O.M.G. – Plates!

Saturday I woke to find a text message on my phone. Seller was feeling “ripped off” because it had cost him $500 to change his US dollars into canadian. Given that the two currencies are at parity this left me with a loss for words. He paid more than 5% to change money? Where was he? A race track? A casino? The gist of the message was that because it had cost him so much to change money he didn’t want to spend $30 to pay to have the registration re-printed.

I’d texted him the day after I bought the car, asking him to mail the top part of the form that the vehicle ownership certificate had come from. He’d said he’d do it, now more than a week later he’s telling me he can’t. Or he can’t without more money. Sort of feels like being held hostage but still I feel sorry for him if he lost $500 of my money to a stupid bank. Gah. Still angers me. In seattle there are all sorts of places that will change us dollars to canadian for a fee of between 4 and 6 percent. I ignore them and go to the Wells Fargo Forex Desk where they will sell currency at the bank’s commercial rate for a $25-$100 fixed fee. I would be surprised if there wasn’t a similar place in Vancouver, but I guess you need to know to look. I assumed he’d be savvy to changing money since he lives so close to the border.

I tell seller not to worry, don’t spend any money, I’ll happily pay if that is required but I’m sure the requirement is a misunderstanding.

Monday morning bright and early I reappear at BelRed Auto License. Truck is driving particularly well after changing out 13 liters of nasty gear oil with 13 liters of the finest synthetic.

BelRed Auto is a private office that handles state licensing. They are the people who gave me my temporary plate on the day after I got the car, and the ones that said I needed the top half of the form. I show up, take a ticket and wait in line. When called I ask if they are sure that I need the top half of the paper because it won’t be so easy to get. I mention that it seems odd to me that washington is requiring something that is contrary to the law in british columbia. The certificate I have is the proof. How can washington require a portion of a document that is supposed to be kept by the other party? The desk clerk tells me she is sure and if I can’t get the paper I will need to apply for a lost title, which takes two years, costs lots of money and requires a state patrol inspection! I am fuming but thank her.

I go to washington state licensing web site and find a questions number. After 5 attempts to get through I am put into the wait line, 15 minutes of terrible Muzak and I get to speak with a real person: “Mary”. After hearing my story and speaking with her supervisor who says the certificate is sufficient we work out the steps that I should follow:

1. Go back to BelRed Auto Licensing fully armed with all paperwork and ask to speak with Supervisor.
2. Entreat supervisor to call his supervisor for advice, they have a phone number for situations like this.
3. Permission should be granted and plates issued.
4. If this doesn’t work, go try a different Licensing office!
5. Or, just drive to the County Auditor in seattle who knows the rules and will issue the plates.

At lunch I drive back to BelRed and follow Mary’s steps. The supervisor calls his supervisor. There is some faxing. I get to read the weekly and the stranger. After 35 minutes the supervisor returns and my plates are issued. The application has a memo attached to it with a number in Olympia to call if there are any questions.

Yay!!

Check the glare from the plexiglass! DMV Clerk took this photo of the Happy BJ60 Owner and his New Plates

 

Sure enough, right then and there my plates are handed to me along with a real registration. I carefully check all the numbers and also that vehicle is listed as a Diesel. Sweet!

They take my precious customs document and also my certificate of ownership. The title should arrive in less than 10 weeks.

Call from the Franken-Seller

Deal was very loose but I think I was very clear that my goal was to stay below $9k. The same day that Root Beer Brown Beauty sold (congrats!), I get a message from Franken-Seller that the price needs to go up by $250, and that those lovely Optima batteries need to be switched for the lead acid batteries in his truck. I can’t blame him for wanting the batteries and I do think it is good that he spent more time to figure the prices, but I’m sorry he had to raise the price. Fact is he’s been getting lots of interest ever since he agreed to sell to me, so a little seller’s regret. Too bad he agreed to it on the phone though… Sigh. Anyway, no sweat, just a little thing in the big picture.

Message today asking if I wanted spare parts. I agreed. Includes extra parts for dash, heater, glass and… sway bars… which are NOT currently installed on the cruiser.

