FJ-40 to become hot rod

[clivehorridge]

LATE BREAKING NEWS - Before I bought the Cruiser, I called a certifying engineer who's sympathetic to modified cars to ask if the car could be registered and driven with a dropped I-beam front axle, a Jag rear axle, a V-8 engine, and a replacement 'glass body. He said yes, so I bought the car. It's sat in my shed for about a year now and I called him again a few days ago to ask if we needed to meet before work began to which he said no. I also asked a question I wish I had asked before I bought the car – can it be run without a bonnet? The answer was an emphatic no. Cars classed as, and registered as street rods get way more latitude than regular cars in the way of engine size, wheel width, and many other things and one of those is having the engine exposed. Hot rods can but non-hot rods can’t and no matter how much the finished car will look like a hot rod, it’ll be registered as whatever the chassis is and that's a modified 1970 Land Cruiser. That was a deal breaker and so the Land Cruiser will be sold and I’ll have to go the street rod route. That means building a chassis that’s a replica of a Model T. I can still use a ‘glass Land Cruiser body but the cowl must look like a Model T cowl. It does look a little like the cowl of a ‘27-28 model but I do prefer the look of a ‘23. The entire body would also have to be narrowed so the wheels are outboard which I was always going to do but all things considered, it may be easier to have a new body made. Long story short, for as much as it's do-able, sensible, easier and cheaper to build my car out of a Land Cruiser, a major styling cue is simply not allowed so this project has been cancelled. Well, a C-cab that looks like the blue one will still be built, but not from a Land Cruiser so this is the last you'll hear about it. Thanks to everyone for all the help, info, and encouragement you've given but as it turns out, I should never have come here in the first place. If anyone wishes to buy the car, I'd like the $400 I paid for it. Message me or call 0417890835 or email [email protected] The car is in Medowie, NSW.

Shame, I was looking forward to seeing how this developed...

Thanks for posting anyway David, I hope it doesn't dampen your enthusiasm, I guess not by the sounds of it above

 

[Rodger]

David, that is such a shame.
Certainly there are a number of members on here whose interest had been piqued by the project but sadly it is not to be.

Good luck with the C-cab build.

Regards,

Rodger

 

[David Rayner]

David, that is such a shame.
Certainly there are a number of members on here whose interest had been piqued by the project but sadly it is not to be.

Good luck with the C-cab build.

Regards,

Rodger

As I was writing that, I was trying to remember the other thing that's allowed on street rods (if they were made that way originally) but is not allowed on modern cars but I couldn't think of it. It's just come to me now - running with no doors. As with most other delivery vans and trucks up to the late 1920s, a Model T C-cab had no doors and so a replica can be run that way but a car of 1970 can't. That's the other deal breaker. At least I hadn't sunk too much money into it before I found out. Thanks again for all your advice about Land Cruisers.