Looking to join the 40 family

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Adamcbad

Adamcbad

Joined
Sep 12, 2017
Threads
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Location
Carlsbad
I joined mud about 6 months ago and have been trying to find the right 40 so I can join in on the “insanity”. I’m not very savvy with cars in general and have a lot to learn about fj40’s too.
Anyways, I have been looking at this one and talking with the owner:

1969 FJ40 Toyota Land Cruiser

Anyone here know this rig or seen it around? Also, wanted to see if anyone might be up for taking a look at it with me next weekend (owner isn’t available this weekend). Lunch and a brew or two would be on me. Would appreciate any opinions you all may have
 
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I don't know the rig but could come and take a look with you...

It looks like it's been painted at least once but Rusty on these is pretty standard for that price. The big thing is what you are looking for and what tradeoffs you want to make...
 
@BreckenridgeCruiser in the perfect world would like to find something around $15k-$18k all in. Open to something that is pretty solid/complete or something that needs some work done (would have a shop do the initial work on it). I Want something pre-‘75, not a v8, obviously the less rust the better, doesn’t necessarily need the hard top, top priority is a mechanically solid truck, doesn’t need to be super pretty but not a dog either. Will use mostly for weekend cruising and light off road.

You think it’s worth while to take a look? Owner said it currently has a stall issue but I think he is pretty flexible on the price too because of it.
 
The biggest question is how much you want to learn and maintain on your own on your rig... That will determine a lot about what you are looking for.
 
You have s pretty good budget so I’d look for something a little nicer with less work to do on it so you can drive it through the summer with no issues. There looks to be a lot of surface rust on the frame and all the items on the dash were painted red (should be silver) which makes me think it was a super budget job at best. Hard to find one at that price these days that’s any good.

A few other things to consider:

1. Garage to store it? A place to keep a hardtop and doors? A place to work on it? Better to find one with a hard top and doors that already match. More costly later to add them.

2. Tools? What type of tools do you have for a fixer? If you just keep taking it to a mechanic it’ll add up. Lots of people here willing to help.

3. Do you want a 4 speed? Started in 75. Disc brakes in 76.

In a perfect world I would look for a CA car that’s a 75 for the 4 speed and slightly larger 2F and still no smog requirements.

Good luck!
 
BreckenridgeCruiser said:
The biggest question is how much you want to learn and maintain on your own on your rig... That will determine a lot about what you are looking for.
Click to expand...

Ideally I would like to have one really dialed in to begin with then I can drive it and start to learn how to do some of the smaller things as I go and at my own pace
 
DomSmith said:
You have s pretty good budget so I’d look for something a little nicer with less work to do on it so you can drive it through the summer with no issues. There looks to be a lot of surface rust on the frame and all the items on the dash were painted red (should be silver) which makes me think it was a super budget job at best. Hard to find one at that price these days that’s any good.

A few other things to consider:

1. Garage to store it? A place to keep a hardtop and doors? A place to work on it? Better to find one with a hard top and doors that already match. More costly later to add them.

2. Tools? What type of tools do you have for a fixer? If you just keep taking it to a mechanic it’ll add up. Lots of people here willing to help.

3. Do you want a 4 speed? Started in 75. Disc brakes in 76.

In a perfect world I would look for a CA car that’s a 75 for the 4 speed and slightly larger 2F and still no smog requirements.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

@DomSmith I’ll start with your last statement first...ya ideally I would like to find ‘75 with a 2f and 4 speed (and I think that year started ambulance doors as well???) but how often does that unicorn come along haha? So I’m thinking I find something that checks some of the boxes so I can have something to drive and learn to wrench on and keep my eye out for “the one”. Maybe that’s the wrong approach though and I just need to be patient??

1) yes I have garage space...not as much room for a hard top but do have space if needed. Hard too is a little lower on my list...a good number of people that I have talked to just end up leaving them off in Southern California.

2) no tools or experience...see above response to @BreckenridgeCruiser

Thanks for your response and advice. I’m still learning what I want and answering some of yalls questions is helping me figure it out.
 
leucadiacruiser said:
This one has popped up: https://sandiego.craigslist.org/esd/cto/6544917304.html
Click to expand...

I’ve had my eye on that one as well. Think he had it for sale a while back and then took it off and it popped back up a few weeks ago. Looks pretty decent but has its issues too. Wasn’t sure it was worth double the price of the other one I posted. Has the hard top but a missing jump seats, no dash, has f engine not 2f, also looks like some rust on the back seal. I like the idea of a hard top for completeness and resale value but i think I would end up with it off most of the time. Thoughts?
 
Any one else have any leads in the Southern California area?
 
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Glad you found this club, There are lots of Great folks here with tons of experience. You know I need to get down to Dago. For a few reasons @DomSmith LOL
 
Deal, deal ,deal!!! Work them down to the price you can afford
 
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