It's a monster!

So one day I was checking out my usual Land Cruiser haunts on the web, when I came upon a listing for my favorite tires. A guy on the Ih8mud forum had a set of 39.5 X 18" Super Swamper Boggers for sale. I have long coveted these tires and was amused to see that they were for sale in Wisconsin. Out of curiosity I emailed him requesting photos...just to drool over. I knew that none of my rigs would fit these without some significant retooling. But just to daydream a little.

About a day or so later I was surfing ebay and I came across this same set of tires for sale. I figured it would be fun to see what else he had for sale I was surprised to find that he also had a 1969 FJ40 listed. "How fun!" I thought as I looked at the pictures he had posted. The auction was due to end in a few days and I became curious when I realized that this was also located in Northern Wisconsin.

This thing was a monster...maybe more of a Frankenstein. It had a modified drivetrain in the old cruiser body. It had a 400ci small block Chevy in it mated to a SM465 tranny. It had a sprung over front suspension with heavy duty axle shafts and Longfields. In the back it had been customized to have a sprung over mini truck axle held on with F350 springs. It had a Warn 8427 winch on the front and a roll cage built into it. And best of all, it was sitting on the Boggers.

I thought it would be fun to tease my "wife to be" a little when I got home from work. I think the conversation went like this... "Hi Hon, I was bad today" I said. She replied, "What did you buy?" "Oh nothing, just a big ugly monster of a cruiser...But it's yellow!" I really hadn't, but I thought it would be fun to see the reaction that it would get when she saw the photos of it. "I like the yellow" she said. (Hmmm, that isn't a NO.) I told her I didn't buy it but I would be interested in taking a road trip to see it. She told me to go ahead and take a look at it. I knew that I probably shouldn't even look because I would be tempted to buy... but she said I could.

We were getting married in just a few short weeks, and finances were a little tight. I really wanted someone to act as my concience and since I wasn't getting a red light from Sarah, I thought I'd show it to a couple friends. Someone would surely talk some sense into me. Hey, Mark take a look at this..."Get 'er done" he replied. Hey Rob, what do you think of this? ... "mmmmm, boggers" he said. Man, my friends are no help either.

I contacted the seller and we began to chat about the rig. I began to get the butterflies in my stomach as I thought about the excursions this thing could take me on. I realized this was just a trail rig and it wouldn't ever see road duty. The following Sunday I took my father up to take a look at this monstrosity. It was definitely a trail rig. It had been well used and abused. The body had seen better days, not to mention a few trees. The Motor was smoking something fierce and was probably blown. But I could still see the beauty in this thing.

My dad and I left and had a couple hours to talk about it on the way home. I realized that this thing was probably more work than I had thought but the value of its parts was worth more than the whole.

After I got home I summed up the truck for my fiancee. She could sense the excitement in me and told me that If I wanted to do it, that she wouldn't hold me back. With all that we had looming over our heads with the wedding, she had to go and FORCE me to buy this truck. I suppose that is why I was going to marry her.

I decided to contact the seller within a couple days. Well needless to say, we worked out a deal and after we got back from the wedding I went up and picked up my new monster.

I have to say that it takes quite a woman to put up with an obsession like mine. I think she can see my point. By having this new beast, I won't have to beat on my green 69 as much and I can return it to it's prior glory. No more guilt about driving it hard in the mud and sand. I now have a new off road toy. Now to get to work.

Last Vehicle - 1978 FJ40 | First Vehicle - 1969 FJ40