Sway bars are important for tall vehicles, and even more so when they are lifted to even taller. US 60 series cruisers didn’t come with sway bars, and didn’t even have mounts for sway bars on the rear, canadian (or maybe just later canadian) 60s came with front and rear sway bars. These are essential for good highway manners, especially when loaded, and double-especially when the truck has its center of mass raised with lifted suspension. Fortunately the sway bars are easy to install although I’ll need to get some extension links to mount them on this lifted truck. Seems the extensions for 4 corners are readily availabe and will cost about $70.

From reading the land cruiser forums on the internets I am finding an unusual misunderstanding of suspension and the roles of the various components. Even for the internets the memes around land cruiser suspension are very wrong. This is not a case of small discrepencies, but people lifting trucks and throwing out sway bars, then trying to fix by purchasing a different brand of shock. Nowhere have I seen any mention of corner balance, center of mass, or calculations to determine the correct spring/sway/shock rates. I might actually get a chance to do some math here.

FrankenCruiser Part Two

Seller built Frankencruiser for his schoolteacher wife, who rejected it. Car was built as an Alaskan Vacation Vehicle, has 2 1/2 Old Man Emu Springs, Rancho 5000 shocks.

Vehicle as it was originally offered, large wheels and bumper.

Vehicle as it was originally offered, large wheels and bumper.

Only thing I don’t like: chopped rear quarter panels. This is usually done since they trap water and rust so easily. Much easier to just cut them off. Still it does kinda ruin the lines.

Lower end of lift gate has rust. I can’t tell, can you?

Heres the bubbling on underside of lift door. Owner is including a rust free spare.

Seller works at a hot rod shop. Seller’s previous sale on craigslist n-years ago, was of a nice looking Model T Pickup Hot Rod with wide tires and lots of chrome. Seller also reveals he professionally looks at 400+ vehicle a day, in order to source parts for the hot rod shop which deals mostly in Corvettes.

Seller has owned 9+ Land Cruisers, and he built this for himself as a sort of Ultimate. This car was built up from bits of at least 6 other Land Cruisers, including a rare Two Person Front Passenger Seat that seller has had installed in each of his 5 previous Land Cruisers. “Never seen another one. I just thought it was cool.”

Double Passenger Seat

That Two Person Front passenger Seat is cool.Probably it is unsafe outside the city because the middle front passenger only gets a lap belt. Seller has extra seats with correct fabric, his mom worked as an upolsterer and he’d always intended to redo the seat…

Rear view of two person front passenger seat.

Left and right positions in rear have shoulder belts (though they are notoriously difficult to use Toyota belts).

Rear seats have shoulder belts. They should probably get headrests too…

Frame is from a California FJ60, doors from here, lots of interior from a wrecked one, etc. Each part was media blasted to bare metal and then rust treated and epoxied. He’d considered powder coating the frame, but didn’t because it’s so hard to remove if any sort of repair is needed. Personally I’m glad for that, powder coat is notorious for rusting from underneath. Too bad he wasn’t in Seattle, there’s a place that could have Hot Dipped the Entire Frame in Zinc.

Rust just starting on the OME Springs.

Thing needs alignment, seller set it up with no toe so it wants to wander on the freeway, probably I’m going to take it to Fordahl who is someone who can figure out what shock valving this thing should have. Probably he’ll insist on adjustable, but that’s not happening, I’m more hoping along the lines of having some spare Bilsteins rebuilt…

View of a rear wheelwell. Can we see rust forming inside the frame?

If you’re wondering, all Canadian 60 series land cruisers were 12 volt. Otherwise everything electrical is hard to come by cheaply in the States… This one comes with a set of year-old deep cycle marine batteries from Optima (Canadian 60 series all came with 2 batteries to help with cold start).

New pair of deep cycle marine batteries. These are NICE batteries!

The engine is the fabled 3B. Replaceable cylinder sleeves, internal oil spray to the backs of the cylinders, low stress industrial motor renowned for durability. Drive train is Toyota Heavy Duty, used for trucks. This one comes with the H55F five speed.

3B Diesel, but look at that freshly painted engine bay!

I should add: seller is incredibly nice, like pretty much all Canadians. Funny with low-key humor, enjoyed talking with him. Maybe I’m just not used to speaking with people who are smart and know how to be polite.

255k kms! Thats only 158k miles. Check the 600rpm idle.

Things I need to worry about:

• Vetted? Owner says they took car up on vacation the other weekend, wife drove it, worked like a champ. Hopefully gets me home without too much hassle.
• Tires? I’ll be needing replacements when I get back to Seattle, but they do need to get me to Seattle.

