Builds Old Landy: An HJ45 Story/Build Thread (1 Viewer)

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Adjacent to the white 40 stood another 40. Modded with a SBC with 104:1 crawl ratio. Tastefully rugged I grinned.

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So a tad more on the fellow Cruiser Jedi. He used to be a Jeep/4x4 mechanic for a long time. He had a 40 in his yard that kept looking at him beckoning what would become his calling. He felt the force as he wondered why 40s don’t come into his shop. Only Heeps. He started fixing it up. The rest was history.

I leave us all with his last words to us:

“I have wheeled many 4x4s in my life, only land cruisers brought me back home every time”

Nuff said. It was a Yoga Mat moment. Hmmm.

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Feeling a high, we plodded on towards Moab on the Trail of the Ancients. The sun bathed rocks were spiritual. Not quite as the nirvana in the blue barn. Real close though. It did not disappoint.

Before I add more, I thought I would share an excerpt from Andres’ Africa trip that was similar to what we would encounter in Moab. He rounded the Cape of good Hope, viewed the Table Top Mountains backdropping Cape Town heading to the west coast of Africa.

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Day 2- 2p

We passed chimney rock CO and left CO without a high.

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Day 2-3p

I will let the pics talk. It did not disappoint.

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Our plan went wayside as the urge of the rocks had us Carpe Diem to tour the Arches National Park. As we inch forward to entrance gate we see a cross country cyclist heading to the park. We chuckle at the madness as we pass by. 4 cars up from the gate, we get a tap on our window. It’s the cyclist. Wanting to hitch hike into the park in the truck bed.

His name is Matie. From Kazakhstan. He is biking around the world. Reminded us of Old Landy. He speaks 5 languages. Thin as a croppie rod. Resourceful. As we drop him off, and unload his bike, we notice he has a pack of cigarettes on his handle bars. I am sure he would not have had to hitch hike if he smoked. On the other hand, we would not have met him if he did not smoke. ;)

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We left the land of the rock gods and drove into the night into Idaho and hit a hotel in Idaho falls. We will post a GoPro of Arches National Park

1500 miles thus far.
 
Hey pop those metal window handles on that white 40 is killer!
In the barn an untouched 1974 fj40. 29” skinnies, bench seat. 4 on the floor. On further scrutiny, one small mod. Saginaw PS. Owner of the rig runs a canoe business. He hauls 6 class 5 rafters in the 40 will all gear at $300 per person. An OME lift kit per trip in my currency. Just a gem. He plans to keep it as is with a “hell no” on “sell?” probe. @CaptClose wallet crept back to its place of solitude.

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Day 3.
September 3, 2018

After a great night of rest and the first shower we’ve had since we left home, we fetched our gear and made our way to the chow hall for a hot breakfast. We were surprised to see so many travelers congregating around an abysmal continental breakfast bar. Reheated frozen breakfast bagels topped with what we believed to be scrambled eggs, bacon and cheese, along with a variety of mixed fruit, breads and “do it yourself” waffles were offered, none looked particularly appealing.

After a quick calculation of saving time verses searching for an acceptable breakfast, it was decided that we would choke down a breakfast bagel and get on down the road as quickly as possible.

We had at least 12 hours of road ahead of us today. Our final destination was somewhere across the Canadian border, but we were hell bent on driving the “Going to the Sun Highway” through Glacier National Park.

The Idaho landscape was a breathtaking view of golden fields of hay that had been freshly cut and bailed into sometimes square, sometimes round and sometimes just loosely piled mounds towering up to 15 feet high. A peek out the side window at the distant farms with stacks of hay in the field, almost resembled a cemetery of neatly organized rows of headstones.

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The countryside went on and on like this for hundreds of miles. Farms with more hay bailed and stored than we could possibly imagine ever being used.

After some careful thought, we surmised that with winters stretching over nine months, the hay must be accumulated to feed the cattle throughout the snow season. It was quite a revelation for a couple of guys from Texas....
 
A few hours up the road, we crossed into our 5th state of our Journey... The Big Sky country of Montana.

