Man, this sort of breaks my heart. This 1978 Toyota Land Cruiser has a rebuilt motor, new clutch / brakes / gas tank and is unfortunately suffering from severe body and floor rust. The frame is good, but the seller seems to be throwing in the towel while acknowledging he’s had some good times with the old girl. Find it here on eBay with a Buy-It-Now of $3,500 and the option to submit a best offer.
I feel like the FJ40s are just destined to be “good time” vehicles – if you’re using them for puttering to the grocery store, you’re sort of missing the point. The way this one is set up, with barely any weather protection and a body so rotten the tail lamps have gone astray, just tells me this Land Cruiser did all the hunting, fishing and trail hopping it was intended to do. Of course, now the question becomes whether it’s worth restoring or simply harvesting the drivetrain.
The seller does say the body is rusted; I’m guessing that includes the floors as I’m pretty sure that’s daylight I see below the pedal box. Of course, it could be an optical illusion, but I’ll be the floors aren’t far behind with the body as rusted as it is. The rest of the interior looks acceptable, but smart money says the seats are pretty tired under those covers as well.
The seller further claims there’s just 12,000 miles on the engine rebuild. Curiously, the listing says it stopped being driven in the winter in 1996 – which tells you it went out every winter before then. And given its reputation for getting through tough roads and slick surfaces, why not? Of course, now the next phase of its life begins, and with the current asking price and the option to submit an offer, I feel it could go either way in terms of its fate as a restoration project or a parts truck. Which option would you choose?
If it was mine and the claim of rebuilt motor / clutch that all works well, I would patch the body as best I could then either put a plow on it or use it for mudding and trail blazing without fear of putting a few scratches or dents in it.
I think that’s bare galvanized sheet metal you see below the pedal box. A common trick where I grew up.
Yep. Been there, done that. With either big head pop rivets or sheet metal screws holding it in place. Although, one has to wonder what he found to connect the pop rivets/sheet metal screws to…..???
you mean not everyone does that?
I had a 1974 and it rusted to the point I would no longer let my wife and kids use it. I sold it to a guy planning to use as plow vehicle. Know what my frame looked like back then, some 20 plus years ago his frame is probably trashed too. The way the frames were built if you used them in the rust belt it is inevitable for them to rust away. To many moisture traps. If were to make a deal on this rig it would be for parts and the title. I would build a new frame, a new body (aluminum or fiberglass) and build a new drivetrain. As munched as I loved my old Cruiser I probably would not use any of the original drivetrain. The engines were prone to valve and head failure. The best parts of the rig were the tranny and T-case. Very smooth operation. The axles are OK but I would upgrade since I was upgrading the Powertrain. By doing this you would have a classic off roaster with modern dependable drivetrain. I I had my new garage built I would definitely give the guy a call or shoot him an email.
This would take a whole lot of work, but if it can be fixed up for a driver enjoy this thing!