Found this old 45 in Maryland, a fellow cruiser guy told me about it a year or two ago and I finally made the deal and bought the truck. The guy I bought it from has a lot of cruisers, including another 45 that is pretty rusty. He's had it since 2006 and told me it hadn't moved out of his garage for at least 8 years! It's VIN FJ4521933, titled as a 67 but it has the brass button with 65 on the firewall. F engine serial number is F205108. PO had bought it from a woman whose husband had passed, she said they had driven it to South America twice. It still has Mexico tourist pass decals on the windows from two different years.
This truck is pretty darn near unmolested. Looks stock to me under the hood, in fact the big sight bowl Aisin leaks when it has gas in the bowl! Three on the tree and transfer case controls on the dash. Dash is pretty complete, someone removed the inside heater and heater control panel but they are with the truck. Got the original jack and the rear hubcaps with the truck, too. Not rust free but amazingly solid especially underneath. There's two small rust through spots in the front corners of the hardtop and one on each rocker panel. I got both running boards, too but they of course are solid but not pristine. It has odd seats in it but I did get the seats from the other 45, they look like they may have been recovered at some point in time. These seats are nice and clean. Still has the original wipers with separate motors.
Not sure what the original owner did with the lockable doors that eh had cut into the front of the bed. There's a storage well behind each door but I can't quite figure what eh would have had this feature for. Any ideas? I'm figuring at some point to weld the doors into the bedsides and patch em solid like that.
Truck doesn't run. PO said it did but now doesn't. It's not getting spark, I got no further troubleshooting than to see that there is 12V positive to the + side of the coil, and the points are opening when the distributor shaft rotates. It is getting fuel. No brakes either, pedal goes of course right to the floor. Po said it ran OK last time he parked it in the garage. We'll see what it takes to get it running. The original fuse holder is there but the contacts are green where the fuses push in. All in all she needs a good going over to see what we can do to get her on the road again.
My plan is to get it running and stopping, address any electrical issues to get it safe to drive, put a set of tires on it, then put it on the road. No plans for a restoration just want to address the holes in the front of the top. Yeah i know the bezel is upside down will correct that problem shortly.
Debating about how to get brakes on the old girl. I suspect it will ened all new brake cylinders and a master, in addition to lining. Doing that would be expensive and i'd still have four wheel discs, and that doesn't thrill me. I have a disc brake setup here from an FJ62 that i could swap over onto the 45, and i have a good brake booster and master cylinder that i can use. Comments welcome. if someone thinks staying with drums is the right route to go let me know where I might get a decent price on wheel cylinders and a master.
Enjoy the pictures.
This truck is pretty darn near unmolested. Looks stock to me under the hood, in fact the big sight bowl Aisin leaks when it has gas in the bowl! Three on the tree and transfer case controls on the dash. Dash is pretty complete, someone removed the inside heater and heater control panel but they are with the truck. Got the original jack and the rear hubcaps with the truck, too. Not rust free but amazingly solid especially underneath. There's two small rust through spots in the front corners of the hardtop and one on each rocker panel. I got both running boards, too but they of course are solid but not pristine. It has odd seats in it but I did get the seats from the other 45, they look like they may have been recovered at some point in time. These seats are nice and clean. Still has the original wipers with separate motors.
Not sure what the original owner did with the lockable doors that eh had cut into the front of the bed. There's a storage well behind each door but I can't quite figure what eh would have had this feature for. Any ideas? I'm figuring at some point to weld the doors into the bedsides and patch em solid like that.
Truck doesn't run. PO said it did but now doesn't. It's not getting spark, I got no further troubleshooting than to see that there is 12V positive to the + side of the coil, and the points are opening when the distributor shaft rotates. It is getting fuel. No brakes either, pedal goes of course right to the floor. Po said it ran OK last time he parked it in the garage. We'll see what it takes to get it running. The original fuse holder is there but the contacts are green where the fuses push in. All in all she needs a good going over to see what we can do to get her on the road again.
My plan is to get it running and stopping, address any electrical issues to get it safe to drive, put a set of tires on it, then put it on the road. No plans for a restoration just want to address the holes in the front of the top. Yeah i know the bezel is upside down will correct that problem shortly.
Debating about how to get brakes on the old girl. I suspect it will ened all new brake cylinders and a master, in addition to lining. Doing that would be expensive and i'd still have four wheel discs, and that doesn't thrill me. I have a disc brake setup here from an FJ62 that i could swap over onto the 45, and i have a good brake booster and master cylinder that i can use. Comments welcome. if someone thinks staying with drums is the right route to go let me know where I might get a decent price on wheel cylinders and a master.
Enjoy the pictures.
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