Should I buy it or sell it? (1 Viewer)

[ken_79-fj40]

So for the last few 18 months or so I've been working on and off on a 68 FJ40 that a friend of mine's mother bought about 4 years ago. My friend took it apart and got it painted, then it sat for a year or so and I started working on it. I just got it done/safe to drive last spring and she drove it a couple times over the summer. But her place here locally is now under contract with a closing in October. My house is actually going up for sale in the next few weeks also. She likes it but doesn't see herself driving it much. So I was supposed to sell it for her. But she would really like me to have it and honestly I really miss having an FJ40. I was forced to sell my 79 a few years back to pay for a big home project. And now I'm broke but my house is for sale and I should come out of it with a large chunk of cash to go towards buying/building a new place. She's fine with taking a small deposit now and me paying the rest later. But the thing is I have no idea where I'll be and how long I'll be without a garage/shop once my place sells. And although it's what I feel is a heck of a deal it's far from "complete". Missing lots of cosmetic stuff, only stock gauge that works is the speedo, and it's a 68. No disc brakes, 3 speed, F motor (although it's got TBI and an HEI distributor which is pretty cool), no back seat, etc. But it is a very solid west coast truck with a super-nice frame and new paint. Runs/drives great. I put all new spring bushings/tie rods on it recently. New 31's, all the lights work, new bestop, and I think it's a FST. Has the drop-down tailgate, darth vader light, and the holes for the door straps. Also comes with a rough early 70's hardtop. I was thinking a TJ back seat and some belts for the back like I did in my 79 and I could do all the other stuff I would like to do over time. 4 speed, lift, 33's, saginaw steering, all the emblems, dash pads, ditch the nasty front seats, etc. But I still have to convince my wife it's a good idea. And I don't need it. At all. It would strictly be a toy.

 

[brooklyn]

I would buy it, see where you land after the sale of the house. These trucks are going up on value, so not much chance of losing your investment.

 

[jzsquared]

I always had a goal since I was young to pay off my home by the time I was 40, guess what I did it. Your paycheck goes so much farther when you don't have a mortgage. Toy money is toy money but I would never take it away from my home

 

[Ambrew]

I'm not a huge fan of leaving a deposit and paying later. I'll be devil's advocate: what if your house doesn't sell? will you be able to raise the cash to pay it off? What if the value changes when it's time to pay the remainder and the seller wants more money? This happens sometimes when people smell an opportunity to make money. I've heard it before:"yeah but this is a friend/uncle/family..."etc. etc.

So, If worse case you are willing to loose the deposit and this is "the one" for you, buy it. Opportunities don't often line up with reality.

 

[ken_79-fj40]

I'm not too concerned with the place selling. We've got a ton of equity in it and our neighbors house sold in under a month earlier this summer. I could very easily take out a loan to buy it right now. But I don't want to. Worst case if it didn't work out I could just sell it.

 

[shawnfj40]

Looks like you have your answer.

 

[Redgrrr]

Come to a written agreement and put a deposit on it if you can buy it reasonably!

You won't loose and you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

I have two 40s so maybe I'm not the best advise giver though! Haha

 

[TLCJC]

What happened to the Friend? Is he the son of the person you are buying it from? Only asking if this might create issues in the friendship. Also keep in mind that you may need $3k+ over what you pay, plus any money for insurance etc. If this is still under $8,000 (what you could get in quick cash if you needed to unload it fast again) then it may be worth it.

Ps. What kind of seats are those and what did they come from AMC? IH?

Good luck!

 

[ken_79-fj40]

I've been trying to figure out where the seats are from for a while. No idea. But they are on stock seat frames. I'm not at all concerned about my friend or the price of the rig. I couldn't buy and build another one to this level for what I would pay for it. And I've been short on time lately so one in this kind of shape would be ideal. But I would prefer a 76 or later and likely I would eventually be retrofitting a lot of later model parts to it. To really be what I want I would wind up with about 15 into this total. Which is roughly what I sold my 79 for. But that was also a northeast truck with an aluminum tub and a frame that required some work to be sturdy and presentable. This is a much nicer starting point and would probably be worth a lot more in the end. The truck is right I think but the timing couldn't be worse.

 

[DSRTRDR]

I agree with others who said to put it all in writing

you seem to lean towards buying it, so make it happen

 

[winnie]

do what your heart tells you ... bottom line, if you want it, buy it ... you've put enough time into it, why let someone else enjoy your labours ... you miss your other one, you'll miss this one ... 68s are becoming more rare all the time ... there's nothing wrong with having a toy, at anytime in your life ... I have a friend who went in for what he thought were routine tests about a month ago and turns out he's full of cancer ... I'm more in the live for today philosophy right now ...

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

You've invested time in another person's car, quite frankly, if it were me, I'd be pretty irritated at what she's doing. The value of the FJ40 is what it was worth before you started working on it. What she is doing (your words, "couldn't buy another one at this level for the same price") is using your love for the breed, your value that you've put into the car (both emotional and financial) to force you to buy the car from her at an inflated price. It really is extortion because she's using you against yourself. Fortunately, you have a good sense of right and wrong and you're hesitating because it's not right.

