My beautiful daughters 80 Series named FRED. (2 Viewers)

[1973Guppie]

I have not been on mud for awhile but I thought this would be a great chance to document my daughters 80 build and maybe spend some more time on mud, social media is not for me.

Backstory: Since my daughter was 6 months old she has been with dad going off road, camping, road trips, etc. Just a sample of our list is Rubicon trail (too many times to count now), Borrego, Big Bear, Moab, Mexico, Utah, Oregon, all the west coast beach towns and so many other adventures. So she basically grew up in our 80 series. She recently turned 15 and we were talking about what car she wanted and she asked if it were possible to find another "tank" (our family 80 series) and I was more than excited about it. The universe is a weird place. Maybe its dumb luck, I don't know but literally a week later a seller found my business contact online, wanted a quick sale, and long story short I was able to walk away with a very clean 1997 80 series. Zero rust, az and ca owned.

The truck: It is a very clean truck but has a ton of issues as far as things not working etc. I will include a list in my next post of the items I am currently tackling. Fred leaks like a stuck pig right now. I am constantly having to top off the oil. I am assuming its the crank and / or oil pump cover seal. We bought it this past April. Fred drives amazing though. I am always pleasantly surprised to see how well these cars still drive 25 year later. He has the stock "whistle" under throttle which I love. Plans for now is the address all the engine leaks, full tune up, all the usual suspects: pph, heater valve, yaddda yadda, everything engine related, new radiator, wp, fan clutch, hoses, etc. I plan to run a big ARB bull bar on the front. I will probably end up getting a bowfin cruisers rack eventually. First will be to address all the non working issues, then move on to cosmetic things. I just ordered weathertech mats for it. This whole process has me wanting to buy another one for me for a daily driver. I just love the platform and imo the 80 series is the best 4x4 that was ever offered in North America. I know many will disagree.

More to come, below a pic of my lovely daughter Sienna. This was taken on the test drive of the car. My daughter was out with friends in the village here and I stopped by to see how she felt about it. She loved it. She is constantly giving me s*** when I drive it to be nice to Fred.

Thanks for reading. More to come! Cheers.....

 

[Comet]

Congratulations on the memories of your past travels and welcome back. I am happy to see a younger generation take hold of the greatest 4x4 ever built. Will she be wrenching on the truck to put in some sweat equity? I look forward the journey.

Edit: white is still the best color for these rigs.

 

[FMC80]

Good looking 80 from what the picture shows! It’s awesome how fate works out sometimes!

 

[OffRoadScott]

That is awesome you were able to find something so quick. Those memories of your trips will last forever.

 

[1973Guppie]

Congratulations on the memories of your past travels and welcome back. I am happy to see a younger generation take hold of the greatest 4x4 ever built. Will she be wrenching on the truck to put in some sweat equity? I look forward the journey.

Edit: white is still the best color for these rigs.

Yes i forgot some details, wrote this last night after a few beers. We will be working on it together. I agree, white is my favorite, that and red.

 

[1973Guppie]

First camping trip in Fred this weekend. We are going to Borrego for the nights. The kids have been harrassing me to go camping for awhile now. My rig is down with repairs so it's Fred's turn to be used. It will be interesting 4 wheeling a stock rig again. No lockers but I think we will be ok. Not a hard trail. Will post pics later.

N

 

[1973Guppie]

That is awesome you were able to find something so quick. Those memories of your trips will last forever.

It just dropped out of the ether after we spoke about it. Did I mention I got a hell of a deal? That part really helped with justifying putting more money into it.

 

[1973Guppie]

LIST OF TO DO's / Repairs (x is complete)(will add to list as I go):

X - Hood struts replaced
X - Rear hatch struts replaced
- tune up: plugs, wires, valve cover seal, cap, rotor, vc plug seals, fuel filter, pcv, air filter
- front crank seal
- speedo seal transfer case
- oil pump seal
- disty oring
- radiator and hoses
- belts
- water pump, fan clutch, fan
- PHH, firewall hoses
- oil change
- front and rear diff oil
- trans drain and fill
- tc drain and fill
- drain and fill power steering, replace all hoses (not high pres)
- radiator, new hoses
- fix cracks in windshield
- fusible link
- adjust kickdown
- chassy steam cleaned
- both front seats fixed, gears, drivers lengthener installed
- no start checklist in glovebox, extra fusible link, extra fuses etc for sienna, tire guage, other?
- fix horn, relay?
- fix mirror
- grease driveshafts
- visors on, light working?
- windshield washers working, motor?
- headlight repaired
- wash, clay bar and wax paint
- Engine compression test
- New weathertech mats in
- New ARB front bumper installed

 

[AgentOrange]

This will be a great project for you two together and looks like a clean find.

