First, a confession: this won’t be a very dramatic build thread. More like a maintenance/project thread. Out of the box, the LC platform already over delivers for almost all my needs. From daily school drop offs to occasional off-grid camping, it’s our Swiss Army knife mobile.
LC History
1989 FJ62 - my dad almost bought a Smurf blue LC when I was a teen, but instead bought a 3rd gen 4Runner. Looking back, this was the start of the journey. The 4Runner was fun. That 62 would’ve been awesome.
2000 100-Series - This was my first LC. Bought in 2016, it represented the start of lots of things: learning to wrench and fix things on my own. Taking my young family on remote camping adventures that were previously just “for the guys.” I was very pragmatic about expenses early in my career, and this was among the first fun “quality of life” purchase that enabled the lifestyle we wanted, while also becoming a bit of a hobby, too.
2009 LX 570 - A pragmatic & semi-impulsive move. We tried (and succeeded) for a 3rd child, and my two older kids were graduating out of boosters. As much as I loved the 100, it didn’t have side airbags and I could no longer resolve that fact. So we snagged an LX and sold the 100 at the top of the market in 2021.
We immediately put it to use on camping trips. We also drove over 8,000 miles coast-to-coast in the summer of 2022. All with a 9 y/o, 7 y/o, and a 6-month old. The LX’s ride is a dream compared to the 100!
While the ‘09 had lots of life left at only 175k miles, I needed to fix the valley plate leak, radiator hairline crack, and a few other things that were going to add up in cost. Luckily, the baseball-sized hail hit us before I did all that work. The LX was a total loss in the fall of 2023.
2010 LX 570 - to replace the totaled ‘09, I snagged a single owner, dealer-maintained 2010 from Texas with only 81k miles on the clock. Luckily, I got to swap out the best parts of the ‘09 into the ‘10.
The 2010 came with Nitto Grapplers on black painted wheels. I hated the ride quality. So in true form, I swapped them out for the much less aggressive Michelin Defenders from the 2009.
The wheel swap pretty much embodies my “Dad Hat” approach to this LC. Function over fashion, and ready to be used when needed. Kind of like the hat that’s always on the dashboard.
LC History
1989 FJ62 - my dad almost bought a Smurf blue LC when I was a teen, but instead bought a 3rd gen 4Runner. Looking back, this was the start of the journey. The 4Runner was fun. That 62 would’ve been awesome.
2000 100-Series - This was my first LC. Bought in 2016, it represented the start of lots of things: learning to wrench and fix things on my own. Taking my young family on remote camping adventures that were previously just “for the guys.” I was very pragmatic about expenses early in my career, and this was among the first fun “quality of life” purchase that enabled the lifestyle we wanted, while also becoming a bit of a hobby, too.
2009 LX 570 - A pragmatic & semi-impulsive move. We tried (and succeeded) for a 3rd child, and my two older kids were graduating out of boosters. As much as I loved the 100, it didn’t have side airbags and I could no longer resolve that fact. So we snagged an LX and sold the 100 at the top of the market in 2021.
We immediately put it to use on camping trips. We also drove over 8,000 miles coast-to-coast in the summer of 2022. All with a 9 y/o, 7 y/o, and a 6-month old. The LX’s ride is a dream compared to the 100!
While the ‘09 had lots of life left at only 175k miles, I needed to fix the valley plate leak, radiator hairline crack, and a few other things that were going to add up in cost. Luckily, the baseball-sized hail hit us before I did all that work. The LX was a total loss in the fall of 2023.
2010 LX 570 - to replace the totaled ‘09, I snagged a single owner, dealer-maintained 2010 from Texas with only 81k miles on the clock. Luckily, I got to swap out the best parts of the ‘09 into the ‘10.
The 2010 came with Nitto Grapplers on black painted wheels. I hated the ride quality. So in true form, I swapped them out for the much less aggressive Michelin Defenders from the 2009.
The wheel swap pretty much embodies my “Dad Hat” approach to this LC. Function over fashion, and ready to be used when needed. Kind of like the hat that’s always on the dashboard.