Now here's the best part - if you do buy it, eventually you'll hear that she's telling people that "you stole it from her."

Oh, and one more line. "If I don't like someone and I want them to leave me alone, I loan them money." (paraphrase of Mark Twain). I don't care if you pay her off in a week - loaning money to friends is the quickest way to lose a friend that there is.

I know I'm being very blunt, but you don't loan money to friends, and you don't take advantage of a friend's labor. She wants to sell it, now, because it's worth more money and you're the sucker who will pay more. If you must do it, get someone else who is knowledgeable in car sales and project purchases (those seats are awful - those are dodge van seats, btw) to value the car. Quite frankly, I'd buy another one and show it to her.... let her and her FJ40 rot in hell.

 

[ken_79-fj40]

Well after a lot of thought I am going to pass on it for myself. But I will sell it for her. One member here sent me a PM about it so I'll give them a shot at it first otherwise it'll hit ebay soon. I hate the seats too but that's not what's stopping me from buying it. I was planning on some aftermarket Jeep super seats and a TJ rear like I had in my 79. It's a great truck for someone, just not me and especially not right now. This is perfect for someone who wants to buy a truck they can drive now and tinker with, add things too over time. It actually drives nice although I've only driven it about 10 miles. Fact is I don't want to take on the debt even interest free and it would be just one more thing I would have to worry about storing when my house sells and I buy/build another. And honestly with the amount of free time I have lately and my commute it wouldn't get used anyhow. If I could somehow get my 79 back it would be a different story. All that needed to be "perfect" in my mind was a full cage and rear 3 point belts.

Edit a few hours later: Took it for a ride to the next town over today, about 25 miles round trip. Runs great and goes down the road awesome. Steering is a little wayward but every cruiser without a saginaw conversion seems a little loose to me. I forgot how decent these things rode with stock springs and regular shocks in them. It doesn't have an expansion tank in it currently though and it puked a little coolant out the overflow tube when I was sitting in tourist traffic. The TBI is nice on the road. Seemed to have more low end grunt than my balanced/shaved head, cammed, weber'd 2F in my 79 did. Of course winding it up a bit proved fruitless. Lots of induction noise though. Sounded pretty good. Still going to pass though. I keep thinking for the same money I could put an ARB, winch, some new tires, and some suspension on my Tacoma and pay it off. And probably have enough leftover to do a few things I've been itching to do on my Mustang. And those I actually drive.

 

[ken_79-fj40]

Well 2 rounds on ebay and it's failed to meet what I thought was a pretty low reserve. Owner's moving this coming weekend. I really think the fact that the hardtop (which is WAY nicer than I thought it was) never got painted and the missing tire carrier/dash pieces/emblems/wrong lights are really killing the value of it. So who knows what the future may be for this thing. I may wind up finishing it and trying again in the spring.

 

[Living in the Past]

Curious what your reserve was? Your location and fresh paint might not be helping.

 

[70fj40]

A good option may be to put the sale info on this forum/thread. Someone here would be as likely as anyone to appreciate what you have.

 

[ken_79-fj40]

It is in the classifieds here too. Granted it's only been up for a month but no bites. Of course if I had the cash it would be a no-brainer and I would keep it for myself and build it like I want. But that's not the case. And if I go down this road again I really want to start with another 75-up truck anyhow. Honestly a 1st gen 4Runner would probably suit my needs better. But those are getting costly too.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

You know, because no one is biting on what you think is a "no-brainer" could be telling you something. The reason I'm all over you about this is because I've been there too many times to count... heck, I even overpaid for my current FJ40... but still, as in your case, the non-monetaries is as important as the money. There are a lot of happy FJ40 owners out there that got parts from mine and I've made at least 4 permanent friends because of it - still.... what would make me stop is buying from a friend; it's such a quick way to lose them as friends (because they, eventually, will either think you stole it from them or that they got too much from you (rare)).

 

[emac]

So right. Hard to buy stuff from friends. Several years ago, a friend of mines father passed away. He had a couple of old cars. Earlier this year she decided to sell the Morgan and mentioned it to me. I said it really wasn't my kind of car but I would look at it. The car was very rough. She thought it was worth about 18K. I just didn't see it, and thought in my head 12K. I told her I would try and find some people that may be interested. I helped her get in touch with Morgan people.

I ran into her brother and he told me the car sold for 12.5K. I told him I thought that was fair. Point is, just like SuperBuickGuy said, if I would have offered her 12K and bought it, I probably would have lost the friendship. Hard to win in those situations, especially with people who have never got grease under their nails.

I guess I have matured enough to recognize these situations.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

Every time I get into the "I've just got to have that project" - I do a "project" and "less than (whatever the price is)" on Craigslist. If I'm still all hot and bothered about the project after doing that search - then I'll buy it, but the ratio is somewhere in the 1 car bought in 10,000 "can't live another day without it" projects.