"The Story"
I did not "grow up with cruisers" but did occasionally get a ride in the woods with my uncle to go shooting (rifles) in his battered blue fj40. I don't remember many of the cars from childhood but the cruiser always seemed to stick for some reason.
At the ripe old age of 27 I finally managed to buy a brand new minitruck. Regular cab, short bed, 22re 5spd, no ac, manual windows, etc. It was affordable and seemed like good choice for all my ski trips, mountain biking and kayak hauling. i still have the truck and it is still my daily driver.
A couple years later i got married, cranked out a couple kids and outgrew the mini. We added a 89 fj62 to the fleet, paid too much for it and then replaced the tranny, radiator, springs, etc (basically everything). The 3fe list was invaluable. Rarely wheeled it since "4 wheeling is scary and unsafe and the cruiser might get hurt".
Well, She got the cruiser and I got the house.
After so much time together working out the problems, the feel of her in my hands, Those curves, the way she purred. The way she she got dirty and how she cleaned up I really missed her. I am talking about the cruiser of course.
Moving on a couple years. Cramming the two older kids into a "legal" seatbelted jump seat bolted into the back of the mini and my new
and our 3 year old in a childseat between us on the bench got old pretty fast. I also never felt good towing the tent trailer with this setup.
The search was on. After looking at 4 runners (i like the size of the mini on the trail), 55's and 60's (not cheap enough), besides already done that I decided the most bang for the buck was an fzj80 .
I looked at low mileage, high mileage, battered, pristine, finally found an "affordable" prewheeled one. Lockers definitely worked and it was a bit of history being one of the first 80's to traverse the Rubicon trail. It felt more like taking stewardship of the cruiser than buying a car. I assured the owner (Demetre) that I would wheel it and when he saw the mods (and some dents, but not too many) on my mini I think it helped appease him and felt it was going to a good family.
I did not "grow up with cruisers" but did occasionally get a ride in the woods with my uncle to go shooting (rifles) in his battered blue fj40. I don't remember many of the cars from childhood but the cruiser always seemed to stick for some reason.
At the ripe old age of 27 I finally managed to buy a brand new minitruck. Regular cab, short bed, 22re 5spd, no ac, manual windows, etc. It was affordable and seemed like good choice for all my ski trips, mountain biking and kayak hauling. i still have the truck and it is still my daily driver.
A couple years later i got married, cranked out a couple kids and outgrew the mini. We added a 89 fj62 to the fleet, paid too much for it and then replaced the tranny, radiator, springs, etc (basically everything). The 3fe list was invaluable. Rarely wheeled it since "4 wheeling is scary and unsafe and the cruiser might get hurt".
Well, She got the cruiser and I got the house.
After so much time together working out the problems, the feel of her in my hands, Those curves, the way she purred. The way she she got dirty and how she cleaned up I really missed her. I am talking about the cruiser of course.
Moving on a couple years. Cramming the two older kids into a "legal" seatbelted jump seat bolted into the back of the mini and my new
and our 3 year old in a childseat between us on the bench got old pretty fast. I also never felt good towing the tent trailer with this setup.The search was on. After looking at 4 runners (i like the size of the mini on the trail), 55's and 60's (not cheap enough), besides already done that I decided the most bang for the buck was an fzj80 .
I looked at low mileage, high mileage, battered, pristine, finally found an "affordable" prewheeled one. Lockers definitely worked and it was a bit of history being one of the first 80's to traverse the Rubicon trail. It felt more like taking stewardship of the cruiser than buying a car. I assured the owner (Demetre) that I would wheel it and when he saw the mods (and some dents, but not too many) on my mini I think it helped appease him and felt it was going to a good family.
