The newbie's post got me thinking, and I dug up a picture to share. This is my 1984 FJ60 "Blue", my first Land Cruiser, taken in September of 1987, when I finished paying my dad for half of it and started spending money on modifications. Check out the funky anti-livestock bullbar and the retro-1970's alloy mags! :)

The truck served faithfully as daily driver and expedition rig until I rolled it (endoed, actually) on June 5th, 1990. Miraculously, I survived the accident with minor injuries, and I wear the old beast's key around my neck as a reminder.

Hope she's in Land Cruiser heaven, or at least that her parts kept more Cruisers going.

henry...don't suppose you still have those "anson" rims do ya??? i'd love a set of those, but all i can find are 5 lug.

Those rims look alot like what James Asti has on his 60. Maybe not identical but damn close. BTW Henry, I like the huge bull bar, reminds me of the rock finder I have on the front of my 40 now.

Nah, I traded them shortly after the picture was taken for a set of steel rims; in Venezuela, it's suicidal to go on expedition with alloy rims!

The huge bullbar was tested by a yearling cow I struck on a dirt road. It got bent, but saved the truck. The cow? Well, let's just say I hauled ass out of there!

i want a 60 someday..... sigh:(

And I want an FJ40 someday, too....sigh!:(

And I want an FJ55 to go with my 40 and 60....Sigh:( :flipoff2: :flipoff2: :flipoff2:

Kate in hear early days...

Now I gotta find a picture of my rig circa 1988
I actually had a couple of people ask me about my "African Jeep"
:D

Wow, Nolen, that's awesome! What a difference between this picture and the one on the Land Cruiser Calendar! :)

:eek: Dang Nolen, look how shiny Kate is! She used to look really nice! :flipoff2:

I like seeing the before and after pictures - let's see some more. I'll dig up some of mine.

Dirty Early Kate.....This was 2 lockers, 4.88's and 33 x 12.50 TSLs, January 1998...

Wow Nolen -

I guess now I don't feel too bad about having rolled my 40... I guess some of us HAD really nice looking Cruisers before we 'butchered':flipoff2: them into trail rigs....

Modifications are a slippery slope...

Jim

Originally posted by TLCObsession
Wow Nolen -

I guess now I don't feel too bad about having rolled my 40... I guess some of us HAD really nice looking Cruisers before we 'butchered':flipoff2: them into trail rigs....

Modifications are a slippery slope...

Jim

Exactly why I told the youngster from Oklahoma to find a crappy land Cruiser and THEN make a trail rig.

Hell, I spent 3K making mine pretty, THEN, started beating the shit out of it!:rolleyes:

Wish I had it back like the second picture and had started over with a beater trail rig.:(

Oh well, one day I will have a "stocker"

Before (http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/jason_harsch/vwp?.dir=/Cruiser+Pics&.src=ph&.dnm=frontbefore.jpg&.view=t&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/bc/jason_harsch/lst%3f%26.dir=/Cruiser%2bPics%26.src=ph%26.view=t)

Recently (http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/jason_harsch/vwp?.dir=/Cruiser+Pics&.src=ph&.dnm=frontdown.jpg&.view=t&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/bc/jason_harsch/lst%3f%26.dir=/Cruiser%2bPics%26.src=ph%26.view=t)

Another... (http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/jason_harsch/vwp?.dir=/Cruiser+Pics&.src=ph&.dnm=3-stage2.jpg&.view=t&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/bc/jason_harsch/lst%3f%26.dir=/Cruiser%2bPics%26.src=ph%26.view=t)

My wife's '82 before and after... not quite the same type transformation as Nolen's.

before:
<img src="http://store1.yimg.com/I/coolfj40_1666_30875771">

after:
<img src="http://store1.yimg.com/I/coolfj40_1666_30640958">

Here's a before/after shot of mine. Ten years, 8,000+ miles and thousands of dollars separate the two pictures! :)

Hi Henry!

Queenslands Rule!

:D

No better Cruiser dog in the world, especially if you get 'em while they're young! :)

Originally posted by JasonH
I like seeing the before and after pictures - let's see some more.

Old and new and old again... (http://www.birfield.com/~morgan/susp_layers.gif)

Morgan

nice rigs

Originally posted by morgan


Old and new and old again... (http://www.birfield.com/~morgan/susp_layers.gif)

Morgan

Dear God that stock pig is Fugly...so fugly it is beautiful.

Speaking of beautiful FJ-55's, where has FC187 been??

Morgan-

Love the fj!

NOLEN-
THAT is one of the BEST LOOKING stockish cruisers ive EVER SEEN. That First pic is fawking AWSOME:eek: she sure was purty!:D Matt
...dont know about the spare tire cover though.....:rainbow: :D

Originally posted by Fixxxxer66
NOLEN-
THAT is one of the BEST LOOKING stockish cruisers ive EVER SEEN. ...dont know about the spare tire cover though.....:rainbow: :D

No KIDDING :barf:

How do you like the Armor All?

Whew, I made quite a 180* on that one eh?

Originally posted by wngrog
Dirty Early Kate..... January 1998...

????90's??? Early???!!:D

<a href="http://personal.atl.bellsouth.net/atl/d/c/dckunz/mods/pigpenb4.gif">PigPen Before</a> (I am there are a size ref, I am 6' 4").


<a href="http://personal.atl.bellsouth.net/atl/d/c/dckunz/mods/33s.gif">Pigpen After</a>(not a good pic, I have better at home, but the piggy got all growns up!!)

Those 4" alcans made a WORLD of difference!

