1983 HJ47 Toyota Landcruiser
1983 HJ47 Toyota Landcruiser
Engine - 2H 4.L Diesel
Transmission - 4-Speed Manual
Suspension - 3inch Old Man Emu
Tyres - 33 x 12.5 r15 BFG KM3
Equipped For - Touring/Surf Missions
Jacob, thanks for sharing your ute with us. How did you come into ownership of this beauty?
I had just sold my last car with the plan to buy a newer Troopy when the Forty popped up for sale on Facebook Marketplace. At the time I wasn’t even really thinking about getting a Forty but it was close by, so I thought stuff it I’ll go check it out. After absolutely frothing driving it and deciding that there wasn’t anything like it around, I decided I couldn’t let an opportunity like this pass me. It was pretty much just a Sunday-drive car when I bought it and since then I’ve been driving it daily and fixing it when needed. Plus I’ve been taking it up and down the coast on trips and slowly decking it out.
That tub doesn’t look factory, what’s the story behind that?
The tub on the back is a 79 series tub that’s been shortened by 200mm and resprayed to match the factory cab colour. It was shipped in from overseas and purchased from a guy in Western Australia. The tubs Definitely my favourite part of the car!
The 12v setup looks great, how much work went into it?
The 12v setup was a fair bit of a mission because I wanted it to all be in the cab with me we had to make everything really neat and compact. We had just enough room to fit everything I wanted, plus a set of fusion speakers, and still keep all the wiring running behind the panel. I had a mate who’s a marine sparky help me with a lot of that work, in exchange I built a full setup in the back of his 100 series. There were a lot of long nights in the car park at work finishing off both of them. Definitely want to get a slimline lithium battery to swap out for my AGM, but that’s for down the track sometime.
What are your future plans for the car?
At the moment I’m really in two minds about what I do with the Forty. Either I keep putting lots of money into it and deck it out to be a full tourer and eventually do an Australia loop in it. Or take it back to grandpa spec, make it immaculate and just keep it as the Sunday-drive car. Who knows what I’ll do at this point, only time will tell. The immediate things to be done are to finish fixing the last of the rust patches and fully respray it. As well as get the canopy that I’ve been making canvased so I can have the tub fully out of the weather. That way I can keep so much more stuff in the car, plus it’ll keep my dog a bit dryer in all this crazy weather we’ve been having.
Photos by Sunday Garage