-By Eric B.
After a few months of light looking for 60’s, Ben finally gave the go ahead for full fledge scouting. There were plenty of 60/62’s in the Florida area, some asking way too much for what they had and some were not even worth the look. We needed to find one that was 1) in good running condition 2) as little rust as possible 3) not something to dump loads of money in to bring it up to par.
So after a few nights of searching we found an ’87 FJ60 for a surpising low price in Georgia. Not too far for me being in Jacksonville, but for Ben it was a good days trip one way. After contacting the owner and getting more info, I decided to make the journey to check it out in person. Long story short, we found a winner. Matt, the owner, was a great guy to deal with and went out of his way to provide Ben and I with all the info possible.
So the next order of business is how to get it back down south. Ben couldn’t get the time off to make it over, so it sounded like a job for Lilly (my FJ62). After removing the rear winch to accomodate the hitch ball for the tow dolly, I made my way up to pick the 60 up. Now those who know Land Cruiser personalities, Lilly is no different. After loading Ben’s 60 on the dolly, I went to start Lilly and nothing. “Matt meet Lilly” is all I could think at that time. I think Lilly thought she was getting replaced. After a brief talk with her troubleshooting the problem, I had Matt tap the starter and she started. Since then I have had no issues.
The tow down was uneventful. I am glad I had the H41 transmission, made starts effortless. It was 90% all highway which was nice. Braking, or lack of, was a whole different beast, but manageable. Later found a picture of both rigs on the highway that someone took on IH8MUD.
She now sits at my place anxiously awaiting the new adventures Ben has in store.
