research I decided I could have the engine rebuilt or buy a new engine. I decided to go with the latter option. Then one thing led to another. I completely stripped the rig and am about a year in with a frame on resto-mod. My older brother…who did work with my dad to learn about cars…and his friend, a retired old school mechanic with his own three garage shop with two lifts…are helping me. I couldn’t be happier and I know my dad is looking down and thinking “it’s about time.” I promised BobM I would start a build thread, but all I have is a ton of pictures. I do post my build on Instagram…like a teenage girl according to Bob! Ha! Some day I’ll bring my rig to a Pig Party or SAS or SSS and meet some of you. Pig owners are a great group. Many have helped me so far. Sort of funny but I don’t have a picture of me and my pig, so here is one of me, my wife, and my 100 on Poser Rock on Imogene Pass.
Awesome story. I'd love to get my wife down to Ouray... but she has a fear of being on the edge of a very step slope so I'm not sure I can make it happen. Took my 55 to SAS and it was great - would love to take my 200 at some point.
. Why I keep getting blamed for all sorts of 
lately?? Dat how you guys stay outta trouble 
“Bob said it was a good idea!”
Yup. That’s what I told my wife => Bob said I should fix all the rust and floor panels and frame mounts on my pig. She replied that if Bob said I should well then I definitely should. She also asked if Bob had a spare bedroom for me! Ha!
Bobm’s Rock of Ages Retirement Home For FJ55 Owners Who Have Been Cast Out.
aka The Pig Pharm
aka The Pig Pharm
I'm late to this party, as I haven't been on the forum for a bit. But, man, this thread really resonates with me. Both as a grumpy(ish) guy turning 50 this year, a Doc trying to stay sane in the field, and as a once and almost certainly future Pig owner.
I didn't grow up with cruisers. My Dad was a die hard Chevy man. I grew up with 63-67 corvettes, 55-57 Chevy trucks, and a handful of muscle cars as a backdrop to my childhood. Dad is a Suburban Man as a DD, still to this day. Land Cruisers were "Jap Junk" and there were none to be found in my household.
I did pick up this truck recently during my cruiser purge. Mainly so my Dad would have one to use in his waning years. We actually have 3 of them in his barn, but he'll never get around to restoring them. Too much Yankee pride in him for me to give it to him. But, my house in Maine is right next to his, so he gets to "watch" it for me and exercise it. My brother catches him out in the wild pretty frequently
I grew to be a Toyota fan over the years. Tacomas, 4runners, and yes Siennas. I still maintain that a minivan is the most useful appliance on the planet, but that's a topic for another thread. I'm only mildly ashamed that I no longer own a land cruiser, but DO still have a Sienna
@wngrog said there is no greater "Cruiser spaz" than Navydivedoc. There is truth there. I stumbled on Mud at some point a few years ago, maybe 2017 or so. I was 17 years into my 20 in the Navy. You could say I was over it by then, with 3 years left until I could retire. Patients were always a priority, and I never once "phoned it in" when it came to them. But, the Navy and I had started to diverge in what we thought was appropriate around that time. Again, thoughts for another thread. But, that sense of being in a holding pattern is what I think got me headed down the LC pathway. I dove deep into @wngrog patina land. Project patina got me inspired, and I ended up finding my own patina rig. 1967, yosemite yellow, 1 owner FJ40 with perfect balanced Patina. I was hooked. I bought it and promptly stored it. Then, a neighbor had a pristine FJ80 1991 sitting in his yard. I used to see it daily walking the dogs. I had a standing agreement with my wife that if ever one was up for sale, it might randomly land in our driveway. It did. I moved that along after I discovered what a 3FE and an auto meant in an 80. Then a 100 series with 285k miles that my neighbors thought was a new Lexus...it was that good. Another 100. A 1961 FJ40 from @JackA. God's own unicorn FJ45 from @ClemsonCruiser. "Chuck", the west coast Pig I owned but never saw. And then the local 68 Pig that I picked up, now in @Pigeaten's sty.
Amidst all of this, I found myself on the forum every day. Checking in on the various threads, enjoying all of the input from everyone. I looked forward to this world that wasn't the Navy, wasn't medicine, but was a community of like minded and excellent people. That's hard to find in this crazy world, and I really appreciated it. Also in the midst of all of this, I retired from the Navy. moved back north, and started over. One thing about the military is it does force a midlife shift that most people don't have to go through.
Then I realized I had far too many cruisers, didn't really have the time that I planned originally to work on them, and didn't have space. When the barn to house them breached $300k in build costs, I stepped back and gave it some thought. Did I need more space for old trucks, or less old trucks? The answer, it seemed, was less old trucks. And the great cruiser purge began. And there is a huge part of me that has breathed a sigh of relief. My modern vehicles start everytime, don't leave puddles of oil on my garage floor, and don't require constant tinkering. I have shelf space from the parts leaving my life. In truth, in many ways, life is better without them.
What I didn't appreciate, and really the point of this long rant, is how much I missed this community. And, in particular, how much I missed this sub forum. I had fun in the 40 and 45 subsection, but this crazy corner of mud was my favorite. Something about this crew of misfits, caring for the oddest and objectively biggest PITA subset of cruisers, just fits. Aside from @bobm who is sort of a neighbor I haven't met any of you. Yet, I spent a lot of time with you during my transition to civilian life. In the time of Covid, I "interacted"more on mud than in the real world.