Any-way. I’ve worked out the deal with him. He’ll take off the fancy desirable BC wheels and tires, the ARB Bumper and US made Warn Winch, and he’ll find stock wheels with legal (but not new!) tires, replace stock bumpers, include a unrusted tailgate, and he’ll sell to me for an appropriate price. Also, I’ll pay $250 to get that front passenger seat redone with his fabric.

I’m driving up on Thursday morning, 2 1/4 hours not including border frisking.

I had almost purchased a bus ticket to Abbotsford (share Shuttle from SeaTac, or some other private connector) but at the last-minute I find my father’s going to be driving up to Bellingham on Thursday, so he’ll deliver me to Abbotsford (including border crossings that might take a total of 2-3 extra hours!). Road trip with my Dad! Gosh, maybe I should call and arrange to be picked up at the border?

Bringing with me:

• Headlamp! (Black Diamond Icon Polar)
• Clear work goggles (To protect from grit while scraping at underside of car)
• Tools (vice grips, screw drivers, adjustable wrenches)
• Semi-Completed EPA and NHTSA forms.
• Semi-Completed Bill Of Sale
• Wads of cash
• Pass-o-port-o

Elephant in the Room – Importing from Canadia?

When porsche stopped importing its 930 in 1980 through 1985, it opened up a weird market for Grey Market Cars. These cars did not meet federal import requirements, so rich cool 80’s people would pay companies to import and modify the cars to be complient with US law, get them tested or somehow approved. This meant changing out the speedometers, welding tubes into the doors, modifying the exhaust so the car could pass emissions, and also apparently a mountain of paperwork. These grey market cars got a very Bad Rap because some were done poorly and not completely legally. Or maybe it was just the american dealers that just slandered them so successfully. I dunno. There were cases where owners got screwed by the importers and later buyers couldn’t register their vehicles. Caveat Emptor.

And then I’ve run into odd ball Fanatikal Lotus Owner who brought in a Lotus Elise Series 1 Piece by Piece and Registered it as a Kit Kar…

So I was pretty impressed when I saw a BJ60 or two for sale on the Seattle Craigslist. These people must be some kinda WiZZards to be able to navigate the ocean of paperwork needed to meet the strict requirements of US Customs, The EPA, and the Various States, not to forget Canadian Customs.

I got your car in this Jar, Eh!

Started to investigate on IH8Mud.com, several huge threads about importing Canadian Land Cruisers to the US of A. There were lots of scary stories, most of which ended successfully but with the warning “Don’t be a fool like Me, Pay A Registered Importer…”

There was even a case of a guy getting a Land Cruiser delivered to California, paying for it with empty assurance of a forthcoming Letter from Toyota, and then not being able to register it, not having any customs paper allowing the vehicle into the country and then having to drive to Canadia to get it re-imported correctly.

I’ve spent the last 3 or 4 nights reading about this issue, and about what is needed to import a BJ60 from Canadia. One thing I noticed… the inqueries and problems involving BJ60s all disappeared around the time they turned 25 years old… Then I read the NHTSA docs, and also the EPA docs, and then spoke on the phone with the folks at the Lynden Crossing about this, so am starting to feel ok about this being possible for an idiot like me.

Here’s my understanding. There are two forms needed to enter the US with a 1984 BJ60:

– NHTSA: Form HS-7 (Rev 05-2006): Declaration Importation of Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicle Equipment Subject to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety, Bumper and Theft Prevention Standards:
I can check box 1, since vehicle is more than 25 years old.

BANG! Done.

– EPA Form 3520-1 (Rev 10-10) Declaration Form Importation of Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicle Engines Subject to Federal Air Pollution Regulations:
I get to check Code E (bottom of the form):

“Vehicle at least 21 years old and in original unmodified configuration is either exempted or excluded from EPA emission requirements, depending on age. Vehicles at least 21 years old with replacement engines are not eligible for this exemption unless they contain equivalent or newer EPA certified engines.”
Customs may require proof of vehicle age.

BAM! Done with that too.

I also need the original Canadian Registration Paper Signed to me (that makes me the owner). And after I’ve paid Duty of 2.5% of value of car minus my $800 exclusion, I’ll get a paper from customs that says the vehicle is legal to have in the US.

