1970 Toyota FJ-40 Land Cruiser

In truth this Cruiser like a lot of them of this age is similar to a Johnny Cash “One Piece at a Time”, it is a 1970, with a 1974 steering column (ignition switch was bad so this got ignition onto the column along with turn signals etc.), engine I believe is from 1978 and tranny/transfer is 1980.

Purchased this cruiser 6-7 years ago from Las Vegas, was told by prior owner it had spent its time in Santa Cruz, CA and Las Vegas, it was in very solid shape with a small patch of rust on one rear corner, but like many 40-year-old Cruisers it had been painted (was originally red, but had been painted dark green which you will see in some of the pictures). The engine (based on serial numbers) had also been swapped out, but was still a 2F six-cylinder that ran very strong and had what I believe was the original 3 speed and transfer. Seats as well as interior were also original as was the vast majority of the Cruiser. I intended to do minor work as the Cruiser ran fine…so plan was more comfortable seats (Corbeau $ $ 1,150), Tuffy console and speaker boxes with stereo ($ 1,100), new tires ($ 1,200) and other minor details….now for the rest of the story.

I’ll start with what all has been done since then to this terrific frame-off restoration project. Started out working on some minor electrical issues, this led to some parts coming off in order get to the wiring harness, the wiring harness turned out to be extremely fragile (I assume due to all the heat exposure during its life in the desert). Fast forward and I had about 164 pieces of the Cruiser completely apart and awaiting soda blasting and on their way to individual paint (or for all the accent parts to powder coat). During that time I was also order 3 new Corbeau seats, all new weather stripping etc. for the windows, stereo, gauges, fender flares, 3 Tuffy boxes, hundreds of stainless steel bolts, nuts, washers and screws to replace all the rusty steel hardware that I had discovered during the disassemble.

I also noticed during the time that I was driving the Cruiser (before disassembly and taking over my entire garage) that the suspension didn’t feel right….so off to Proffitt Cruisers (while they were still in Tooele) for install of Old Man Emu Dakar leaf springs and Bilstein shocks all around, new tie rod ends.

Meanwhile back to the disassembled Cruiser….while I had ready access to the frame I also decided to replace the gas tank that had been under the seat (due to fumes and it was a small tank) with a new aluminum tank that mounted in rear between the frame rails.

Fast forward….replaced 3-Speed Tranny/Transfer with a 4-speed (yep you guessed it this meant getting both drive shafts redone by Six States), parts coming back from paint and power coating….tub Rhino Lined and undercoated, fenders undercoated also. All new lights and turn signals, new beefy front bumper with mounts for winch (but no winch installed yet…sorry), new gauges pod and gauges, CB antennas (but still no CB), tinted all the windows.

Also comes with the original jack (but don’t have the jack lever to go with it, but do have a hi-jack), several boxes of parts, pieces that were removed. Also has soft top and doors…have never had them on, but do have them as shown in pics.

Speedo only show under 300 miles on it, I’ve done quite a bit more miles than that since the reassemble, but for a large part of that I didn’t have a speedo cable. Actual mileage on the rig is unknown.

It is a 1970 so it has rattles and such like one would expect from a 46 year old rig, despite all the new body mounts, new rubbers etc.

That’s the story as best I can lay it out without writing the rest of a book here….it is a great rig, it is 46 years old, and yes I invested a lot in the rig, new parts, paint and body etc., and hate to get rid of it…but too many toys. My ask is solid as this only covers the cost of tangible stuff on the cruiser and not the close to 1000 hours of labor and research I have in the rig. If you plan to come look great, but just ask that you be realistic with offers…I don’t have room on the price, think it is realistic and if that means I keep it…so be it.

Thanks for looking!

Here are links to pictures (there are a lot of them):

Before Pictures - https://cruiserbefore.shutterfly.com/pictures#n_5

During Pictures - https://cruiserduring.shutterfly.com/pictures#n_5

After Pictures - https://cruiserafter.shutterfly.com/pictures#n_5

For Sale Locally Also…so subject to being pulled at any time if a local sale is made.