Locker and snorkel should be on before Jan 1 =)

Here are my pic's of "Ray" (my 74 FJ40):

http://www.c-zone.net/skishast/newtoy.jpg

and here is the most recent pict I have (almost 8 yrs later):

http://www.c-zone.net/skishast/SOA.jpg

fj40Rox do you like your soft top more than you did you hardtop? I have been thinking about picking one up. Is it easily removed?

Donald :beer: :usa:

Donald - I found out that mine was a factory soft top after I bought it. The prior owner called me a week after I drove the truck home and told me he had some "spare parts" he found in the garage. I went over and one of the things he had was the drop gate. Upon closer inspection to the rear of the truck, it was obvious that the hinges for the doors were in non-factory holes and those holes in the rear channel made more sense. I installed the drop gate and looked for a soft top.

I really like the look of a FJ40 with a soft top and hard doors. Also - as tall as my truck is with the SOA and 35's, I would hate to try wheeling this beast with the extra weight of a hard top. Lastly, with the rolls I have experienced, there would be nothing left of the hard top by now. Heck the multi-barrel roll I did at Shasta OHV totalled the Kayline I had on it - let alone what it would have done to a hard top.

Originally posted by FJ4ZROX
[B]Here are my pic's of "Ray" (my 74 FJ40):/B]

Ah, it's you, Bruce!

I didn't realize you were FJ4ZROX.

Morgan

i couldn't find any that still had the top but i dug up this pre spoa
http://bbs.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/53-627460-lcbefore.jpg
http://bbs.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/53-627463-threestage.jpg
i still have to build some bumpers, might do that this weekend. mike

Hey Morgan - yep....I go by my Personalized Plate.

How do you like your FJZ80? I am looking for one myself, but still a little unsure about trading a '01 roadster for a '94-'97 TLC. Reading Henry's post/article about wagons and wheeling, I wonder how important the electric locker really is. If you plan for no rocks, LSD might be good enough. Then again, I've wheeled with Paul Decker and his 4Runner - nice trail/street rig - and more narrow than a FJ80. Decisions....decisions....

I am amazed at how difficult it has been to find a clean FJZ80 with avg. miles and a reasonable price.

Here's the before;

and after;

Originally posted by FJ4ZROX
How do you like your FJZ80? Reading Henry's post/article about wagons and wheeling, I wonder how important the electric locker really is. If you plan for no rocks, LSD might be good enough. Then again, I've wheeled with Paul Decker and his 4Runner - nice trail/street rig - and more narrow than a FJ80. Decisions....decisions....

I am amazed at how difficult it has been to find a clean FJZ80 with avg. miles and a reasonable price.

Bruce!

I dig the 80. Best cruiser Toyota ever built, I'm dead serious. OME cost less than $600 to do, coils are great, stock lockers, sliding rear windows, mighty straight six, less overhang, wider stance, monstrous birfields, plush interior, etc.

Our 80 is my daily driver (when I can't bogard Lauren's Audi) and the family trip mobile. I've promised Lauren I wouldn't wheel it, but I'm envisioning some family camping trips next summer that take us far afield. So I don't see myself needing the electric lockers anytimes soon. But the way I see it, the electric lockers are basically free, in that if you find an 80 with them it generally sells for the same as an 80 without them. They are worth a lot of money - consider the cost of dual ARBs. So getting an 80 without them for the same price as one with them feels like getting gypped. That's how I felt at least. I've got the 80-series electric locker in the back of my 55 and I like it.

As far as how well they wheel, I think they wheel fine. I was with Nick & Jen Demarest on the Rubicon this year, they had their 80 with little 33" AT tires and it did great. They did see some body damage but I think it was Nick's first time on west coast rocks. At Rubithon this year there was a family with a '91 or '92 on 35s and they just cruised the entire trail, got one ding. Had four people and a dog and everyone was comfy and happy. It's hard to beat the marlin crawler option for 4Runners and the narrower, lighter body of the 4Runner gives it some advantages. 80s don't yet have low gear options but I guarantee they will come.

I would trade both my 40 and my 55 for an second FJ80 to wheel. Aw yeah...

I found my 80 in San Diego. When I was looking for 80s, I wanted low miles, stock condition, never off-road and the electric lockers. SoCal is good because people down there go for the luxury options (loaded 80 = electric lockers), there are less off-roaders so 80s don't get wheeled, and the 80 seems to have sold really well down there - there are a lot of them on the used market. Recently two friends of mine have gotten FZJ80s for around $15K, here in the Bay Area.

Since I bought mine I've seen ~100k-mile FZJ80s selling under $15K. I paid $16K for mine with 93k miles, lockers, good condition. Drove back up I5 hitting 95mph! I like the 1FZ. This is my first cruiser for which there are a bunch of Aussie goodies available. I'm on the ARB plan. Put the heavy OMe suspension under it and an ARB roof rack on top of it. Next is a bigger or second fuel tank, an ARB bumper + winch, and maybe a Crawltec or Christo Slee rear bumper with swing-out tire carrier.

I already have before (http://www.birfield.com/~morgan/new80.jpg) and after (http://www.birfield.com/~morgan/tech/80_OME_install/20011127.jpg) pics! 80s rock.

Morgan

The ol man bought one of them Tayotas back in 73, then again in 75. I sure wished he'd a kept one of um for his kin. The first two are his new cruisers and the other two are a friend of mine named Tankota old and new shots, green is the newest

Also got some retrowheelin pics that are old and new with me and Tankota(been friends for long time) These reach as far back as my Dodge days, arent full sizes fun?

Originally posted by wheelinjp
The ol man bought one of them Tayotas back in 73, then again in 75. I sure wished he'd a kept one of um for his kin. The first two are his new cruisers and the other two are a friend of mine named Tankota old and new shots, green is the newest

Your old man showed you the way, how did you stray and end up with the Jeep?:flipoff2: