One big, tragic mistake when it comes to my Toyotas

Doing the "intro" thing, so here is a little background and a "tragic" story.

I've been a Toyota owner since 1983. Yep, a '73 Corolla wagon when I was in high school. We'd put 5 people, two dogs and some firewood in that thing to stay the night at the beach out near Santa Cruz. I still remember the first oil change.

My first truck came into the mix a couple of years later. An '83 SR5 4x4 with the ever reliable 22R. Toyota number 4 was my first 6 cylinder truck and then I got a number 5, a 2000 Tundra in 2005. In 2011 came number 6, my current truck, a 2005 Tacoma 4x4 4.0 TRD. Got it used, just like every other Toyota and it has been awesome. That is 5 good Toyota decisions. Here's the one that will break everyone's heart, but none more than mine.

What about Toyota number 3, you ask? In 89, I bought a 1972 FJ40 in near perfect condition from a farm up in Napa, CA. Very minimal rust, no bondo, no diamond plates. Had running boards, back fold-down seats, inner liner all in great shape. Original wheels, bumper plates on rear bumper still. 71K original miles on the long block 6. He gave me the bikini top, half doors and tow bar in the mix. That hard top was off all summer. We fabricated a full cage, rebuilt the long block and this thing was the most beautiful head turning thing around. Oh, I paid $2,300 for it!

The mistake? I sold it. 5 years later when it was impractical for family, for work, for mileage. NO money for me to have multiple vehicles at that stage of life and FJs hadn't rocketed up in price and popularity quite yet. I was happy that I doubled my money when I sold it for around $4,500. Ouch.

I'll never live that one down, but also can't lose too much sleep over it (or at least try not to). So if you see a pristine, off-white, 72FJ with a "Coca-Cola" bottle opener on the passenger side by the glove box...think of me and my one big mistake!

 

I think I can speak for most of us, when I say we have all had to get rid of a vehicle that we wished we could keep much longer. What ever the reason, weather it was because we were out of money, a marriage, a divorce, not a family vehicle, perhaps, all the above. Hopefully you have pictures, and when you look at them, you will relive the memory of owning it and remembering the good times.

 

This. Whether it was a 'had to' or actually just seemed the right thing to do at the time.

I can say this.

While there are probably 3-5 cars I 'should' have kept for some reason or another, they would have all cost more to keep on the road than they would be worth today.

Even 2 '64 GTOs, one of them being #104.

So all in all, no real regrets.

Unless I'd had a dry barn, lift and several more buckets 'o bucks..........

 

Welcome to TW Scott!

 

Don't worry, you'll have plenty of opportunities to lose more money after spending some time on this site...

 

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