Fifty Years And Counting...
So many people I know talk about the one car they never should have sold. They kick themselves for letting this car go. They say something like, “It was the best car I ever had.” or “I didn’t want to sell it but we needed something bigger, more practical.”
On June 18, 1974 I purchased a 1970 Toyota Land Cruiser after seeing an ad in the newspaper. I was seventeen and had just graduated high school.
By the time I bought this car I had already owned half a dozen beaters and junkers and I was looking for something that I hoped would last. I wanted four wheel drive and I loved the look of the Land Cruisers.
According to the paperwork this Toyota had been originally purchased by Mt. Hood Meadows, the ski resort. It was sold new by West Slope Toyota and among the paperwork I received when I bought it is the original window sticker and owner’s manual.
I purchased it from a guy who ran the body shop at Gateway Toyota. The story I got was one of Mt. Hood Meadows employees had rolled it off an embankment. This guy bought it to fix it. He originally wanted to keep it but found himself in need of money to pay off some bills, so he sold it to me before he had a chance to work on it. He never registered it in his name so according to the DMV, I am the second owner.
The roof was off of it. It’s fiberglass and one side was pretty beat up from being rolled. The windshield frame and the tops of the door frames were bent as were the side panels. Most of the glass was there it just wasn’t intact. A couple of the fenders were damaged but it was still drivable.
I paid $1700 cash and he gave me all of the other pieces he had for the car including the old fiberglass roof. He gave me the name and phone number of a guy who could repair the roof for me.
In 1974 $1700 was a lot of money. Since I was only 17 my father had to co-sign a loan for me at the bank. He had me borrow $2000 so I would have $300 to work on fixing the car. (This was a long time ago!)
Mechanically it was in pretty good shape. With it’s six cylinder and three speed on the column it was not made for speed. It’ll go just about anywhere you want to take it, it just takes a while to get there. I always used to joke that I could drive it off a cliff at the Grand Canyon and I’m absolutely positive that it wouldn’t fall any faster than 60 miles an hour.
I drove it that summer without a roof, eventually I put the doors on it so it was a little safer. It was my only car so I used it for back and forth to work and everything else. My boss at the time fronted me the money to put new tires and wheels on it and that’s when I went with the larger tires.
I got the roof repaired and was able to order new rear side panels. With the help of the roof repair guy we were able to install the roof onto the new panels and he beat the hell out of the windshield frame and door frames with a hammer, and we got it all to fit. A few weeks later another friend helped me install the glass into the new rear panels.
It was certainly a Frankenstein looking beast but at least I was able to drive it and stay dry when the rains came.
Later that year I made a deal with the guy I bought it from to do the bodywork and paint it, but I had to do all of the prep. I took off all of the chrome and other body pieces and then spent a week wet-sanding the whole car by hand in my parents driveway.
When he finished the paint and body work it looked amazing.
For the next 15-20 years this was my main car. I drove it everywhere including back and forth between Portland and Los Angeles multiple times when I was in school. Top speed is 60-65 miles an hour and even with the roof on and windows in it, it’s noisy as all hell. It had a radio but I could never hear it even after putting in new speakers. The Land Cruiser has no insulation. Over time I replaced the minimal rubber floor mats with carpeting but that didn’t help a whole lot as far as sound deadening.
Portland to LA was just over a thousand miles and it always took 2 full days of travel. After 5 years in LA I rented a trailer and used the Land Cruiser to haul all of our stuff back to Portland. The trailer was packed as was the interior of the car. I had just enough room to sit and drive it. It was really loaded down. Some of my friends were taking bets as to how far I would get before I broke down. Some didn’t think I would even make it over the Grapevine.
The drive took two and a half days. Going up the steep hills on I-5 I would be crawling on the shoulder and even the loaded down semi-trucks were whizzing by. Going down those steep hills with that loaded trailer was a thrill ride to be sure.
Like any car over the years things wore out and needed to be replaced. There were a lot of times when I had no money to fix it and so it would sit until I could raise the money. For quite a few years it sat more than I drove it because I had a family and all sorts of other responsibilities that required money.
Over the years people would stop me and make all sorts of financial offers for it. I’ve always said no.
I have no idea how many miles are actually on the Land Cruiser as for most of it’s life it hasn’t had a working speedometer or odometer. Since it doesn’t go fast I never worried too much about the speedometer. The motor has been rebuilt twice, the second time in the late 1990’s we had to bore it out and put in all new pistons.
A few years ago I inherited a little bit of money so I sent it to a Land Cruiser guy who rebuilt the transmission, transfer case, front suspension, the axles, differentials, and just about everything else I could think of. It still needs a new wiring harness so currently my driving is limited to daytime when it’s not raining. My buddy Zero did get the tail lights and turn signals to work so there’s that.
So why do I hang on to this old car?
I have 50 years of memories and adventures in it. I still love driving it, although as I’ve gotten older driving it is much more of a workout as it has manual steering and brakes. If you need to stop fast, you just need to push that brake pedal down a lot harder!
It might sound weird but I trust this old Land Cruiser to get me wherever I want/need to go and get me back home.
Over the years things have broken or failed, but it has almost always made it back home under it’s own power. I broke a rear drive shaft off road once and had to drive 80 miles home on the front axle. I had a stud in a leaf spring break and the whole rear axle shifted. I found a black smith shop and the guy fixed it for $20. There are lots more things that have happened over the years, but it has never stranded me.
When I took time off between high school and college I would drive to the coast on my days off. Back then we could drive on the beach. I would do donuts in the sand which is how the stud in the rear leaf spring broke. I would drive up to the mountains and find old logging roads and disappear for hours. On a dare once I drove it up a bunch of motorcycle trails and it handled everything I threw at it.
I think of trips I took it on and friends who rode with me in it. Not all of those friends are still around but the memories we made will last forever in my mind. It was always my daughter’s favorite car to ride in especially when I had the roof off.
Did I ever think I’d still be driving it 50 years later?
I never thought about it probably because I never thought I’d be around 50 years later. I am amazed at all of the people I knew back then who can’t believe I’m still driving it.
It hasn’t been my daily driver in a long time. I’ve had other cars that have all of the modern amenities like power steering and brakes, and even radios I can listen to while the car is moving. As far as air conditioning it had what was known back then as “360 air conditioning”. Roll the windows down, open the side vents and the tailgate and go 60 miles an hour. It never actually cooled you off but the breeze was better than nothing.
It spent most of it’s life outdoors so the paint is now oxidized and there’s a couple of holes in the floor, but that gives it character. Like me it shows the scars of a life well lived. It’s now considered a “classic”. I keep hearing that these cars are getting more valuable and some are being stolen so now it is kept in my garage. I really don’t want anything to happen to it.
Anytime I park it as I walk away I still find myself looking over my shoulder and thinking, “what a great looking rig.” I never think that about my daily drivers or most of the other cars I’ve owned. There are two exceptions, but that’s a story for another time.
I’m looking forward to driving this Cruiser for as long as I’m able. Hopefully I can pass it on to my daughter or granddaughter and they can enjoy it as much as I have.
I look at the Land Cruiser and still see that 17 year old kid who thought it would be a good car to buy back in 1974. It was $1700’s well spent.
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