Purchased a 1973 (11/'72) two weeks ago and decided it's time to start the build/repair/get it running well/restoration/mod thread to track my progress and join the community. IH8MUD has been an amazing resource in my search for an old land cruiser (and also a devil for keeping me up so many nights randomly browsing threads about who knows what for hours when I should be sleeping---please tell me other people have this problem!). I was previously searching for a FJ60/FJ62 (didn't find one that fit the bill, and I think that's the way it was meant to be now) but fell for this FJ40 once I saw it in person and it conjured up all the emotions from my prior years.
Some history---I was lucky enough to grow up driving, and frankly learn to drive in a 1978 FJ40 that my father had purchased brand new and still has to this day. Learning to drive in this tank was fantastic, as I knew it could handle my terrible driving skills better than my Dad could. Dropping the clutch and consequently lurching through a ranch gate a little too close to one side added some character (as my Dad would later say, those were "scratches" added to the passenger side). We have millions of memories centered around that FJ40 of his: stuffing a mule deer in the back with us on a ride home from hunting the nearby mountains, bouncing through sandy dunes, somehow getting the axles/frame banked on a patch of warm New Mexico snow, rolling through muddy bogs, "racing" it out to our favorite dove hunting spot for an evening after he was off work (even though 55mph was "top speed," again this is according to my Dad), the one summer my brother and I were allowed to take the top off and couldn't have had a better time, and the list goes on.
Here's to the FJ40 and the joy it brings along with all the work and learning. My turn to take one for a spin and call it my own and hopefully make some memories in the not too distant future. Cheers. Let it begin!
Oh and the "When in doubt, go higher!" sticker slapped on the back bumperette caught my attention, and hence the name for this thread, since I'd spent some time in Ireland a few years back and my phrase I'd always tell my buddy there when we were driving down roads that were insane was "When in doubt, go faster!"
Some history---I was lucky enough to grow up driving, and frankly learn to drive in a 1978 FJ40 that my father had purchased brand new and still has to this day. Learning to drive in this tank was fantastic, as I knew it could handle my terrible driving skills better than my Dad could. Dropping the clutch and consequently lurching through a ranch gate a little too close to one side added some character (as my Dad would later say, those were "scratches" added to the passenger side). We have millions of memories centered around that FJ40 of his: stuffing a mule deer in the back with us on a ride home from hunting the nearby mountains, bouncing through sandy dunes, somehow getting the axles/frame banked on a patch of warm New Mexico snow, rolling through muddy bogs, "racing" it out to our favorite dove hunting spot for an evening after he was off work (even though 55mph was "top speed," again this is according to my Dad), the one summer my brother and I were allowed to take the top off and couldn't have had a better time, and the list goes on.
Here's to the FJ40 and the joy it brings along with all the work and learning. My turn to take one for a spin and call it my own and hopefully make some memories in the not too distant future. Cheers. Let it begin!
Oh and the "When in doubt, go higher!" sticker slapped on the back bumperette caught my attention, and hence the name for this thread, since I'd spent some time in Ireland a few years back and my phrase I'd always tell my buddy there when we were driving down roads that were insane was "When in doubt, go faster!"
