What year is my 40 ?

[Gromit]

I just purchased my FJ40 from a buddy who never fully processed his original sales papers ten years ago and there's no title, other than a photo copy of an old title from Colorado. The DMV here in California is telling me it's a 1979, but the door plate says 12/78. The emissions sticker under the hood says NONCATALYST and something about 78 specs.

Any assistance would be helpful.

 

[woody]

12/78 date tag would make it a 1979 model year....

is the fuel tank under the passenger seat, in the passenger compartment (1978 then) or is it under the tub on the passenger side (1979 then)??

round bezel = 1978 and I "think" 1979 would have a squared off headlight bezel....

 

[lunap]

Look at the vin no. punched into the front passenger side of the frame. If its a 78 should see those numbers i.e FJ4078XXX

 

[dgangle]

Not to hijack the thread here but my 75/08 is stamped "FJ0402...". Does this make it a 2002 or a 1902 model? It is possible that I can't read it correctly.

 

[Gromit]

Fuel tank is located under the passenger seat. As for the VIN: FJ402 9XXXX

 

[Trollhole]

I just purchased my FJ40 from a buddy who never fully processed his original sales papers ten years ago and there's no title, other than a photo copy of an old title from Colorado. The DMV here in California is telling me it's a 1979, but the door plate says 12/78. The emissions sticker under the hood says NONCATALYST and something about 78 specs.

Any assistance would be helpful.

Why did you pic that user name?

 

[Landpimp]

its a 78 then.

is the grill round or square?

I dont think Lunap is right about the VIN's, but I don't any of mine handy

Fuel tank is located under the passenger seat. As for the VIN: FJ402 9XXXX

 

[Robert LaDuke]

From what I understand, Land Cruiser production dates would run from september to september each year. Except in a few cases, 1978 being one of them. Not sure what the other year was. I have a 12/78 and it is definately a 78 and not a 79.

 

[Shipwreck]

From what I understand, Land Cruiser production dates would run from september to september each year. Except in a few cases, 1978 being one of them. Not sure what the other year was. I have a 12/78 and it is definately a 78 and not a 79.

Correct. 12/78 is considered a 1978 model year. You should still have the round bezel. Square bezels began in 1/79.
The other end-of-the-year production was 1974. Changes began in 1/75.

 

[Gromit]

Why did you pic that user name?

I've been using Gromit as my username, email, club nickname and pet's name since the early 1990's. Huge Wallace & Gromit fan and the name was rather appropriate when I took up surfing 2 years ago.

 

[cruiserbrett]

Look at the vin no. punched into the front passenger side of the frame. If its a 78 should see those numbers i.e FJ4078XXX

not true.... it might be a conicidence that that happened in 78 or 79 or something based on actual serial production being in the 780,000's or so, but that is not an accurate method of determining years. my 1976 FJ40 is in the 218,000's, so that would make it a 1921 by your logic.

if the date code says 12/78, that *might* sway the dmv into registering it as a 1978 since its non catalyst, but I seriously doubt it. A guy on PBB had the same exact problem with his 12/78 FJ40 being a non catalyst but technically a 1979 model year, which was a catalyst.

 

[72cruiser]

Not to hijack the thread here but my 75/08 is stamped "FJ0402...". Does this make it a 2002 or a 1902 model? It is possible that I can't read it correctly.

ha ha, had to think about it for a while...

it's actually the number of years from 1960;

so it would read fj40028xxxx for a 78 (or fj4028xxxxx, i can't remember)


mine reads fj40012 for my '72



malphrus

 

[Gromit]

if the date code says 12/78, that *might* sway the dmv into registering it as a 1978 since its non catalyst, but I seriously doubt it. A guy on PBB had the same exact problem with his 12/78 FJ40 being a non catalyst but technically a 1979 model year, which was a catalyst.

In addition to the 12/78 stamped plate, perhaps the 78 / NONCATALYST decal under the hood could sway the DMV, however I don't have a clue what I'd say to the DMV inspector when he looks under the hood at the Holley Carb and bolted air injectors Maybe emissions aren't his forte?

 

[Mace]

Correct. 12/78 is considered a 1978 model year. You should still have the round bezel. Square bezels began in 1/79.
The other end-of-the-year production was 1974. Changes began in 1/75.

I have a 12/78 that had a square bezel and the tank under the tub.
Course, the pbrake was on the dash

Always remember, there is NO hardcore answer to what month the changeovers occured..

 

[cruiserbrett]

In addition to the 12/78 stamped plate, perhaps the 78 / NONCATALYST decal under the hood could sway the DMV, however I don't have a clue what I'd say to the DMV inspector when he looks under the hood at the Holley Carb and bolted air injectors Maybe emissions aren't his forte?

whether its a 78 or 79 aint going to matter much. currently CA smog law eliminated the 30 year rolling deal, so you will need to smog your cruiser every two years for the forseeable future. there is no magic birthday for the cruiser when it graduates from the smog program anymore if you own a 1976 or newer cruiser...

does it have a california title already? if not, youre going to have fun at the DMV for a vin verification. they do check the sticker under the hood to see what model year it is.
emissions compliance is not his/her expertise, so they should not hassle you directly, but you can only get a 60 day temporary op. permit once. To operate beyond that time, you will have to pass a smog check. they will not under almost any circumstance be able to legally offer you another temporary permit.

Aside from just passing visual, the BAR computer at the smog station will tell the smog tech to check for a cat, and since it wont be there, youre screwed, unless you can somehow prove that it is a 1978 model year, which aint going to be easy since its past the september month break point.

 

[Gumby]

Shouldn't be an issue. If it's a 78 model year, it's a 78 model year. September isn't some magic date. GM brought model years out as early as Feburary. The emissions sticker/ plate will say what the year it is compliant with.

I suspect the discrepancies were part of the reason Uncle Sam mandated that the 10th charachter of the VIN is now the model year.

I just rescued a 11/78 with a round bezel and in cab tank. Its frame will soon have a 12/74 body on it that had a 4 speed with the transition transfer, a F motor, low wiper and drum fronts.

 

[Ian Rogers]

if it were me i would lie about when it was built..... i would do this by going through AAA. they only checked the door tag witch i think could be changed to read any date. Not that im a big fan of getting out of the smog stuff.

 

[cruiserbrett]

Shouldn't be an issue. If it's a 78 model year, it's a 78 model year. September isn't some magic date. GM brought model years out as early as Feburary. The emissions sticker/ plate will say what the year it is compliant with.

While this might be true in other states, California seems to have the September stigma. I have experienced the DMV's heartache with this month and the break in model years. Basically, they are fine with it changing before september, but feel that regardless of what the *federally mandated* emissions label says, if its later than Sept, its considered the following model year by default.

 

[Trollhole]

I've been using Gromit as my username, email, club nickname and pet's name since the early 1990's. Huge Wallace & Gromit fan and the name was rather appropriate when I took up surfing 2 years ago.

Only reason I asked is I had a friend in SC who used that name. It's not common.

 

[Yoda]

There was a 12/78 fj40 sold here recently. It was titled as a 79. Tank was inside the cab, square bezel, small pattern steering arms