The next step is then: what is needed to satisfy the state of washington? Do I need a temporary trip permit to even drive the car in Washington State? Turns out no:

I went to a Licensing Office today, they said the Canadian Registeration is Valid for me. I have 5 days to submit papers to get it registered. To get a title in my name i need:

• Customs papers declaring that the us gov thinks its ok for this vehicle to be in the states.
• Original Canadian Registration Signed over to me.
• Bill of Sale (completed by seller and myself)

The car is more than 25 years old, so no subject to emissions testing. Its also a Diesel, so not subject to emissions testing. Word on internets, I need to make it very clear that this is a diesel, but that might only matter for newer vehicles.

Then I’ll pay tax on teh car, and someday in teh future I’ll get PLATES! Won’t that be an amazing day…

Root Beer Brown Beauty

I kinda, sorta, already have a bit of a soft spot for Brown Cars:

My old Tobacco Metallic 911sc

And this one:

Porsche 930 Tobacco Metallic On Ferry

And here, well, way over there, in South Ontario, is a sweet mostly original paint BJ60. Well, at least the ad says that, and in this case I believe its true.
Here’s the ad at IH8Mud.

Desirable 5 speed, giant bumper, big wheels, lift kit and a wench, uh, I mean winch. A-and a Turbo! Stock these cars have ~90hp and are really awakened by a mild turbo boost. Original paint! Brown! And a Sweet Rack.

Yeah, the ad is 9 months old, but maybe it didn’t sell. Off goes the email, quick response that night to the effect that:

“I took it off the market 9 months ago, i love it too much, but your timing is good because I decided last night that I do need to sell it.”

Wow, fate in my favor too. And now I have an excellent comp to present to the owner of the FrankenCruiser. I email with Brown Beauty some more and the truck is just better and better. A reliable vetted truck, no issues, kept on top of the rust. Nice rack! Scratches and dents! Literally the only thing I don’t like are those front seats. What a shame that is, but I can live with it.

Owner is very responsive and professional. He is very confident in his truck.

Sigh, those seats…

Start investigating the drive from South Ontario. Hmm. 3 long days and roughly $500 in gas… Maybe a good choice to ship.

I consult with friends, wife, kids, and almost everyone is strongly in favor of the FrankenCruiser. Ok, but that’s just if they’re the same price. Lets see if FrankenCruiser is in the realm of the possible?

The Dawn of the Franken-Cruiser

Did a ton more reading of the IH8Mud forums.

Called Radd Cruisers in Duncan B.C. to get the straight professional opinion on BJ60s. First thing was a rundown on rust repair costs. Pretty much a mirror of what I got from TorFab. Don’t buy a rusty one. Next I head: “there are no more good BJ60s in Canada.” “Some people put Californian FJ60 bodies on their Canadian drivetrains.” “We recently completed a BJ60 restoration, $51k, $10k of that was the bodywork.” Sheesh!

He says: “Sometimes there’s a clean one for sale, you need to be patient, they’re out there but be prepared to spend $8k-to $10k for it.”

Dang.

I start wondering why I can’t find a good vehicle in Canada. Start searching Vancouver Craigslist.

I first find one for $10k. “Usual rust”. Like all Canadians, owner is very polite, nice. He’s also quite happy to talk about (aboot) his truck. Talks about the AXT Turbo and how happy he is with the power. Stresses the importance of a dialed in fuel map and not running too much boost. He has a Boost Gauge to measure turbo pressure and a Pyrometer to measure exhaust gas temps (EGT). Says the big deal for engine life is that exhaust temps shouldn’t exceed 1150 and 1200 degrees. Above that point the engine is too hot inside and the metal will be compromised. Sweet truck, lots of mods but doesn’t look bad to me. I ask about rust “Oh, just a little, not much at all!” He sends me pictures and Ouch! Tons of Rust on rear frame and suspension mounts. Frame is toast. It does have a great stereo though… 😦

And after the nice chat with Mr $10k, I decide to call the ad for the most expensive bj60 in bc craigslist: the FrankenCruiser…

Next one is this, sort of too expensive but doesn’t hurt to ask, or talk to him:

The FrankenCruiser

Called him from work and left a message on his voice mail. No response I called again the next day and he answered. Just back from a long vacation away from cell phone coverage. Sorry that he hadn’t called, he’d had lots of messages on his voicemail including interest in the car.

