RMP&O
Expedition Leader
Well, thought I would share this with the Nissanheads here on ExPo.
As some/most of you probably know I have been working on this for going on 3yrs.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/75223-1964-Nissan-Patrol-soft-top-restoration/page22
Now that has kind of evolved into a back to new rebuild. It is extremely extensive and in-depth. Not a single bolt on that truck has been left untouched. The project is very far along and I expect it to be done by the end of the year or very close to done.
Since I have started that project the owner of it has shown interest in me doing more Patrols for him. In the last year or two he acquired what is the only known old Patrol wagon in North America. It is an extremely rare truck and only one of three confirmed wagons known to exist! He has been happy with my work thus far and as such has decided to have me restore this holy grail of Patrols. I feel privileged to be able to do that. As a result of his interest to restore that truck he picked up a few more Patrols earlier this year and had them sent up here to my place. The original idea was to use these Patrols as parts trucks for restoring the wagon. Well, it turned out one of them is a 1966 soft top Patrol with only 15,000 original miles. It is 100% complete and all there. It is a bit rough, my guess is from an early life lived hard on a ranch in Colorado. I also believe it sat for many years, exposed to the elements. I just met with the owner of all these Patrols yesterday, he only comes around about once a year. After going over his 66 soft top for 3-4hrs he decided to restore it. Now it won't be the same level of resto done up on the 64 soft top but it will live again! The concept for the 66 build is a less detailed resto with the end result being a usable truck you are not afraid to drive down gravel roads and or get scratches on it from brush. So for this guy alone, I have three projects. The 64 which we hope to be done with in the next 3 months. The 66 soft top which is next on the list and perhaps next year starting in on the 67 wagon Patrol. A big bonus for this guy is in addition to these three trucks I just described we have here at my place a complete 66 hard top part trucks as well as several sets of spare axles, transmissions and t-cases. The resto on the 64 soft top has also left us with a ton of good used and NOS parts plus many items cleaned up sand blasted and set aside.
On top of this I have landed another project for another client. He has two Patrols, one is a 64 soft top and one is a 67 hardtop. The 67 lacks an engine but the body is fairly solid. The 64, the motor was rebuilt in the 1970's and still runs great with about 20,000 miles put on it since then. So for this project we will be making one good Patrol from the two. This is not to be a high end build, rather similar to the 66 soft top. A good clean looking truck that is sorted mechanically, runs well and gets used rather then being a show piece. These two Patrols are showing up next week.
So as of today I have three restorations to do beyond the 64 I am currently working on. Looks like I will be busy with these projects for sometime!
Here is a few pictures of the Patrols that are coming down the pipe for me.
The 66 soft top from Colorado
The holy grail, aka the WLG60 Wagon from Alaska, I consider the resto on this to be a once in a lifetime opportunity since these are so extremely rare.
The other two Patrols, ie the 64 & 67 from Colorado have not arrived yet and until they do I will wait to post pics.
However, in addition to all this, I have my 77 Patrol Ute resto-mod project I am working on which is pretty much in full swing right now. The build thread on it is here
http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...-1977-Patrol-Ute-build-for-overlanding/page11
I also picked up for myself earlier this year with the intention to do a frame off resto this gem of a 1968 Patrol.
That 68 Patrol I intend to restore and sell once done. The same is also planned for my 77 Ute Patrol. So it is looking like I will be super busy with these old Nissan 4wds this winter. The winter is my off-season from work when I have ton's of time to work on trucks. I recently moved into a 2200sqft shop next to my house that needs to be utilized.
This is all very exciting for me since I have been into these trucks since I was just 18yrs old, nearly 24yrs ago now. I think that is what does it for a lot of die hards to one brand or another, one old truck or another. They had one earlier in life and then later in life want one again be it a Cruiser, Patrol, Bronco or Jeep. I fell in love with the Patrol when I was young because it was rare but also because it was such a simple truck to work on and built very stout. Not to mention how fun it was to drive around back then with the top off, doors off and windshield folded. That Patrol all those years ago also set me on a lifelong path of love for off-roading, trucks in general and getting outdoors. About 11yrs ago I went down to Colombia, South America on an invite from a Colombian who is a die hard Patrol guy. We met on the internet, I knew nothing about him or Colombia but took a risk and went down. I spent 3 weeks with my new friend driving around Colombia looking for old Patrols. I was shown the plethora of parts still available down there for these old trucks. I even discovered new body parts are being made down there which nobody at the time would have thought was being done, nobody meaning us N. America Patrol enthusiasts. I also at that time learned what the G61 Patrol is and just how awesome plus rare those trucks are. It turns out too that Colombia has been getting Patrols since about 1956/7 and still has them today. They are held in extremely high regard in Colombia and are very popular there. Thousands of old Patrols can still be seen in use on the streets traveling around Colombia. Over the years I have learned much about these old trucks. Obviously from working on them but I am also really good at scouring the net for parts and have contacts for parts all over the world. I even have gone and collected many many literature items ranging from old Nissan/Datsun brochures to magazine articles form the 60's to stacks of parts books and repair manuals. I could go on and on about this stuff! Patrols have been a HUGE passion of mine for going on 25yrs now.
Any ways, I thought I would share this with you Nissan enthusiasts. Patrols are very rare in N. America but many of the original 2616 are still kicking around. These are the grandfather of all your Nissan 4wds made today. They are what started it all for Nissan and the 4wd market and Nissan still makes them. Sadly, we have not got any in the N. America since 1969. Most are not in good condition but once in awhile a nice one turns up for sale and the price of nice ones is on the rise. If any one is interested in getting an old Patrol restored shoot me a pm, although it is looking like I am booked up for sometime.
I figured rather than doing a detailed thread on each truck perhaps I should do a less detailed picture posts here in this thread as the different projects move along?
