New here...Is this worth buying?

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If you could get that for $3k I would do it. I've seen worse go for more in the north east. It's Buffalo so it's going to have some rust or you will pay out the nose. At least it has floors haha. It has a 350, a cage and the tub has been cut so I don't expect any purists to ever view it as a restoration candidate... But at $3k you could beat the hell out of it then probably get your money back.
 
My guess its South American, no heater. The body work is probably hiding a lot of repairs and holes. The front cross member has been hacked for power steering, the rear spring hangers are hacked up too. It's missing a lot of trim bits and It probably has drum brakes.
 
pb4ugo said:
My guess its South American, no heater.
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Buff FJ40_1.webp

Seems silly to put a blower in a vehicle that never had heat

pb4ugo said:
The body work is probably hiding a lot of repairs and holes.
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At the right price or just to wheel, who cares?

My question is what axle is in the back?
Buff FJ40_2.webp


Is this on Craigslist? Im not seeing it. Here (and here) are two east coast trucks for context. A truck is worth what someone is willing to pay. It only takes one buyer. If you just want to drive around and have fun Id say go for it. You wont win any car shows, but you wont see those trucks in the woods. At least here you wont feel bad if you mess it up

Pro tip: when you see diamond plate on a 40's body, it is usually covering rust like this red truck is showing. Mine has it in the same spots - hence why I am saving for an Aqualu aluminum tub
 
It's not currently on craigslist and there aren't typically any decent ones for sale around my area that's why I was still interested in this. The seller has it stored in a shipping container and only put it out for sale outside of his business last summer. I figured it would never be a candidate for a full restoration so I was just going to fix the body work and probably even get it sprayed matte black/rhino lined or something like that (sorry purists). So you think for just a summer/weekend rig, this would be okay to start out with? Or maybe the red flags presented above are enough for me to stop dreaming about this one and find something else.
 
I hate to see you get into that much work with your first 40. I just don’t think it has the greatest “bones” to start out with. Simon you are welcome to come out to Arizona anytime, may be better fix up candidates out here.
 
Glad you posted it up, tons of knowledgeable folks here that are willing to help.
 
SiGuy said:
It's not currently on craigslist and there aren't typically any decent ones for sale around my area that's why I was still interested in this. The seller has it stored in a shipping container and only put it out for sale outside of his business last summer. I figured it would never be a candidate for a full restoration so I was just going to fix the body work and probably even get it sprayed matte black/rhino lined or something like that (sorry purists). So you think for just a summer/weekend rig, this would be okay to start out with? Or maybe the red flags presented above are enough for me to stop dreaming about this one and find something else.
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It depends on your budget vs your expectations. If you make your peace with it never being a full restoration and just want to have fun with it then that is very doable if you can get in at the right number and keep your costs down. If you wanted to beat on it in the mud, the snow or on the trial... the nice thing is you dont have to worry about messing up your restored rig and you wont be into it so much that you cant walk away from it. If you want a restored one, buy one someone else already has done (probably cheaper in the long run.) If I were buying this I would make it safe - clean up the wiring (mostly time,) fix the break lines, cross member and suspension - throw some aluminum plating over the rockers then stop before it becomes a money pit. If it bothers you, you could cheaply address exhaust with ram horns and a y pipe. The nice thing about the chevy motor is parts are everywhere and they are cheap. Do those things and I bet someone would buy it off you down the road for what you would be into it for just based on what I have seen turnover on CL in the north east... these are only getting more and more rare.

I had a 73 blazer with a 454 that had rust/bondo but was a ton of fun with the top off all summer for 3 years before I sold it. I got all my money back so it was 3 years of free fun!
 
Granted im out west, but that is a total parts cruiser, even with my skills i see 1-200 hours just to fix stuff so i would feel safe driving it,
That steering box, bumper and front crossmember all need to be redone, the wiring is bad/melted, turn signal hacked, brakes as someone else posted a compression fitting is scarry, no heater cut dash, 70's fenderwell headers, no fan shroud, 70's smogger 350 sitting too far back, missing alot of parts, bad rust, rear shackle hanger is scarry,

It does have some good parts, roll bar, factory seats and other stuff,

If you have the skills and are willing to spend the time and $ to fix then ok, but i would find a clean stock one in az or nm, pay for a good PPI, it will be less work and $$ in the long run...shipping a car is cheeper than fixing rust...
 
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Just my opinion, but I would run. Just from the few pictures I saw it looks like one hack job after another. I’m all for restorations but with something like this you spend twice as much time because you have to undo the hack and then begin the fix. Again, my experience, they usually aren’t much fun because all the wiring issues that come up. And then the suspension is another issue.... just too much wrong with this one
 
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