Buongiorno

[Francesco]

Nice to meet you. I'm Francesco, from Rome, Italy; lucky and proud owner of a 1989 HJ61 after a never-ending chase. I fell in love with Land Cruisers when I was 19, now I'm 50 and that's the only thing that didn't change.
In the past I've had also a BJ42, a 4Runner and an FJ Cruiser plus a lot of other rusty cans as my addiction is restoring classic cars and motorcycles.
I've been lurking for a while, as my english isn't exactly fluent, and I appreciated the forum's happy mood; so, here I am.

 

[Chas]

Hi Francesco, welcome to the forum, with your love of Cruisers you've certainly come to the right place, and no worries about your English, it's probably better than a lot of us here.

 

[Chris]

Welcome along. Your choice of vehicle is clearly as good as your English.

Excellent.

Chris

 

[Olazz]

Welcome, welcome, welcome Francesco....

We also need to see lots of pictures !

 

[clivehorridge]

Cico, welcome aboard!

photos, photos, photos, that's what we need!

 

[Francesco]

Thank you all for the warm welcome. Pictures, pictures, pictures. I'll post a full set in the future, as I'm going to restore the car. Nothing serious, as the engine is still very strong (it has only 87.000 km on the clock for having been confiscated by the inland revenue police in 1992 and put up for auction in 2011). The major problem is the body, with plenty of scratches and dents. It has been kept in a closed-in warehouse but was literally buried under tons of goods, provenance of judicial attachment. The J6 Series hasn't been officially imported in Italy, so the only way to fetch one was in Germany, where a few of italian dealers used to buy second hand cars in order to resell 'em in Italy. Taking advantage of a weak point in the european fiscal law of those days, both the dealers evaded the VAT, wherefrom the seizure.
The car was knocked down to a lawyer in 2011, then I bought it. This is the whole story, but still no pictures... er, saturday wifey took this picture in a friend's vineyard: better than nothing so far. I'm the shifty fellow under the Stetson, but I hope you can forgive me for spoiling the car.

 

[clivehorridge]

Thank you all for the warm welcome. Pictures, pictures, pictures. I'll post a full set in the future, as I'm going to restore the car. Nothing serious, as the engine is still very strong (it has only 87.000 km on the clock for having been confiscated by the inland revenue police in 1992 and put up for auction in 2011). The major problem is the body, with plenty of scratches and dents. It has been kept in a closed-in warehouse but was literally buried under tons of goods, provenance of judicial attachment. The J6 Series hasn't been officially imported in Italy, so the only way to fetch one was in Germany, where a few of italian dealers used to buy second hand cars in order to resell 'em in Italy. Taking advantage of a weak point in the european fiscal law of those days, both the dealers evaded the VAT, wherefrom the seizure.
The car was knocked down to a lawyer in 2011, then I bought it. This is the whole story, but still no pictures... er, saturday wifey took this picture in a friend's vineyard: better than nothing so far. I'm the shifty fellow under the Stetson, but I hope you can forgive me for spoiling the car.

View attachment 16132

Looks fine to me and all the better for posing in a vineyard! Nice new boots too 87k kms? It's not even run-in yet what a good find!!

 

[Francesco]

I'm happy with the car: everything seems to be perfect. Seats, steering wheel, dashboard, upholstery, lights, everything is in pristine condition, but I'm still struggling with the bureaucracy.

 

[Shayne]

Bureaucracy is the same the world over , once you accept the people you are dealing with serve absolutely no worthwhile purpose in life and will delay and complicate at every possible turn simply because they need a piece of paper on their desk to pretend their wages or even employment is justified , it gets less stressful . I don't envy you though so good luck with it . Great find by the way i don't mind admitting i'm jealous

 

[Francesco]

Bureaucracy is the same the world over , once you accept the people you are dealing with serve absolutely no worthwhile purpose in life and will delay and complicate at every possible turn simply because they need a piece of paper on their desk to pretend their wages or even employment is justified , it gets less stressful .

Alleluiah! Wise words. However, I don't want to sound boastful, but the italian bureaucracy raised the level: no one at all can beat our community services. They're inspired, imaginative, indefatigable. You have no chance to overcome, they'll win because they're capable of unbelievable, and they give their best in the worst conditions: if you have done everything, filled in all forms, paid all charges, duty and fees; don't even think that you've made it, because they still can unleash a pack of quibbles, the oldest dating back 2.700 b.C. Abandon all hope, you who enter here

 

[froggy Steve]

Alleluiah! Wise words. However, I don't want to sound boastful, but the italian bureaucracy raised the level: no one at all can beat our community services. They're inspired, imaginative, indefatigable. You have no chance to overcome, they'll win because they're capable of unbelievable, and they give their best in the worst conditions: if you have done everything, filled in all forms, paid all charges, duty and fees; don't even think that you've made it, because they still can unleash a pack of quibbles, the oldest dating back 2.700 b.C. Abandon all hope, you who enter here

You wanna try France! Champions of the red tape!!!!!

Great find, 87k km, its nothing!

 

[toolsplus]

Portugal can also do it's best to make you hop through hoops blindfolded
now i'm retired i'm officially a tourist on holiday
makes life a lot easier

 

[Crazy Dutchman]

Hello Francesco

Welcome to the forum!
Beautiful Cruiser you have and with such low km's!

Crazy Dutchman

 

[adrianr]

Great find. good luck with the restoration, and hopefully the bloodsuckers will leave you alone when they have had their fill, or got bored.