Cheers
As some/most of you probably know I have been working on this for going on 3yrs.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/75223-1964-Nissan-Patrol-soft-top-restoration/page22
Now that has kind of evolved into a back to new rebuild. It is extremely extensive and in-depth. Not a single bolt on that truck has been left untouched. The project is very far along and I expect it to be done by the end of the year or very close to done.
Since I have started that project the owner of it has shown interest in me doing more Patrols for him. In the last year or two he acquired what is the only known old Patrol wagon in North America. It is an extremely rare truck and only one of three confirmed wagons known to exist! He has been happy with my work thus far and as such has decided to have me restore this holy grail of Patrols. I feel privileged to be able to do that. As a result of his interest to restore that truck he picked up a few more Patrols earlier this year and had them sent up here to my place. The original idea was to use these Patrols as parts trucks for restoring the wagon. Well, it turned out one of them is a 1966 soft top Patrol with only 15,000 original miles. It is 100% complete and all there. It is a bit rough, my guess is from an early life lived hard on a ranch in Colorado. I also believe it sat for many years, exposed to the elements. I just met with the owner of all these Patrols yesterday, he only comes around about once a year. After going over his 66 soft top for 3-4hrs he decided to restore it. Now it won't be the same level of resto done up on the 64 soft top but it will live again! The concept for the 66 build is a less detailed resto with the end result being a usable truck you are not afraid to drive down gravel roads and or get scratches on it from brush. So for this guy alone, I have three projects. The 64 which we hope to be done with in the next 3 months. The 66 soft top which is next on the list and perhaps next year starting in on the 67 wagon Patrol. A big bonus for this guy is in addition to these three trucks I just described we have here at my place a complete 66 hard top part trucks as well as several sets of spare axles, transmissions and t-cases. The resto on the 64 soft top has also left us with a ton of good used and NOS parts plus many items cleaned up sand blasted and set aside.
On top of this I have landed another project for another client. He has two Patrols, one is a 64 soft top and one is a 67 hardtop. The 67 lacks an engine but the body is fairly solid. The 64, the motor was rebuilt in the 1970's and still runs great with about 20,000 miles put on it since then. So for this project we will be making one good Patrol from the two. This is not to be a high end build, rather similar to the 66 soft top. A good clean looking truck that is sorted mechanically, runs well and gets used rather then being a show piece. These two Patrols are showing up next week.
So as of today I have three restorations to do beyond the 64 I am currently working on. Looks like I will be busy with these projects for sometime!
Here is a few pictures of the Patrols that are coming down the pipe for me.
The 66 soft top from Colorado
The holy grail, aka the WLG60 Wagon from Alaska, I consider the resto on this to be a once in a lifetime opportunity since these are so extremely rare.
The other two Patrols, ie the 64 & 67 from Colorado have not arrived yet and until they do I will wait to post pics.
However, in addition to all this, I have my 77 Patrol Ute resto-mod project I am working on which is pretty much in full swing right now. The build thread on it is here
http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...-1977-Patrol-Ute-build-for-overlanding/page11
I also picked up for myself earlier this year with the intention to do a frame off resto this gem of a 1968 Patrol.
That 68 Patrol I intend to restore and sell once done. The same is also planned for my 77 Ute Patrol. So it is looking like I will be super busy with these old Nissan 4wds this winter. The winter is my off-season from work when I have ton's of time to work on trucks. I recently moved into a 2200sqft shop next to my house that needs to be utilized.
This is all very exciting for me since I have been into these trucks since I was just 18yrs old, nearly 24yrs ago now. I think that is what does it for a lot of die hards to one brand or another, one old truck or another. They had one earlier in life and then later in life want one again be it a Cruiser, Patrol, Bronco or Jeep. I fell in love with the Patrol when I was young because it was rare but also because it was such a simple truck to work on and built very stout. Not to mention how fun it was to drive around back then with the top off, doors off and windshield folded. That Patrol all those years ago also set me on a lifelong path of love for off-roading, trucks in general and getting outdoors. About 11yrs ago I went down to Colombia, South America on an invite from a Colombian who is a die hard Patrol guy. We met on the internet, I knew nothing about him or Colombia but took a risk and went down. I spent 3 weeks with my new friend driving around Colombia looking for old Patrols. I was shown the plethora of parts still available down there for these old trucks. I even discovered new body parts are being made down there which nobody at the time would have thought was being done, nobody meaning us N. America Patrol enthusiasts. I also at that time learned what the G61 Patrol is and just how awesome plus rare those trucks are. It turns out too that Colombia has been getting Patrols since about 1956/7 and still has them today. They are held in extremely high regard in Colombia and are very popular there. Thousands of old Patrols can still be seen in use on the streets traveling around Colombia. Over the years I have learned much about these old trucks. Obviously from working on them but I am also really good at scouring the net for parts and have contacts for parts all over the world. I even have gone and collected many many literature items ranging from old Nissan/Datsun brochures to magazine articles form the 60's to stacks of parts books and repair manuals. I could go on and on about this stuff! Patrols have been a HUGE passion of mine for going on 25yrs now.
Any ways, I thought I would share this with you Nissan enthusiasts. Patrols are very rare in N. America but many of the original 2616 are still kicking around. These are the grandfather of all your Nissan 4wds made today. They are what started it all for Nissan and the 4wd market and Nissan still makes them. Sadly, we have not got any in the N. America since 1969. Most are not in good condition but once in awhile a nice one turns up for sale and the price of nice ones is on the rise. If any one is interested in getting an old Patrol restored shoot me a pm, although it is looking like I am booked up for sometime.
I figured rather than doing a detailed thread on each truck perhaps I should do a less detailed picture posts here in this thread as the different projects move along?
Cheers
