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On November 21st, 1999 my wife and I bought a 1963 FJ40
from Hugh Blanchard. That's Hugh on the left.
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My son Sam helped check it out. The muddy tires are from my
test drive. The FJ40 idled through some muck in hi- and
low-range four-wheel-drive with no hiccups. This one has
Warn locking hubs that look to be dealer-supplied because
the hubcaps fit them, and I know many early 40s didn't have
frewheeling/locking hubs.
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Here's Sam driving, a sly grin on his face. "This is my
cruiser?", he asks.
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The FJ40 on arrival, parked next to the FJ55. Sam says
"Mommy's cruiser is the little sister, and Daddy's cruiser
is the big brother."
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Happiness.
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Here's the front of the vehicle. As you can see I've got
some lenses to replace. I've heard about an early bezel
that's embossed with the words "Land Cruiser",
which is quite rare. Well, this one doesn't have it. Maybe
it did but it was replaced? Also, was there supposed to be
a "Toyota" emblem on the mesh in front of the
radiator?
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Rear of the vehicle. It has a teeny rear window that
collapses upwards like a blind, and corrugated sides. The
spare is hardly worn. You can just see the little vent on
the top of the roof at the rear. And it still has the
original black California plate!
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This one has the early centered rear diff. The VIN begins
with a "2", so I think it was built in 1962. It
has the "three on the tree", and the glass all
says "FJ25L". These are hallmarks of the
transition from FJ25 to FJ40 I guess.
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The five wheels all have the stock chrome hubcaps, and the
front ones have cut-outs for Warn hubs, which I think were
dealer installed. The two front tires and the spare are
the original Dunlop Weathermaster bias-ply 7.50x15 tires,
and they still have plenty of tread left. The odometer
reads 21K, and it still works. Who knows how many miles
this thing got?
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The newer gas tank is too tall for the original filler
neck. Hugh gave me the original tank, which is full of rust
flakes by the sound of it. I'll have it cleaned and sealed
and reinstall it ASAP. It's tricky to fill. :-)
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The drive home was eventful. The cruiser has a later-model
tank in it currently. After filling the tank fuel was
sloshing out of the sender unit every time I braked. It's
only held in with two screws, and maybe the gasket
underneath it is bad. First project! I have the old tank,
so I'll get it cleaned out and sealed and
"restore" it to its proper state.
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The dash is really clean, except for a few missing knobs or
accessories (horn) that don't work. The real bummer is that
someone cut up the ridged portion of the dash to put in an
"all-transistor" radio. I'm going to start
hunting for a clean dash of the right vintage. Do you have
one you want to sell?
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The seats are covered in a bright-red naugahyde and
stuffed with horse hair. The cushions for the front
1/3 driver seat and 2/3 passenger seat are loose and
not connected to the seat frames. I don't think the
red naugahyde is stock. Old color Toyota catalogs show
an orange material being used, but I think orange
seats in a red cruiser would look awful.
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I removed the passenger seat to re-install the
original gas tank, after having it cleaned and
patched. I think the seat frame was supposed to be
silver from the factory.
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