Hey all,
I have never owned a classic or vintage vehicle, but just bought a 1975 FJ40. I live in rural Mississippi. The good news is the front half has minimal rust, it turns over easily, it runs strong, and the previous owner(s) got the frame mostly rust free and redid the entire rear end (suspension and axel etc). The down side is the rust on the body, particularly the back half. Both wheel wells need to be entirely replaced, in my uneducated opinion. I'm assuming there is a good bit of rust on the rear quarter panels underneath those diamond plated panels. Same probably goes for the rocker panel area that also has black diamond plating. Most of the rear bed looks pretty good, except where it is bolted down just behind the front seats, which is probably an important area! The mid-bed section right underneath the back end of the front seats where the floor steps up an inch or two is also really rusted. Finally, the support channels underneath are very rusty.
The floor pans under both the driver and passenger seats are in pretty good shape.
My goal is for this to be a decent Sunday driver. I don't want it to be a show car, but I don't want to neglect it or butcher it. And, like most people, I don't have unlimited funds, so I need to be practical.
I have no intention to do any body work myself since I have zero experience doing that type of work.
I have two questions.
1. Am I correct in thinking that, in the long run, it will cost me significantly less to replace the entire back half of the body by saving up to buy a complete 1/2 tub or 3/4 tub versus buying a few panels at a time and paying a body shop to have them put on?
2. IF my assumption is correct, what type of tub should I be thinking about? CCOT seems to be the best quality, and they better be for their prices of $8k for a 1/2 tub. There is the Aquala aluminum tub, for $3,800. Then I found the Relik Garage, which sells a steel 1/2 tub for just $1,700. There is a huge price difference between those three. Are there others I should be thinking of? Are the Aquala tubs street legal, their website says for off road use only.
I have never owned a classic or vintage vehicle, but just bought a 1975 FJ40. I live in rural Mississippi. The good news is the front half has minimal rust, it turns over easily, it runs strong, and the previous owner(s) got the frame mostly rust free and redid the entire rear end (suspension and axel etc). The down side is the rust on the body, particularly the back half. Both wheel wells need to be entirely replaced, in my uneducated opinion. I'm assuming there is a good bit of rust on the rear quarter panels underneath those diamond plated panels. Same probably goes for the rocker panel area that also has black diamond plating. Most of the rear bed looks pretty good, except where it is bolted down just behind the front seats, which is probably an important area! The mid-bed section right underneath the back end of the front seats where the floor steps up an inch or two is also really rusted. Finally, the support channels underneath are very rusty.
The floor pans under both the driver and passenger seats are in pretty good shape.
My goal is for this to be a decent Sunday driver. I don't want it to be a show car, but I don't want to neglect it or butcher it. And, like most people, I don't have unlimited funds, so I need to be practical.
I have no intention to do any body work myself since I have zero experience doing that type of work.
I have two questions.
1. Am I correct in thinking that, in the long run, it will cost me significantly less to replace the entire back half of the body by saving up to buy a complete 1/2 tub or 3/4 tub versus buying a few panels at a time and paying a body shop to have them put on?
2. IF my assumption is correct, what type of tub should I be thinking about? CCOT seems to be the best quality, and they better be for their prices of $8k for a 1/2 tub. There is the Aquala aluminum tub, for $3,800. Then I found the Relik Garage, which sells a steel 1/2 tub for just $1,700. There is a huge price difference between those three. Are there others I should be thinking of? Are the Aquala tubs street legal, their website says for off road use only.