A buddy and myself made the drive with a trailer on out to Oakland, California where the Patrol was located. When we arrive and find the Patrol we are right down in the heart of the "hood" in Oakland. The 68 was sitting in the sellers yard along with a bunch of other cars. The seller turns out to be a mechanic by trade. One of his clients had brought him the Patrol awhile back wanting to fix it up. Somebody in the past had dropped a nut down a spark plug hole and started the engine. That busted a piston. The seller had found and bought a new piston but the bottom end bearings needed to be replaced too. He was unable to find new BEB. He considered Chevy inline-6 BEB but that required a bunch of machining to make work and the owner decided he didn't want to spend the cash on that. The project was canceled and the mechanic was selling the Patrol. As most Patrollers know these days, P40 & PPU engine parts work in the P engine so I was not phased at all by the engine dramas.
Turned out the same guy had a 69 a while back for a parts truck. It was really trashed I guess having been used for off-roading and rolled a few times. So they kept a bunch of parts from the 69 and scrapped the rest. I had no idea of this when I agreed to buy the Patrol and head out to California to get it. There was tons of parts, spare axles, spare trans & t-case, spare hood and many other parts. The Patrol came with two big huge wooden crates of parts on top of all this! Man that was one big load of Patrol stuff! We were loaded to the max in both the bed of my truck as well as tons of stuff on the trailer strapped down.
Once home I unpacked all this stuff not even knowing what I might find. Well, I found a lot of goodies in the big wooded crates! I was real happy about that. The Patrol shows just over 90,000 miles on it. It sure appeared to me this truck had spent it's life and the majority of those 90,000 miles on pavement. The wheel wells showed hardly any rock chips and factory paint was still present there. The Patrol was also basically untouched, no cutting of body had been done, no holes drilled in the body, no dents to really speak of and very little rust. It was also totally complete and all there and then some. I was really happy about all this and felt I had bought one of the best Patrols I have ever bought. Somebody loved this Patrol and took good care of it for a long time, that is what I saw with the truck any ways.
My plan is a full frame off restoration. I am in absolutely no hurry. I started acquiring parts for the resto and am still doing that a year later. Last summer I picked up a used set of 33x10.5 BFG KM2's for a screaming deal and they have about 80% tread left. I decided this will be the tire size I run on this truck. I have also acquired some lifted Alcan springs. My goal is 2-3" of lift on the 33's. I plan to keep all the suspension stuff like the sway bars but modify (or build my own) them to suit the lift. Objective here is not to make anything permanent, meaning a person can easily remove the lift and go back down in tire size yet with the lift and 33" tires retain the stock suspension components. The truck did come with a full set of original 15" split wheels but I don't plan to use them, rather going to use some aftermarket wheels. Besides the lift and 33" tires, nothing planned here for this truck like a PTO winch or any upgrades. Just a back to stock resto with a lift.
So without any further blah'ing on here are pictures!
33x10.5 KM2s, seen with FJ60 Land Cruiser wheels. Not using these wheels, they don't have enough back spacing.
These are NOS mud flaps for the 160-series Patrol but I think they will work and look great on the 68.
spare axles the 68 came with
in my opinion for being 47yrs old, this is gorgeous! I am only 42yrs old and I don't look this good!
Happy this is still here to use for making a reproduction
all the glass is original and everything is there
This was not an off-roader, ranch truck or farm beater which seems obvious by this
I got a bit of rust and rot along this side of the roof. Pretty much the only rust repairs on this truck and it is only on this side
factory plastic still on the doors
Nissan changed this area in 68 and for the better. Not as prone to rot here after the change. Sand blasting will remove this surface rust fast
original headliner is beautiful, if I can save it I will
Just overall really good condition for a Patrol or any vehicle this old
no rot here or even rust! Although I think the 68+ Patrols are less prone to rot here
I think we could all agree, it is not often you come across Patrols like this
even the front fenders are gorgeous
these are currently at the upholstery shop being recovered
hood has a little bit of damage but nothing serious
all the stuff that came with it
I could be mistaken, perhaps somebody can verify for me but I think this is the original jack. I know they were different on earlier truck but did Nissan change the jack in 68? *Edit* after looking at pictures here on the forum of 68/69 Patrols it appears Nissan did not change the jack in 68 and this is not original to a Patrol. Maybe from a 720 pickup? I have one just like this one from my 83 Patrol that is exactly the same and is original to the 160-series. The 160 series and the 720 pickup share a lot of parts in common.
I didn't think it was special until I found the "Nissan" logo on it
I feel pretty lucky to have come across this Patrol and got my hands on it. When I bought it, it wasn't like I was the first guy to contact the seller and go by and hand over the cash that day, it was 3+ weeks from first contact to pick up of the truck. So please do not be jealous or get upset with me, anybody could have bought this truck the same as me. I would have paid up to $3,000 for this truck because to me it is worth that at least, even in just parts. I have never owned a 68 and it may now be my favorite year of Patrol. If everything goes well, I would like to get the engine rebuilt this summer. I have a lot on my plate though so who knows. The head is supposedly already rebuilt but I will give it a go through, new valve stem seals, magnafluxed and so forth. At this point I am just still acquiring parts to rebuild the axles, trans & t-case plus some engine bits.
I hope you enjoy this restoration and follow along!
Cheers