 

[ZackR]

Looks like a great find! Imagine the adventures she'll have as a young adult in an old cruiser.

I hope to do the same thing when mine is a bit older....

 

[1973Guppie]

Looks like a great find! Imagine the adventures she'll have as a young adult in an old cruiser.

I hope to do the same thing when mine is a bit older....

View attachment 3250901

I have memories of my daughter a little younger than you using that window as a pretend "drive through" window where I would come by and order food. Service was horrible. Food too. All they served were doritos and beef jerky

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

This is a wonderful thread, I sincerely hope that one of my kids will be interested enough in old Toyotas that they too will fall into this lovely rabbit hole. Thanks for sharing and I hope you have a great weekend wheeling (mabe instructing wheeling?) with your daughter. Like @ZackR I too have a daughter that has been coming on Toyota trips for a long time maybe she will be interested in some old Toyota 4wd someday!

 

[1973Guppie]

This is a wonderful thread, I sincerely hope that one of my kids will be interested enough in old Toyotas that they too will fall into this lovely rabbit hole. Thanks for sharing and I hope you have a great weekend wheeling (mabe instructing wheeling?) with your daughter. Like @ZackR I too have a daughter that has been coming on Toyota trips for a long time maybe she will be interested in some old Toyota 4wd someday!

She has already started driving off road. She started at 13. The desert is a great place for this. Not much stuff to hit. I will probably have her drive some of the easier parts of the trail this weekend.

 

[1973Guppie]

First trip in FRED last night was a success! We drove out to Anza Borrego to camp for the night. Lots of flowers out there right now. We met some new friends, shot bb guns, had some good food and a big fire. My daughter was telling me on the way out how she can't wait to go camping with friends in Fred in the future. She drove a bit on the way out and did well. She kept forgetting about the right side of the car so we have some new desert pinstriping. That's ok, Fred is gonna get used. He still pittles oil quite a bit so I need to address the leaks on him sooner rather than later. Here's some pics:

 

[Njck22]

I was a teen that got a hand-me-down land cruiser. I never want to sell it because of the memories that were made possible with a reliable 4x4 like it. Except one time a dead alternator stranded me and four friends on a ranch. whoops. In highschool I was the go to guy for pulling out pickups from mud pits.
Just be mentally prepared and compassionate for that first fender bender.

 

[60 toy ota]

Such a fun thread! My daughter doesn't mind the bumpy roads, and I think she's catching the bug... this is the picture my wife texted me today while I was at work:

 

[1973Guppie]

I was a teen that got a hand-me-down land cruiser. I never want to sell it because of the memories that were made possible with a reliable 4x4 like it. Except one time a dead alternator stranded me and four friends on a ranch. whoops. In highschool I was the go to guy for pulling out pickups from mud pits.
Just be mentally prepared and compassionate for that first fender bender.

Yes I am expecting it. I am picking up an arb bumper tomm that costs me about $1k. I am guessing it will be money well spent.

 

[1973Guppie]

Such a fun thread! My daughter doesn't mind the bumpy roads, and I think she's catching the bug... this is the picture my wife texted me today while I was at work:View attachment 3254236View attachment 3254237

so cute! looks like she is waving at another cruiser head!

 

[robnicko]

My son and daughter, 22 & 18 now respectively pretty much spent every Sunday in the 80 when we'd go up Eildon way, those in Victoria Australia would know of Eildon

I always joke saying that I wore a set of BFG's just going there and back cause they loved it so much. Always hot chips on the way home - a must & yeah, for me too.

The thing is my daughter would alway fall asleep within a few km's driving cause the 80 is such a nice soft ride and even now when she is in there tends to nod off.
Gotta find some pics to post cause I have a similar one to 60 Toy Ota of my son at a similar age doing the same thing.
I'll never get rid of our 80 - too many good memories

 

[Roody]

This is awesome. Very cool to see the other "girl dads" out there on Mud. I can't wait to get my daughter into wheeling, she's only 8 months old now but time has already flown by.