It's not been a real well kept secret, but if anyone remembers this:
Well, it happened. After checking out @L43dean 40, and getting all of our pennies into one pile, we were able to make Natalie is decent offer on Dean's 1968 FJ40, and we have added this truck to our stable and will make sure it gets the love and care Dean would have given it. I know most of the trucks of this vintage have had disc brakes, power steering, and a 4 speed transmission added to them. But not this one. And, in our hands (now the 3rd owners) it never will. It will spend the rest of our days in the Mountains west of Idaho Springs living it's best cruiser life, carrying not necessarily 7 adults and their gear in foam seat comfort, but getting low range exercised every time it hits the road, and getting to show off the grunt Toyota advertised.
We've got newer 40 series cruisers to play with that have all that good stuff, but what makes this truck so special is that it's simply as original as they come--and mechanically it is absolutely perfect. Everything works, properly. Transfer case? Shifts like butter. 3-on-the-tree? Shifts so smooth. The F? Starts up super easy, runs so smooth. Is there a bunch of rust in the body? Yep. I'll deal with that one of these days. But for now, we are going to tool around Clear Creek County, and probably never get above 45mph in the truck, because it's absolutely beautiful for that.
As many of you know, Dean used the forum name @L43dean for years, so we figured it was only right to pay tribute to Dean Baranski as best we could (aside from keeping the cruiser in the family, and keeping it original). It took a LOT of tries to find a license plate the state would accept, but we finally got one.
We were also able to connect Natalie with a buyer for the German woodworking bench (my mother), and we just put one of the tool boxes into our garage. So if you see L43DB driving around Idaho Springs or Georgetown, you know it's us, and yes, that's Dean's old 40. Your eyes aren't deceiving you.
Today, in fact, @SaintAgatha was up learning how to double clutch the 3-on-the-tree and generally getting to cruise around in the cutest 40 I know of. We are certainly planning on the 40's only run in it, and the Ramsey winch will go back on one of these days. It's actually been interesting because it came with the sales slip from December of 1967, and CDan and I have chatted a good bit about some of the dealer installed options, and that's all pretty fascinating stuff to me.
So, anyone want to buy a 1HZ block? Or a rusty FJ60? Or a copper FJ60 radiator? Gotta make room, physically, and financially for this little cutie!
Dan & Nancy
Well, it happened. After checking out @L43dean 40, and getting all of our pennies into one pile, we were able to make Natalie is decent offer on Dean's 1968 FJ40, and we have added this truck to our stable and will make sure it gets the love and care Dean would have given it. I know most of the trucks of this vintage have had disc brakes, power steering, and a 4 speed transmission added to them. But not this one. And, in our hands (now the 3rd owners) it never will. It will spend the rest of our days in the Mountains west of Idaho Springs living it's best cruiser life, carrying not necessarily 7 adults and their gear in foam seat comfort, but getting low range exercised every time it hits the road, and getting to show off the grunt Toyota advertised.
We've got newer 40 series cruisers to play with that have all that good stuff, but what makes this truck so special is that it's simply as original as they come--and mechanically it is absolutely perfect. Everything works, properly. Transfer case? Shifts like butter. 3-on-the-tree? Shifts so smooth. The F? Starts up super easy, runs so smooth. Is there a bunch of rust in the body? Yep. I'll deal with that one of these days. But for now, we are going to tool around Clear Creek County, and probably never get above 45mph in the truck, because it's absolutely beautiful for that.
As many of you know, Dean used the forum name @L43dean for years, so we figured it was only right to pay tribute to Dean Baranski as best we could (aside from keeping the cruiser in the family, and keeping it original). It took a LOT of tries to find a license plate the state would accept, but we finally got one.
We were also able to connect Natalie with a buyer for the German woodworking bench (my mother), and we just put one of the tool boxes into our garage. So if you see L43DB driving around Idaho Springs or Georgetown, you know it's us, and yes, that's Dean's old 40. Your eyes aren't deceiving you.
Today, in fact, @SaintAgatha was up learning how to double clutch the 3-on-the-tree and generally getting to cruise around in the cutest 40 I know of. We are certainly planning on the 40's only run in it, and the Ramsey winch will go back on one of these days. It's actually been interesting because it came with the sales slip from December of 1967, and CDan and I have chatted a good bit about some of the dealer installed options, and that's all pretty fascinating stuff to me.
So, anyone want to buy a 1HZ block? Or a rusty FJ60? Or a copper FJ60 radiator? Gotta make room, physically, and financially for this little cutie!
Dan & Nancy
