Wanted Round smooth mirrors

[Archie 1962 FJ25]

This came in today from an original 64 FJ40. There is some sort of mark stamped on it at the back (Seems Japanese, hopefully someone can decode it). Also telescope arm tightening nut appears to be a square and it’s not slotted.

 

[oregon fj]

That's as likely looking a possibility as any I've seen.

 

[Archie 1962 FJ25]

Looks like that seals the “Mirror Travia”.

 

[nuclearlemon]

except he has short arms and the literature looks like it has long arms

 

[HelloKitty65]

The quest for the Holy Grail will not end, only get more interesting.

 

[Archie 1962 FJ25]

except he has short arms and the literature looks like it has long arms

It seems short arm was stock in 64-65. Here is 1965 of ClemsonCruiser.

And another one in his thread -

 

[HelloKitty65]

1965 Book:View attachment 1804514 View attachment 1804515 View attachment 1804516

You know, the drawing of the mirror arm in the 1965 book image do look a little short. I'll bet among the many changes going on in '64-'65, short armed mirrors were making their appearance.

 

[Archie 1962 FJ25]

PO swore that being an original arm and mirror. It was a one owner vehicle.

 

[HelloKitty65]

I don't doubt your PO's story. My registered in 1965 FJ40 was built in Jan. 1964. It had one long mirror arm. It also has short running boards. @cppilot's Huckleberry Hauler is a '65 and it has short mirror arms, and long, white pyramid vinyl running boards. Different things were changing then...

 

[seth]

My Old Yeller is a late-64 build registered as a 65 and it came to me with a short arm (driver’s side) and a long one (passenger side).

Oh, plus long running boards and a factory heater in the firewall.

Oh, the wonderful and wacky world of Toyota’s most fun transitional year.

 

[cppilot]

Here's a couple shots from a 1964 Toyota Land Cruiser Manual. Round mirror and short boards.

 

[oregon fj]

The round mirror train left the station long ago for my rig. Instead, it has rectangular Grote mirrors the exact same as the original owner put on it when almost new. Glad I was able to scrounge up the correct short boards for it.

 

[HelloKitty65]

Another aftermarket smooth round mirror, or the real McCoy? PO rattle canned the whole vehicle white. Am asking the present owner (@Nifski , owner of 'The Horned one') if he could get some closeups.

 

[BananaBenderQLD]

1964

 

[BananaBenderQLD]

1964 FST. Original Long Arm with Round Mirror Head.

 

[seth]

Well, gentlemen, it appears that many of us with very early (painted) mirrors, in the round and rectangular variety, have slight differences.

This further points to evidence that Toyota may have utilized a number of different manufacturers to provide mirrors for the US-spec 40s. Since they are painted body color, I can only assume that they ordered from stateside manufacturers and introduced them into their assembly process back in Japan, which could add a bit of shuffling from mirror to mirror on the line, and could be evidenced by non-metric thread pitches. (Your thoughts on this theory are welcomed!)

Even early Toyota illustrations show a variance in the style of the back of the mirrors (smooth back, pressed cross back). It's hard to tell from the early illustrations and photos, but it also seems that some have rivets and others have screws.

I'm leaning more and more toward this: Toyota acquired (perhaps from US manufacturers) a variety of mirrors and installed them on our early (1961-1965) US-spec 40-series Land Cruisers, but did not yet manufacture them themselves until later years.

 

[HelloKitty65]

@seth,
I'm thinking in this period they came with at least one smallish round mirror for the driver, and these tended to get replaced stateside, maybe even by the dealer. I think that in ~ '64 round mirrors looked something like the ones @BananaBenderQLD , @Archie 1962 FJ25, and @Nifski have. Yours too maybe. I think the small rectangular OEM mirror was in play at this time, per the parts catalog images in the 1963-1965 period. And maybe, just maybe we're a bit closer to the truth..

 

[seth]

The truth is out there...

I'm having a hard time believing that dealers would have painted mirrors to match body color for buyers, but I suppose it's possible...

 

[HelloKitty65]

I'm having a hard time believing that dealers would have painted mirrors to match body color for buyers, but I suppose it's possible...

I doubt it too. But a mirror painted to match a body was painted somewhere. "By Toyota" can mean two things, during manufacture in Japan, or after landing by a Toyota dealer. The third possibility, by a PO.
BananaBenderQLD, is the mirror you posted off a rig with this color original paint? It looks like oem primer peaking through.

 

[Archie 1962 FJ25]

I am still thinking that it would be hard for even Toyota to paint mirrors body colour, especially if they were outsourcing them. I mean it would have been unnecessary task and increase in cost back then. If you see Toyota didn’t paint many other accessories in body colour such as fog lamps, license plate frames even lamps on FJ40. Anything that was going to be bolted after the main body paint wasn’t usually painted body colour.

Think about it painting just the housing in a particular body colour with mirror glass in it would have been a daunting task on a fairly large scale.

(Edited whole lot and made it lot smaller)