Well... This is my first post here! Been scanning threads like mad since I decided to take a neighbor up on their offer to buy their beige '83 Cruiser for $700. Never had one. It's been sitting for two years, has the rust on the rear wheel wells, a bit on the front corners behind the bumper, a quarter size rust hole in the tailgate, and various spots here and there. Utah rust. 164K miles, new BFG ATs, that tear in the drivers seat (usual I guess from pics I've seen around here). I'll have a few days where it sits to change the oil, air and fuel filters. Check the fluids.
I hope this thing fires up... I'm going to throw in about two gallons of premium and a bit of gas treatment. I'm committed to about $3K of work.
Any suggestions?
That's sick! I first fell in love with the 60 series up in Utah (dad's from Logan). We were visiting some family friends down in Torrey (en route to Moab) and I got to drive their pair of trucks (one fj60, and fj62) out in the desert.
I've got a friend getting ready to sell his 83 or 85 white FJ60. It's going through emissions stuff right now before he puts it up for sale. His name is bsquared and he plays in the 40 series section. I've looked at it up close and it's pretty pristine. PM him.
He's in San Diego too.
Appreciate the offer, but looking for just about every color except white
. First choice is the brown mahogany (same as our old Camry we had as a child), but I'm open to just about anything but white. Repaint isn't an issue for me as I have a good friend who's got a shop, but the whole color change would be an issue.
Have you considered a 2nd generation pickup with a shell? Sleep in the bed, haul bikes off the back, put surf boards on top. 22RE with a 5spd is much cheaper to own and operate than a Cruiser.
Thought it about for a bit. A lot of the time when I travel on road trips I gotta go with the homies. Every June when school gets out, we hit up hwy 1, camp in big sur, and go surfing all along the coast. We do this in my little 4-door Bimmer..and between the 4 of us, the boards on top, and all the crap in the trunk, my car takes
a lot of abuse - more than what it's meant to take
Do yourself a smog favor and get an FJ62.
The EFI passes smog easily, the FJ60 with it's carburetor is a crapshoot. Trust me, I've been dealing with this for 10 years and am sick of it. The 62 also starts easier, has significantly more power. It's a better all around truck.
The most appealing feature of an FJ60 is the manual transmission, which can be added to an FJ62 making it the perfect FJ6X.
While technically, it is the sellers responsibility to smog, as long as both parties agree, you can sell without smogging and make it the new owners responsibility.
This is great knowledge, and for that I thank you. Personally, I prefer the 62 front end, and again, while the manual would be nice - I don't mind the auto if it's more practical in terms of $$$.
$5000 is a legitmate price point to be looking at.
I got this truck for $5k.
If you're restoring a Peugot then you should survive tinkering with a L/C. Read the FAQ and the 'which to buy...' section and you'll be much better armed.
It looked familiar! Like I said, I've been lurking on CL for quite some time now. I remember seeing this car up on the SD Area Craigs last year. Quite the deal if you'd ask me...
And in regards to wrenchin', I can say that Peugeot ownership has prepared me for the worst.
Some of the s*** you encounter while working on an old Peugeot makes you wonder how drunk of wine the engineers were when they built back in the 80s.
I think you can get into a decent FJ60 for around $5K +/-. Be patient, be prepared to let some go, and keep in mind that many 60 series wagons that come up for sale on Craigslist in CA are dramatically overpriced by deeply attached or deeply delusional owners. They often start at $10K and find themselves unsold and chipped away to $5K a few months later. The truck I now own was $8000 the first time I saw it listed and I got it for around half that 6 months later. I hate to wish that scenario on any fellow cruiser-owner parting with his vehicle but it's something I've seen over and over.
Yes, smog can be a pain, but the seller has to get it passed in order to change hands in CA, at which point you have 2 years to be in denial about having to do it yourself
No it won't be completely rust-free at that price point, but that won't make it any less fun to drive
And yes you will have to spend some time/money tinkering with it, but you probably already knew that.
An example right here on 'Mud - not affiliated, but he's asking $6K OBO and looks like a fun truck. AND it's tan.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/fj60-fj62-bj60-hj61/702303-85-fj60.html
Good luck-
DF
Definitely gonna take my time on this one. BTW, whereabouts Oakland are you? I've really only seen a handful of fj60s up in the bay. I grew up in Alameda/Oakland and the Peninsula and never saw too many. Also, know of any good local off road trails?
Thanks again everyone,
Sina