In the end, I guess I just want to say thanks to all of you fine gentlemen down here. The comaraderie here is real, even if it is from a distance. I think the great Cruiser Purge of 21 was probably 1 too many. Though my Pig was the "worst" of my cruisers from a mechanical and condition standpoint, it's the one I miss the most. That's not just due to oddball iron.
So, Thanks to all of you. For welcoming me, and more importantly for supporting each other. It's a tough world right now for everyone. A community is not just where you live.
I didn't grow up with cruisers. My Dad was a die hard Chevy man. I grew up with 63-67 corvettes, 55-57 Chevy trucks, and a handful of muscle cars as a backdrop to my childhood. Dad is a Suburban Man as a DD, still to this day. Land Cruisers were "Jap Junk" and there were none to be found in my household.
I did pick up this truck recently during my cruiser purge. Mainly so my Dad would have one to use in his waning years. We actually have 3 of them in his barn, but he'll never get around to restoring them. Too much Yankee pride in him for me to give it to him. But, my house in Maine is right next to his, so he gets to "watch" it for me and exercise it. My brother catches him out in the wild pretty frequently
I grew to be a Toyota fan over the years. Tacomas, 4runners, and yes Siennas. I still maintain that a minivan is the most useful appliance on the planet, but that's a topic for another thread. I'm only mildly ashamed that I no longer own a land cruiser, but DO still have a Sienna
@wngrog said there is no greater "Cruiser spaz" than Navydivedoc. There is truth there. I stumbled on Mud at some point a few years ago, maybe 2017 or so. I was 17 years into my 20 in the Navy. You could say I was over it by then, with 3 years left until I could retire. Patients were always a priority, and I never once "phoned it in" when it came to them. But, the Navy and I had started to diverge in what we thought was appropriate around that time. Again, thoughts for another thread. But, that sense of being in a holding pattern is what I think got me headed down the LC pathway. I dove deep into @wngrog patina land. Project patina got me inspired, and I ended up finding my own patina rig. 1967, yosemite yellow, 1 owner FJ40 with perfect balanced Patina. I was hooked. I bought it and promptly stored it. Then, a neighbor had a pristine FJ80 1991 sitting in his yard. I used to see it daily walking the dogs. I had a standing agreement with my wife that if ever one was up for sale, it might randomly land in our driveway. It did. I moved that along after I discovered what a 3FE and an auto meant in an 80. Then a 100 series with 285k miles that my neighbors thought was a new Lexus...it was that good. Another 100. A 1961 FJ40 from @JackA. God's own unicorn FJ45 from @ClemsonCruiser. "Chuck", the west coast Pig I owned but never saw. And then the local 68 Pig that I picked up, now in @Pigeaten's sty.
Amidst all of this, I found myself on the forum every day. Checking in on the various threads, enjoying all of the input from everyone. I looked forward to this world that wasn't the Navy, wasn't medicine, but was a community of like minded and excellent people. That's hard to find in this crazy world, and I really appreciated it. Also in the midst of all of this, I retired from the Navy. moved back north, and started over. One thing about the military is it does force a midlife shift that most people don't have to go through.
Then I realized I had far too many cruisers, didn't really have the time that I planned originally to work on them, and didn't have space. When the barn to house them breached $300k in build costs, I stepped back and gave it some thought. Did I need more space for old trucks, or less old trucks? The answer, it seemed, was less old trucks. And the great cruiser purge began. And there is a huge part of me that has breathed a sigh of relief. My modern vehicles start everytime, don't leave puddles of oil on my garage floor, and don't require constant tinkering. I have shelf space from the parts leaving my life. In truth, in many ways, life is better without them.
What I didn't appreciate, and really the point of this long rant, is how much I missed this community. And, in particular, how much I missed this sub forum. I had fun in the 40 and 45 subsection, but this crazy corner of mud was my favorite. Something about this crew of misfits, caring for the oddest and objectively biggest PITA subset of cruisers, just fits. Aside from @bobm who is sort of a neighbor I haven't met any of you. Yet, I spent a lot of time with you during my transition to civilian life. In the time of Covid, I "interacted"more on mud than in the real world.
In the end, I guess I just want to say thanks to all of you fine gentlemen down here. The comaraderie here is real, even if it is from a distance. I think the great Cruiser Purge of 21 was probably 1 too many. Though my Pig was the "worst" of my cruisers from a mechanical and condition standpoint, it's the one I miss the most. That's not just due to oddball iron.
So, Thanks to all of you. For welcoming me, and more importantly for supporting each other. It's a tough world right now for everyone. A community is not just where you live.
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- Thread starter
- #100
Dang similarities are kinda scary, but dead on about the community!!! Which is really interesting is the affection the PIG attracts from a self described grumpy 40-50's crowd. I own a beautiful restored 45LV but man I just beam when I see a pig or get to work on em.
Thanks for sharing!!! definitely provides insight into this rambunctious group!
Thanks for sharing!!! definitely provides insight into this rambunctious group!