I spent about 45 minutes talking with him. Super nice guy with great sense of humor, low key. He built the car for a vacation he was planning with his wife from BC up to Alaska. Built to be his expedition car. Unfortunately he didn’t complete in time for his wife’s deadline so they flew to Alaska. Later he completed the vehicle, made it ready for his wife to use to commute to her job as a school teacher. First day the vehicle is ready, he watches through the curtins… wife goes out… walks past her truck… starts up her Subaru. Days turn to weeks, weeks to months and a year later she hasn’t taken to it.

I call this one the FrankenCruiser because its built from the best bits of 7 different Land Cruisers. Problem is:

• too expensive: $12.5!
• big huge silly wheels
• big winch and bumper that for me only hurt the fuel economy

Thinking for a few days… Hey. That is the only rust free BJ60 I’ve found. Its something I could actually own. Problems for me are the extra stuff and the Price. Maybe he can sell that desirable stuff up in BC, I can buy the vehicle for less money… I work this fantasy out in my head. Fancy wheels, fancy tires (those wide mud tires a bucks!), fancy bumper, $1700 wench! Surely he can sell that stuff of to the cruiser crowd in BC, and sell the vehicle I want to me?!

I go to call him, no answer, I leave a voice mail. I get a pad of paper ready with what I want listed clearly, to coach myself when we speak.

Next day I call again, a little desperate now… again I leave a voice mail message.

I drive to work mulling over the phone conversation I want to have. Probably the most convincing and polite thing I could do is show him comparable vehicles. When something isn’t selling the best thing is determine the market price. I search for “rust free land cruiser”, then “zero rust land cruiser”, and I put every truck I find into my list with Price and Rustiness. Need to find sale prices for Rustless BJ60s.

And it was then that I discovered…. The Root Beer Brown Beauty!

“Rust Free” BJ60 in Mount Vernon

Guy promised no rust, only rust repair done very well with solid metal everywhere. Wheelwells all repaired with real metal, no bondo or fiberglass. Then the all the bits that typically rust were coated with the best stuff ever, the plastic thats used to coat pickup beds. A-and its got a new paint job, only a teaspoon of bondo on the whole car. Excellent condition runs strong, 30mpg! Asking $7950.

Looks sharp eh?

Looks good from the outside.

I can’t find the craigslist ad any more, but I see some commentary about it here.

The odd thing about the post on IH8Mud.com? I found it only after calling the guy and arranging to drive up and see it. So much for the internets, someone claims its sold, but its not? Its 2 hour drive to his place. Brought my son so see it too. He sounded like a bit of a wheeler dealer on the phone, car wasn’t registered in washington, he’d done this before, etc, etc. Hmm. Well see.

4 Speed Vs 5 Speed

This is a 4 speed, so has longer gears than the 5 speed. From forums I see people paying $3,000-$6,000 to convert their 4 speeds to the 5 speed. 5 speed is better for matching the weak engine power to the speed and makes for quieter and more economical motoring. At least thats what the internets say. 🙂

I also find sane posts that state the 5 speed makes little to no difference, that fuel economy for a brick like this is dominated by air resistance, that there’s simply no way to get good mileage above 55mph, and lots of little things hurt the fuel economy. Driving fast hurts mileage, so do wide tires and lifting your truck. Also a sweet rack will kill your mileage.

From my sample of the ravening internets: the 30mpg people are infected with positive enthusiasm and are merely projecting their hopes and dreams to the world, and that they might also be using Imperial Gallons in their MPG figure (imperial gallon is 120% of a U.S. gallon). Figures I trust off the forums indicated that 25-28 is possible with skinny tires IF you’re light on the pedal.

Anyway, seller on the phone says that 4 speeds get 30mpg, 5 speeds get 35mpg. I ask if he’s experienced that himself with this truck: Um.. no.. this truck isn’t registered.., um I don’t know what the actual mileage is. So he is just reporting the best internet figures as fact? Hmm…

Hey, at least he isn’t lying. If he was deposed he could claim ignorance instead of being sleazy.

Was the Scouting Mission a Waste of Time?

This was a scout mission so I didn’t bring money and did not expecting to offer anything since he sounded so evasive. What I did bring was a headlamp, some eye protection, camera and some gloves. Intend to check it thoroughly for rust, then send photos to independant shop if the vehicle is a candidate.

