Stolen FJ40 and FJ45 - Ca central valley (1 Viewer)

[Rainman]

Dammitman. As a buddy o mine used to say.

I doubt that stuff will get this far east but I'll pass the word to my buddies around here to keep there eyes open for parts. REALLY hope you get everything back. And maybe even get a chance to throw a shovel load on the culprits' graves.

 

[kevos37]

I'm up north of you. Will keep a lookout. Very sorry for your loss. Bunch of $&/#heads!!!

 

[KimoTheBJ40]

Will keep an eye out down here in SoCal.

 

[65swb45]

Phil

If you want to put together a list of the parts that were stolen, I suggest you not post it, but have it available. I can think of a couple of guys (NOT going to mention their names publicly) who I can forward the list to who are internet sleuths.

Really best not to say too much on the forums. Some crooks are net savvy too.

 

[vipergrhd]

I wish they would catch these idiots and just leave them in Death Valley buried up to their necks. I will be back to work Monday and keep an eye here in the Bay area. Hope you get the cruisers back in one piece.

 

[1969FJ]

This may be a dumb question, but whoever stole had to have their prints in a lot of places . Or is it the authorities do not value this crime worth looking into that.

 

[pjohnson]

Not too sure if the police took prints. I'll have to ask my buddy.

 

[BigMike]

Hello Phil, BigMike here. CruzrDave brought this to my attention two nights ago and I'm truly sorry to hear about it. I've followed in Marlin's footsteps of high emotional connection to vehicles and still drive my first ever car (a highly modified 1st gen MR2 of 21 yrs ownership). I would be beyond devastated if it got stolen...

Appreciating this and the close family ties we have with some in the LC industry like you, I added info about your stolen rigs to our latest MC Newsletter that went out to 50K people yesterday. Most subscribers are from CA so hopefully this was a large addition of eyes on the look out.

Everyone here at Marlin Crawler is rooting for the safe recovery of these precious vehicles my friend Best of luck and keep your spirits up

Regards,
BigMike

 

[jrunner]

California does have laws protecting a homeowner who shoots an intruder, but they better be inside your home. In other words, you need to be in immediate peril. Shooting a guy in your yard stealing tires doesn’t count.
I do agree with the thought that someone with prior knowledge or tip-off is probably responsible. Are there rental companies nearby that have vehicle trailers available? Someone needed a few trailers to pull this off quickly, maybe they had to rent something. I doubt the rental yard will give you details, but maybe the police could follow up.

 

[Rainman]

Any updates?

 

[pjohnson]

@Rainman
I wish I had news, any news.

We have posted on FB, CL, IG and here.
We scour the same for sale ads for the vehicles or anything else that was taken.
We called all the known LC repair and restoration shops and sent them flyers.

Nothing yet.

 

[Varty Yo]

Crazy it hasnt popped up yet. Chances are it went straight to hiding. It will pop up i have faith. There is enough "Mud Reach" sombody will catch wind of these.

 

[Drake2]

IDK maybe just a stupid idea.......What about offering a time limit to safely return the items or give up the location without prosecution. You would have to advertise this offer in all the places you have advertised the theft, maybe even the local paper. If these ***tards have realized that they will not be able to do anything with the stuff other than hide it for the next 20 years they may be willing to cut their losses and just get out of all of this. I know it would suck to not be able to jail them but remember what the goal is, to get the stuff back. Just my 0.02

 

[pjohnson]

I do think the vehicles are in hiding. It's unlikely they knew what they took. I'm hoping they can't sell them and just abandon them somewhere. The 45 at least. The 40 may get stripped of easy to sell parts, but even then, it was old school with old parts. Not much value for the effort.

Thanks again for all your support.

 

[1969FJ]

I know you said they did not know what they took. I feel different. These vehicles are worth a lot together or parted out. Similar to modern chop shops. Thieves know this. I have an FJ40 that in the last few years has been looked at in the mid AM. I took steps to never let physical touch happen.These old machines have little in serial numbers so, a savvy thief knows this. Hope is they were novice and will be found.
Reason is why I say this is why would someone steal an old vehicle if it had no value ?

 

[bikersmurf]

That sucks. I hope that they surface soon. We’ll all be watching.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Oh man. That’s just crazy. Might wanna trace your last encounters with folks nearby the place. Someone knew details. Hoping for the best. You have many eyes watching for them. Best of luck!!

 

[JohnnyC]

You better get to steel scrap yards as well... a lot of what’s stollen up and around here go right to scrap ... a quick buck... they don’t care

They just want the quick cash... and scrap yards are quick


My heart goes out to you... it really sucks

 

[Camper Dave]

Sorry brother....keeping an eye out for you.

 

[PabloCruise]

I am beyond depressed having to write this post...

Last weekend (April 4-5) thieves cleaned out a building where my 1966 FJ45 LPB and my 1973 FJ40 were stored. They took everything in the building both vehicles, a large pile of parts, two trailers, a tractor, tools, etc.

The location was Gustine Ca., near Los Banos in the central valley. The theft wasn't discovered until yesterday.

Please put the word out. As you all know, these are rare vehicles and I have no idea if the thieves even knew what took. The Fj45 was not running and waiting for it's restoration day.

Please contact me directly by PM or text at 408, 406, 9629 if you hear of anything. I am incredibly bummed

1966 fj45 - one more on the trailer.

• pjohnson
• Feb 25, 2010

1966 FJ45 as it looked coming home.

• pjohnson
• Feb 25, 2010

1973_FJ40_b.jpg

• pjohnson
• Apr 10, 2020

1973_FJ40_c.jpg

• pjohnson
• Apr 10, 2020

Can we sticky this until they are found?