The story

How it all started…

In February 2002, I acquired my first BJ60 Toyota Landcruiser (well actually, I talked my brother into buying it for us both).

Why did I end up with a Landcruiser and not some other vehicle? 

One of my high-school friends had purchased one a year or so earlier and I fell in love with his truck. The sound of that four cylinder diesel was music to my ears.

Brown 1982 BJ60 Landcruiser driving up a dirt hill.

My friend’s 1982 BJ60.

Beige 1981 BJ60 with factory white wheels parked on a driveway.

My 1981 BJ60.

You have to understand, that sound brought me back to my grandparent’s farm. Every summer, I went to visit my grandparent’s farm and got to experience the diesel tractors, by either seeing them work, riding on them or driving them. Pictured below is the 165 Massey Ferguson (powered by a four-cylinder Perkins diesel) that I spent many years riding on and driving. When I first heard the Toyota 3B idling I immediately thought “this sounds like the Massey!”

165 diesel Massey Ferguson parked beside an old chicken coop.

165 MF on the farm.

So when I first heard the 3B Toyota diesel idling, I knew I had to have one. If I couldn’t have a real tractor in the city then this was the next best thing!

Once we brought the 1981 BJ60 home, I began working on it immediately. Who knew rust was something you should look for before you purchased a vehicle? It was the perfect opportunity to dive in headfirst and learn a new skill! So, what did I do? I purchased a welder, got a quick lesson from my friend and got right to work.

1981 BJ60 with sections of the passenger side wheel-well and floor cut out due to bad rust.

Besides the rust repair, countless hours were spent performing mechanical work such as installing new suspension, fixing rusty brake lines and adding a turbo set-up (some of these jobs even occurred on road-trips as seen in the image below).

BJ60 Landcruiser undergoing a front differential swap out on the street.

About the time I got the Landcruiser I signed up to become a member of the famous IH8MUD forum to get technical advice. I met lots of other great Landcruiser owners in the forum, not just there, but in-person, as well (many of whom I have kept in touch with for years). In the photo above I was working on my Landcruiser at a member’s house. In the photo below I met with another MUD member during a road-trip across Canada.

John Fawcus meeting a fellow Landcruiser owner along with their 60-series Landcruisers.

Since getting my first Landcruiser in 2002, I have acquired several 60-series Landcruisers. Probably the most notable one would be the 1984 FJ60 that I purchased from a fellow in Fresno, California. I drove down with my dad and brother to pick it up and then drove it all the way back to Vancouver, British Columbia. It was quite the trip. The 2F engine did okay on the highway, but it stalled several times and I didn’t know if we would make it back! Below is a photo I took of the FJ60 during the trip back to Canada.

FJ60 Toyota Landcruiser parked on the shoulder during a rest-stop in California.

Once I got it home, I proceeded to pull the diesel engine out of the 81 BJ60 (as the rust had gotten the better of it) and the gas engine out of the 84 FJ60. I went on to swap over the engine, transmission, wiring harness and so forth to do a proper gas to diesel conversion (much of this is documented on the IH8MUD forum).

FJ60 Toyota Landcruiser undergoing a diesel transplant from a BJ60 donor.

Since this conversion, which was done in 2010,  I acquired another six 60-series (two of them are pictured below).

Brown BJ60 Toyota Landcruiser parked on a driveway.
White FJ60 Toyota Landcruiser being hauled on a trailer.

Being that I have always been eager to learn and craved more knowledge, I decided to change career paths (I have a degree in Human Kinetics and am very passionate about health, fitness and martial arts). 

In 2012, I signed up for an apprenticeship as a Heavy Duty Mechanic in Alberta (they call it Technician now) and spent the next four years working at a John Deere and Kubota dealership as well as a couple of truck-shops. While it was a good experience overall, I quickly realized that I hated working for shops and wanted to work for myself. Although I wanted to quit, I finished my schooling and acquired a Red Seal as both an Off-Road and On-Road Heavy Equipment Technician through the province of Alberta.

After completing the required hours in BC (I moved from Alberta back to BC for one year as I was laid off in Alberta in 2016) for my apprenticeship in 2017, I quit the mechanic trade and became a PE teacher at my former school in BC for one year. During my time as a teacher I took on some side jobs after school as a mechanic.

In 2018, I moved back to Alberta and it was around this time that I got my first Landcruiser customer in Alberta (funnily enough, he found me on the IH8MUD forum). He asked me if would work on his PZJ77 because the cooling system was full of oil after he had hired someone else to fix the oil-cooler. I said I would take a stab at it. Well, I fixed it. He is still a great customer and friend, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Since that job on the PZJ77, I have slowly built up my business mostly through referrals. It has been a long but gratifying road. 

Just so you know, I didn’t give up on my other passions of health, fitness and martial arts. I also have an active coaching business in which I help dads gain the energy to chase their kids and have the confidence to remove their shirts (check it out: fawcusfitness.com).

I am grateful that I am able to follow both of my passions and help people not only fix their bodies, but their trucks too!

Note:

Being a perfectionist has its pros and cons. The pro being that I am very meticulous with my work, the con being that when building a website on my own I want things to be perfect (which can make things take forever to complete because I am never satisfied). Being that I want to get this website up and running I am posting this now without too much editing and may add more to it later.