Drive up, actually 2.5 hours, traffic and pouring rain the entire way. Full 20 gallons of premium gas.

On the outside the truck looks fine. Actually better than fine. I borrow a sheet of plywood and climb under with my new headlamp, camera and eye protection. Guy looks sort of surprised.

What I find is not what I expected:

• To my uneducated Elitist Porsche Owning Eye there’s just Tons-O-Rust. Rear frame is Gone, as in not there any more. There are cross supports missing. Leaf springs are sheets of rust, the shackles are invisible under a thick layered flaking ball of red disease. Metal is blooming into elaborate rust formations. Holes and rust through the thick metal of the frame, edges are fractal like a coral reef.
• The inside of the frame was rusted away, then taped over with thin tape and all painted a uniform black. It might have been treated with something, but big holes in a box tube does not bode well for its strength.
• Those wheel wells that had been so excellently repaired with Solid Metal? Chunks of fiberglass were breaking loose, tons of sopping rust came out the other side. Fiberglass over rust is exactly the worst thing you can do. Or maybe not, maybe its parking it in the ocean.
• This is the degreee of failure that I’ve been warned about since middle school but never actually seen. I could pretty easily have pulled baseball size chunks of sodden rusty fiberglass out of the wheelwell. Entire thing wanted to come loose and I don’t want to see whats back there.
• Behind wheelwell in the back, under the carpet? There is thick surface rust. Felt like I could have gone deep with a screwdriver, met up with the grungy delights in the wheel well. The metal in the cabin flexed with only the lightest finger taps.
• All four bottom edges of the doors were so rusted they flexed with a light squeeze. I could have broken them off with my fingers.
• Forget the screwdriver, or a hammer. I could have put 10’s of holes into this vehicle with my fingers. Had to be careful not to damage it.

On the bright side:

• The most classic of all rust locations, the rear lift gate, is not rusted at all (seller assures me that is rare!) Oh, huh. Because its new.
• There is a triangular sheet metal tunnel between the front and back of the body, before the wheel wells. Internet had warned this was the place to look for rust on otherwise clean vehicles. Its pretty much right below the back of the rear passanger seat. On this car I could site down it while under the car and it looked pretty darn good. A little wet, but not exploding with rust. I dunno? It looks like a place that is perfect for accumulating rust, and I didn’t see it.

So much for bright spots: at this point the car is only worth its drive train, and I’m not looking for a standalone drive train. Not something I want at all, even for free.

The Big Question

Why would someone bother to put a nice paintjob on this car, and not repair the real problems? Is this the Classic Lipstick on Pig? I can only guess that the seller is looking to pass this disaster off to an Idiot. Paint the doors nicely, but leave them full of rust along the lower edges? Sure does smell dishonest to me. Never in my life have I encountered such a dishonest presentation. I hope I’m wrong here but putting the black painted bandages over the badly rusted frame doesn’t seem like a good patch, seems like a way to hide the frame damage from a casual observer that just pokes his head under the car. Those patches would have been tough to find without a headlamp. Caveat Emptor!

Dang. What a waste of time. Oh well, anyway the first BJ60 that I’ve laid eyes upon. Hopefully the cars I look at will only get better from here?

Oh Yeah, That Silver Lining: The BJ60 is Freakin’ Awesome!!

He offers to let me drive it. I start it up and engine sounds VERY good. Just lugs along at a very low idle. Sounds very tight and clean. To my ears it sounds better than a classic air cooled opposed 6. No odd smoke or anything on cold startup. New clutch. We drive it down his driveway and onto paved road. Steering is loose, has a bit of the crab walk. Sorta kinda dangerous how difficult it is to keep on the road, bouncing around at odd angles. But wow it seems powerful. Way more powerful than you’d think from 70hp.

On the way back on the gravel we switch it into Low, engage the front hubs. Wow that is cool. Drive at 2000rpm and go about 5mph. This would be so choice in Teapot Canyon.

Best part of the whole trip: guy gets out to switch back the front hubs, he leans back to my son: This is gunna be your job! Slams the door. Son leans forward and exclaims: ” Dad. We gotta get this truck!” Low and urgent tone in his voice, not heard that tone from him before.

So this thing – tarted up on the outside but deadly rust monster on the inside. BEWARE!

