Vehicle Description
1973 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40
"If you look at the grizzled, yet familiar face of this classic
Toyota FJ Series 40, your mind immediately races to faraway lands
with rugged mountain tops, dense jungles, frozen tundra, and
seething deserts. Sure, the modern car companies want you to
believe that your crossover is just as good at plodding through the
jungle as it is conquering the Sahara but modern vehicles are
simply an illusion to what a proper SUV should be able to do."
Thxvelocity.com, March 2021, "The Toyota FJ Series is No Poser"
For consignment, a 1973 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 showing 21,635
miles, but the true miles are unknown. As Jalopnik once wrote,
Toyota FJ40's are "basically U.S. Army Jeeps squeezed through
another design process". Vintage utility vehicles are still a hot
category in the market, and it doesn't matter whether they are
barn/farm finds, or fully finished resto-UV's (RUV's?).
Exterior
Pueblo Brown covers this rig with a distinctive Cygnus White roof,
there to reflect light and heat when trekking the Serengeti, or the
Trader Joe's parking lot in summer. Meanwhile, Pueblo Brown refers
to the sun dried mud bricks of the southwest adobe. The white is
picked up characteristically on the grille surround that takes in
the round headlights, giving the FJ a familiar and recognizable
face. White is also picked up by the 15-inch wheels that are 6 lug
steelies with some earned patina. In profile, the FJ is wonderfully
slab sided with articulated front fenders that bends at angles
rather than circle over the wheel opening. Rear quarter windows
wrap around the corners while the barn door type access doors under
a rear hatch hold a spare over a trailer hitch mounted on the
frame. Round tail lights are found on the same plane and protected
by bumpers that leave circles at the end so the lights are visible
and protected from boulders or bighorn sheep. Beginning in the drip
rails, cracking paint is noted and on other parts of the truck we
find cracking Bondo, panels and running boards that have rusted
through, rusty hardware, and significant amounts of bubbling. If
patina tells a story, this truck portrays a 12 part mini
series.
Interior
Not as rough as a stucco bathtub, but still replete with patina on
the inside. Door panels have vinyl inserts and not much else,
leading in to find bucket seats with vinyl and cloth in black and
gray coverage under dirty seat covers, and the driver's seat is
raised with a wood box.In back, gray vinyl benches face inwards,
fun for kids and kids at heart, and they can wear dirty boots
because the vinyl mat on the floor won't suffer from a little more
wear. Behind the black plastic steering wheel is a dash that
definitely looks ex military and a tachometer has been added to the
column in front of a modest speedometer and other gauges. To the
right, knobs with age to them take their place on the brown dash
panel along with an AM/FM radio. The glovebox wears an engraved
shifting diagram revealing the operation of the floor mounted
sticks. There's vinyl flooring up here as well along with Toyota
branded rubber mats. Pedals are wrapped in black electrical tape,
we're guessing to keep the rubber pads on. A perforated headliner
is still in place, weathered but mostly intact.
Drivetrain
Under the hood is the driver quality 3.9 liter inline six, fueled
by a 2-barrel carburetor and rated at 125 horsepower. A 3-speed
manual puts the rig in motion and splits drive between 4.10 gears
at each axle. Power drum brakes are at all four wheels, but as
we'll learn, they're currently ineffective.
Undercarriage
As expected, surface rust, oil, layers of caked on sooty grease,
and areas of substantial invasive rust exist underneath. The single
exhaust is intact and flows through a stock style muffler before
sending out an exhaust pipe. Leaf spring suspension is utilized
front and rear.
Drive-Ability
Due to inoperable brakes, we were not able to take the truck around
the loop. But we did start the vehicle and test operations, finding
that the tail lights do not work but all other functional items
did! While Classic Auto Mall represents that these functions were
working at the time of our test drive, we cannot guarantee these
functions will be working at the time of your purchase.
This one's going to be a project, but that doesn't make the vintage
FJ40 any more undesirable. Looking over our inventory history, the
truth is they don't come for sale that often and if fully restored,
fetch some pretty good greenbacks. Here's one open to your own
interpretation and skills!
Classic Auto Mall is home to more than 1,000 classic and
collectible vehicles for sale via consignment in a climate
controlled 336,000-square foot showroom (that's more than 8
acres!). The largest single location consignment dealer of classic
and collectible vehicles in the country is located in Morgantown,
Pennsylvania, just 1-hour west of Philadelphia off Exit 298 of the
I-76 Pennsylvania Turnpike. For more information visit
www.classicautomall.com or call us at (888) 227-0914. Contact us
anytime for more information or to come see the vehicle in person.
There is no guarantee of mileage. A $299 Dealer Administrative fee
is not included in the advertised price.
With so many great cars, you know we have a lot to talk about, and
we do that each week on the Classic Auto Mall Podcast with host
Stewart Howden. Stewart discusses new inventory as well as trends
in consignments and car prices, while interviewing celebrities and
automotive professionals about amazing cars and their history. Tune
in each week to the Classic Auto Mall Podcast wherever you enjoy
listening. You can also watch on YouTube!