We pulled over to stretch a bit and get a few souvenir pictures of the state “Welcome” sign, and we could tell the climate was drastically cooler. There was a slight breeze in the dry air as we exited the truck to snap a picture...

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By this point, we were following a very loose road plan and basically choosing destinations and headings in real-time while maintaining the flexibility to wander a bit if we desired. Our goal for this day was still Glacier Park and then ultimately camping across the border....

A few miles into Montana, we came upon a small roadside trading post that happened to sell diesel. Not one to pass up a chance to fuel up, we pulled off to top of and resupply or cooler with ice and snacks. CD also took advantage of the opportunity to clean the windscreen, a skill he picked up earlier in the trip.

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While inside the trading post, we struck up a conversation with a lovely older woman behind the counter working the cash register named Lori. A snowbird, Lori spends the winters in Arizona. Out of curiosity I asked when she usually flies south for the winter, to which she replied, October 15th. Back home in central Texas, it’s still 90 degrees in October.

Lori inquired about where we were from and where we were going that was more about polite conversation rather than an interrogation. We told her that we were from Texas and that we were traveling all the way to Canada to save an old Toyota Land Cruiser... She gave us a puzzled look and quipped in a somewhat condescending manner and asked... “You’re traveling all the way from Texas into Canada just to buy a truck?”

As we affirmed our intentions she told us that she had never been to Texas before, except for one time to adopt a rescue dog. Not seeing the irony in that, CD and I chuckled underneath our breath and bid our new friend farewell as we exited the trading post.

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Sorry, I was being facetious. You know how people always say, "pics or it didn't happen"? Well, you have a gazillion pics so it did indeed happen! It was my poor attempt at humor...

I love this story!
 
Sorry, I was being facetious. You know how people always say, "pics or it didn't happen"? Well, you have a gazillion pics so it did indeed happen! It was my poor attempt at humor...

I love this story!


Got it. More to come. One thing I miss are my boys on this trip. They are in school while we bring Old Landy Home. @Cowboy45 and my other son Liam are in a nail biter with us.
 
Day 3 Continued
September 3, 2018

With a fresh tank of gas, we left the trading post and continued our trek north towards Glacier NP. The scenery was slowly starting to change from the plains and rolling foothills, to the more mountainous terrain from which Montana earned it’s name.

We’ve managed to avoid interstate roads for the vast majority of the journey so far, and we’ve been well rewarded for it. The byways reward you with views that you just can’t see from the well traveled expressways, and even if you could, you’re usually driving too fast to breath it all in.

For the past few hours however, we found ourselves trapped on the Interstate and we desperately wanted to escape as quickly as possible. Near Montana’s historic prison town of Deer Lodge, we managed to escape to a more scenic byway to the north.

The view from Hwy 83 through the Swan Mountain Range was nothing short of spectacular. As usual, the reward for taking the road less traveled paid off.

Just before the entrance to Glacier NP, we came upon the town of Columbia Falls and in the distance, a green 45 caught our eye. We make it a habit to stop and introduce ourselves to every fellow land cruiser owner as possible, and this was no exception. We quickly pull “Brutus” over and rolled up next to the parked 45.

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We first stalked this awesome cruiser from afar and then approached the building in the hopes of meeting the owner. After a few taps on the door and a couple of tugs on the handle, we knew it was not meant to be. So... we decided to move in a little closer.

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And even closer...

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Looks like a VZ Cruiser. We then gave it a complete 21-point inspection. Only a few oil drips, but overall, a superb 40-series build. We were super bummed not to have met the owner and wished we could connect somehow.

After passing these pictures onto the pit crew back home, CD’s son, Liam, recognized the truck from Instagram as belonging to @killrobbailey (IG handle). After stalking his IG account, we were relieved that he did not catch us crawling under his rig. Hey Rob, if you’re on Mud we just want you to know that our intentions with your cruiser were purely honorable.

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We left Rob’s truck EXACTLY the way we found it and jumped back into the truck for the entrance to Glacier that was now just moments away.

The day could not have been any better, but our luck was about to change...
 
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