🛠️ Member Build Kevin's 2025 1958 build, "Runt"

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This was a couple weeks ago. Forgot to post them when we got back.

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We had another great trip last weekend. 3 days in the mountains. It was busy on the trails, being Memorial Day weekend, but traffic wasn't bad getting around between home and there. Day 1 we drove out, ran to Flagpole Knob from Switzer Lake, and camped at elevation. We picked the spot because it had a great view. As night came in, the wind got crazy and the fire was hard to enjoy, so we turned in early.

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Day 2 was some additional exploring, thanks to a wrong turn, then we headed into Nellysford, VA to sample a few libations and camp at a friend's place off the same stretch of road.

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It rained all night after we went to sleep, but stopped by daylight. We had a slow morning of reading and watching the deer before fueling up, grabbing a sausage biscuit, and heading home.

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I thought I might post about a couple of my more unusual "mods" that I haven't seen others discuss yet.

The second day of ownership, I already hated how the headrest made contact with the back of my head. I like to sit up fairly straight when driving, and the headrest has been bothersome to me on numerous vehicles. In my LC, I took them out and installed them backward. I find this far more comfortable, especially when reclined. Oddly, the raper suggests this may be an intended option. They now look more like headrests from the classic cruisers.

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The other is a fresnel lens that helps to see traffic lights. This is one I've used for the last decade, now across 3 vehicles. I got it from LightInSight.com The FJ and the LC have notoriously flat windshields, prone to breakage sometimes hard to see above. Where I live, most of our main roads pre-date modern traffic controls. Efforts to shoehorn them in haven't necessarily made them as visible as they should be. Often the stopping line places the traffic light above my field of vision. This is extremely handy for not having to crouch and crane your neck at every intersection.

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My AluCab setup was brought over from my GX470. I seldom went to the beach with it, and the way the back door swung open, the driver side 270° awning made the most sense.

As you can see from some of the beach pics, it provides little shade in the morning and early afternoon. Now that I'm going to the beach regularly, I've been thinking of solutions for more shade. Parking facing the water, parking parallel to the water, getting a passenger side awning instead... Then I remembered I still had an 8x6 awning in the garage.

Last night I adjusted the brackets on the awning, added a couple bolts to the slots under the AluCab cross bars, and now I will be good to go on the beach, backed in like normal.

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The second day of ownership, I already hated how the headrest made contact with the back of my head. I like to sit up fairly straight when driving, and the headrest has been bothersome to me on numerous vehicles. In my LC, I took them out and installed them backward. I find this far more comfortable, especially when reclined. Oddly, the raper suggests this may be an intended option. They now look more like headrests from the classic cruisers.

Just a note about this, during one of my internships with Toyota, I worked in seat evaluation and helped a colleague with a study on headrest usage. In general, the centerline of the headrest needs to be adjusted to level or slightly higher than an imaginary line between your ears. This prevents your head from going over the top of the headrest.

Second, the headrest is most effective when it is in contact (or nearly as possible) with your head in a resting seated position. I'd recommend trying to get used to it or adjusting the recline slightly to see if that helps. But ultimately, it's your car and your life, so you do you!

I just see this comment a lot in modern cars, and I think most people are unaware of the safety implications of flipping the headrests around.
 
Yeah, I'm way more worried about being comfortable than I am about being safe. I'm older than headrests in vehicles. 😂
 
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