My Nissan Patrol

 

Story of my Patrol:

This Patrol was purchased in 1967 by my grandfather, Mr. David Strausz, for my dad, David Jr. My dad drove it back and forth from Washington State to Palo Alto, California, where he was going to college at the time. The Patrol was my dad's main form of transportation until he got married in 1972. After that, it became a farm rig until around 1980. It was parked on our farm for the next 12 years or so. Around 1992 we began a frame-off restoration of the rig. Most of the mechanical work was done by our apprentice mechanic at the time, Leon. Our main mechanic, the famous Cas Schell, oversaw most of the work. I began working on the project when we got to the bodywork. That is probably why the body isn't in the greatest shape now, but I was only 15 years old at the time. I was working on the Patrol to get it ready for when I turned 16 and could actually drive it. I finally finished it sometime around the fall of 1993. It had a fresh coat of paint (albeit over 3 old coats or so). It looked rather nice. The last 12 years have not been so kind to the paint. It is oxidizing rather badly, but the Patrol is still very mechanically sound. I don't drive it much anymore, but it always starts up with little fuss.

 

Some Nissan Patrol Background:

Nissan Patrols are extremely rare in the United States. They were imported here from around 1962 to 1969. In total, only about 2600 were imported over these years. Many have speculated on the reasons for this, and there are many rumors as to why. The Patrol was fairly expensive in its day. I think they were about 3500 dollars in the mid 60's. This probably drove many away. Not many Japanese cars were being sold at the time anyhow. It is also hard to find early FJ-40 Landcruisers. Most that you see are from the 70's. There is also the rumor that Nissan and Toyota had some agreement where Nissan would concentrate on sedans while Toyota would concentrate on trucks or something like that. I have no idea if this ever was true or not. The Patrol that was sold in the US was the L60 model. The "L" stands for left-hand drive. The only variations sold here were the KL60 hardtop (most us patrols are this model) and the regular L60 soft-top. The 60 series Patrol was made until 1979, basically unchanged, and was sold in countries such as Australia. Patrols are still made today and sold almost everywhere in the world, except North America. They look kind of like a modern Toyota Landcruiser (the Patrol's chief rival). You can see them often on the news as they are quite common in Iraq.

Pictures of My Patrol:

Enough talking, here's some pics.

Here is a shot in the sagebrush of my Patrol. Notice Stewey hiding in the bushes.

Silly dog! Thinks he can drive.

These pics kind of suck, I think I will re-scan them if I can find the originals.

Here is a pic with the Patrol next to one of our hop fields. I don't know why it looks scrunched. Sadly the fields no longer exist.

These are all the pics I have at the moment. I will update this page as I get the time. Thanks for checking it out. If you have any questions, send me an email. Email Me!