Land cruiser

Thanks for the info.

I know it would be difficult to value it without seeing the vehicle but do you have a rough idea of value. The vehicle has a little bit of rust but other than that it is in good condition.

Luke, it's difficult to place a value on a vehicle without a full inspection and assessment of overall condition and the amount of work/dollars required to bring it back to top-class, "show" condition.

But the early 3 speed FJ's are becoming quite rare now, and they definitely hold a level of "collector" vehicle status.
Maybe not quite so much as a classic sedan of the '50's or '60's, but they're slowly increasing in value.

I'd have to opine, as a restorer and collector myself, and as a buyer and seller of equipment and vehicles over some 50 years, including extensive auction buying, that an early FJ45 in reasonably good working condition, and road-registered, has to be worth around $6,000 to $8,000 today.

If the vehicle is not registered, it will affect the sale value, as that places a degree of uncertainty on how much work/money is required to make it roadworthy, and get it registered.

The early FJ40's, and to a lesser extent, the FJ45's, are huge collector items in the U.S. today.
The Americans love them for their simplicity and ruggedness, and restoration of these vehicles is currently, big business in the U.S.

Restored 1973 FJ45 3-speed for sale in Dallas, TX.

Jalopnik - Why everyone wants an early FJ40.

The site linked to below, gives very comprehensive technical and historical information on Landcruisers - but it is a little short on information on the very early FJ series.

It's written by a Canadian bloke, mostly for American and Canadian Landcruiser owners, but he does cover Australian and Canadian models, as well as other countries variants.

Rusty Brain - 'Cruisers - FAQ's

Note that he's "in the dark" as regards the commencement date of Australian sales of the first FJ models.

I was originally under the impression that Theiss were responsible for introducing Toyotas to Australia in the late 1950's - but I find that there are news articles as early as 1956, for the Toyota Landcruiser - which was reportedly available for sale at that time, in Victoria.

Interestingly, this 1956 SWB Landcruiser tested, had a 4 speed, non-synchro gearbox, and no transfer case. The article says it's an "advance" vehicle, essentially a prototype. The production models to come were to have synchro gearboxes.

The Victorian agent for the Landcruiser was B&D Motors P/L - and another article I find from March 1958, says the Baker body-building company in Geelong was "building" 12 bodies a week for the Landcruiser by that time.

I assume that "building" refers to assembly of Landcruisers that were being imported as CKD kits.
Or perhaps the writer was referring to trays being built for cab-chassis models.
I would have expected some assembly work was being done, as the Landcruiser cabins were simply bolted together, and it would have saved a great deal on shipping costs for Toyota to have crated CKD kits.

There were still high tariffs on imported vehicles back then, and an insistence on high levels of local content, by the Govt.

The article says the first Landcruiser body was delivered to B&D Motors on February 26, 1958.

I can remember seeing new Toyota Tiaras locally (W.A.) in 1962 and 1963, when I was at high school - the Toyota cars sold better than the Landcruiser initially, and it was a couple more years before I saw a Landcruiser locally.

One has to remember there was still a lot of strong anti-Japanese feeling in the late 1950's and early 1960's - the memories of WW2 were still very raw, and the Japanese still had a reputation for producing "junk" products, due to their previously-poor steel quality.

Landcruiser test drive - 1956

Baker Motor Company constructing 12 new bodies a week for Landcruisers - 1958

Early NSW ad for new Landcruiser - Oct 1959

Cheers, Ron.

That’s great info. Thanks for your help

Hi Ron

Just one more thing I was wondering about the tray of the Ute and side rails are all made from timber and the structural support for the tray that mounts to the chassis is also made from timber is this a factory tray or something someone has added on to the Ute?

Thanks.

Luke, it was still common for body builders to manufacture ute and truck trays from timber in the early 1960's, although steel trays were starting to take over.

Steel was still quite costly in the early 1960's, timber was cheap, and blokes with carpentry skills abounded.

The typical timber tray of the 1950's and early 1960's comprised a certain amount of steel, mostly flat bar and angle iron steel, in the headboard supports, the hinge brackets for the tray sides, and steel supports for the tray edges and corners.

But around 95% of the tray was timber, including the longitudinal bearers and the cross-supports, as well as the floor and sides.

It is possible an early Landcruiser owner built his own wooden tray, but it would have been relatively rare for it to happen.

Here's a photo of a 1958 FJ25 traytop, with a typical "commercially-built" timber tray of the era.



You will also get a goldmine of information from the very long thread on IH8Mud, link below.

Don't believe too much of the story that Sir Leslie Thiess was virtually solely responsible for bringing the Landcruiser to Australia.

Sir Les was enthusiastic about the Landcruiser, and organised to acquire the QLD dealership for them, and promoted the 'Cruiser widely - but he wasn't solely responsible for bringing the Landcruiser here, others such as B&D were promoting the Landcruiser a couple of years before Sir Les "got the Landcruiser bug".

The discussion on IH8Mud also includes a story from a bloke who worked on assembling the first Landcruisers at Bakers - and he states exactly what I thought was the case - the early Landcruisers arrived in CKD crates, and were assembled at Bakers.

IH8Mud discussion - early Australian Landcruisers

Cheers, Ron.

Thanks again mate

Actually, I think I've made an error with the above traytop caption . I copied the "FJ25" caption from the original photo - but I think the traytop is more likely to be an FJ28, not an FJ25.

The difference is, the FJ25 had a 89.9" wheelbase (2295mm), but the FJ28 had the longer 96" wheelbase (2440mm).

Cheers, Ron.