sadovnik
SILVER Star
I’ve been back and forth on starting a build thread for this FJ40. My technical skills are basically zero, so any upgrades you see will most likely be the work of others! But against my better judgment, here it is: my 1975 "John Denver" FJ40 with 97k miles. I’d been hunting for a 40 for a while, but everything in my budget was either a rust bucket, a mechanical nightmare, or both. When this one popped up locally, I had to jump on it. Mustard wasn’t my first choice, but I have to say, it really grew on me once I saw it in person—it’s just such an iconic color for these trucks.
There was no rust on the frame and only minimal surface rust on the door bottoms. Heck, even my 1996 Land Cruiser has considerably more rust than this 40. Mechanically, it appeared sound, at least for a fifty-year-old vehicle. The engine ran strong and the transmission worked well enough. The only mechanical issue I noted during the test drive was that it backfired under deceleration. More on that later.
I did some sleuthing and found out that @ColoradoCarlisle bought this rig from the estate of the late great John Denver sometime in 2017. He then worked on bringing it back to life, changing out the fuel tank and rebuilding the carburetor. Sometime in 2019 he sold it to a guy who had the brakes upgraded to discs using a SOR kit, recovered the seats and some other minor fixes. The truck was sold again in 2022. An excerpt of the Craigslist ad from back in 2022 can be seen here . The next owner added absolutely nothing to the truck. He didn’t even change the oil, albeit he drove the truck less than 1,000 miles.
The paint was not original as it was obvious it had been resprayed at some point. It had a few surface rust patches, mismatched paint, a droopy fender and cracked Bondo in several places. The windshield was also broken in two places, making it hard to see out.
There was no rust on the frame and only minimal surface rust on the door bottoms. Heck, even my 1996 Land Cruiser has considerably more rust than this 40. Mechanically, it appeared sound, at least for a fifty-year-old vehicle. The engine ran strong and the transmission worked well enough. The only mechanical issue I noted during the test drive was that it backfired under deceleration. More on that later.
I did some sleuthing and found out that @ColoradoCarlisle bought this rig from the estate of the late great John Denver sometime in 2017. He then worked on bringing it back to life, changing out the fuel tank and rebuilding the carburetor. Sometime in 2019 he sold it to a guy who had the brakes upgraded to discs using a SOR kit, recovered the seats and some other minor fixes. The truck was sold again in 2022. An excerpt of the Craigslist ad from back in 2022 can be seen here . The next owner added absolutely nothing to the truck. He didn’t even change the oil, albeit he drove the truck less than 1,000 miles.
The paint was not original as it was obvious it had been resprayed at some point. It had a few surface rust patches, mismatched paint, a droopy fender and cracked Bondo in several places. The windshield was also broken in two places, making it hard to see out.
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