On the bright side, he did let me drive it and he did a great job of selling my son and I on the vehicle type. I hope this bj60 ends up in a good home, its a cool car that looks to need $7000-$10,000 in rust repair. Much cheaper to port this drivetrain onto a clean FJ60. But that leaves a rusty hulk with nice paint with no purpose in life. Again: why would anyone pay anything to paint it and not fix the rust? Are dumb buyers so common?

What the heck? Why do I need another car? And the getting the BJ60 Bug.

This summer there were some excellent weekends. I wanted to drive to crystal mountain to mountain bike the loop. I wanted to drive to the coast to surf, or up to the mountains to hike. Quite a few times I didn’t go because… my car isn’t right for it. 15mpg, no storage, lowered stiff suspension doesn’t like logging roads. Don’t own a bike rack for it, etc, etc. Then its winter and I can’t take my kids skiiing… Either I steal the wife’s volvo wagon and leave her without a practical car, or I rent a car, or I don’t go. Guess which happens more often.

In the summer I actually rented a car for a three day weekend. 33mpg but tiny. Bike almost didn’t fit in the truck with wheels off. Bike, let alone BikeS. Came out to ~$30/day, but drove 400 miles. 400 miles / 33mpg == 12 gallons. 12 gallons at $3.5/gallon == $42. That same distance in the porsche 930 would have cost ~$100. Savings was a wash, but no wear and tear, and I could bring my bike.

And last reason, my kids are getting taller and starting to dare to complain about the back seats in the 930. <Monty python voice>: Kids these days! When I was a child I could only dream of riding in a car…

So.. requirements: Big inside for carrying gear. 4+ passangers. Crash safety. Reasonable Gas Mileage ™. And then a little extra personal requirement: sufficient ground clearance that I can drive to Chimney Rock in the Maze district of Canyonlands National Park.

Started discussing this issue with friends. Most obvious answer, I can buy a Hybrid… Or a Nissan Leaf? I can be a prius hyper miler? Oh, those are sorta small. And they’re new so very expensive. Depreciation curve will eat the savings. And no ground clearance.

Made a spreadsheet and started costing out candidates. Assuming I drive 6000 miles/year. How many years does the new car need to be driven to pay for its cost in gas. Spreadsheet assumes 4% return on money if it weren’t spend on a car, and assumes NO depreciation. Quickly realized that new cars make no economic sense which is good because they suck too.

Strongly considered the VW TDI wagons that are available locally. They get fantastic mileage (40+). But being VW I expect lots of expensive problems.

I came across a Diesel Datsun Pickup on craigslist, advertised 40mpg. Pickup! Cool. Cheap! But then they never imported a Krew Cab edition, so no way to carry the family. And dang I remember those things, seriously cheap, terrible in a crash. Imagine one of them rusty units puttering through an intersection and getting t-boned by an inattentive teen in a Lincoln Navigator?

Search progressed from Datsun Diesel, to Toyota Diesel (also rare). And then I found a craigslist ad:

This is the first bj60 I laid eyes upon. Rusty!!!

This is the first bj60 I laid eyes upon. Rusty!!!

Hmm. Toyota made diesel land cruisers? 24mpg? Hmm… That sounds pretty reasonable for a huge truck… $4500? Not bad at all! Cool looking, probably reliable, reasonable gas mileage? Well, not great but better than the volvo wagon.

So went into full research mode. Spent hours in the diesel section of the IH8Mud forum. The more I read the more possible this seems. Reminded me of the Turbo Section of Pelican Parts Forum, I mean similar fanaticism, but more people seemed to be able to weld, and there seemed to be an unusual tolerance for… rust?

So hey? Perhaps the rust isn’t such a big deal on a Land Cruiser. MAYBE they’re so easy to fix that rust doesn’t matter? Just weld more metal on and Bob’s Your Uncle! Yeah?

I called Torfab about rust… “uh… hi?” Guy was happy to answer questions: Price to replace rusty wheelwell? $1500-$2000. Each? Yeah. Price to replace frame? $2500-$3500. Price to put Diesel drivetrain in american FJ60? $3500.

Crap. Thats porsche money. I cut him off… “It sounds like… the best thing to do is… buy one without rust” “YES!! Don’t buy a rusty one!!”

Dang. So much for the $4500 jobber, now on the hunt for rust free land cruiser…