Newbie support! Looking at 97 LC. (1 Viewer)

[DurtyDeeds]

FJZ
Vehicle was salvaged. Looking for a ride to take the Dam fam up to the mountains. Was hoping to get some input.
Here is the link, http://www.ksl.com/auto/listing/4245403

I'm pretty excited about it!
Thanks for your help.

 

[BILT4ME]

It has been completely repainted.
It appears to have front/rear lockers.
The wheels on it are the wrong offset.
The front seats are torn up as usual.
They didn't come factory with a V8 as stated that it has. If it is swapped, don't buy it. If it has the 4.5L inline 6 buy it.

But it's still too high for a salvage vehicle.

What are you going to do with it?
Will you do your own wrenching?
What size tires do you want to run?
What kind and weight of oil do you want to run?
Does gas mileage bother you?
How deep are your pockets?
Will this be a Daily Driver?

 

[LINUS]

I doubt they'll drop the price far enough to make it worth taking on.

230K 80's with clear titles are easy to find, and you gotta remember when it's all said & done, buying all the parts & doing all the labor yourself - it's still a salvage.

Heck, for $5900 you have plenty of clean title options & lockers aren't your friend if going to the mountains in your vernacular means ski/snowboard, -snow/ice in general.

For me, salvage = /conversation.

IIRC & you really like it, I want to say rule of thumb for branded titles is 40% deduct automatically, so price accordingly.

 

[DurtyDeeds]

BILT4ME
Awesome. Answers below.

But it's still too high for a salvage vehicle. Plan is $4800 max.

What are you going to do with it? Forrest and logging roads. May take it to Moab.
Will you do your own wrenching? Yes. With serious help from you guys.
What size tires do you want to run? 33"s most likely, but I want to do it right with the ratios. What will give the best ride and decent clearance.
What kind and weight of oil do you want to run? I don't know.
Does gas mileage bother you? No.
How deep are your pockets? I am planning on doing modifications here and there. Pretty shallow pockets, but I'm patient.
Will this be a Daily Driver? No.

Mainly looking for something to get into the world of off-roading. I'm pretty ignorant, but like to learn.

 

[LINUS]

If you want a cheap 80, I know of a '96 in Nightshadow blue (clearcoat is gone) & is $1750 obo. <300K, no affiliation:

1997 FJ 80 Toyota Land cruiser

I have my 80 & a creampuff Nightshadow locked down when it's time the owners have to get a car she can get in/out of easier.

We have a glut of good 80's here.

'96, green, 3x locked $5K:

96 landcruiser

Here's a cheap 100 (if you like 100's):

2000 land cruiser

Both have been on for over a week. Clean titles.

 

[LS1FJ40]

Run. Don’t walk away. Run away.

The ugly a$$ white front bumper and wheels are enough to tell me the PO or seller don’t know anything about 80s. Anything done to it is suspect.

Listen to @LINUS buy one out west.

If/when you have owned one and know what you are looking for and want to take a flyer on a rebuilt 80, that’s a different story.

I wouldn’t touch a salvage 80 for $5k. I like my money.

 

[LS1FJ40]

You’d be better off sending @LINUS $5k and asking him to go pick out an 80 and he can keep the change for whatever he gets you.

 

[IndecentExposur]

I've been watching the 80's market for a while now in the Denver/SF/LA areas. After having buying two FZJ80's in the last 3 months, I would tell you that rebuilt titles are never worth it. Unless you are planning to completely mod the crap out of it and know what you're doing already, there are plenty of trucks that don't have a bad title.
There are a few trucks that had bad titles in the Denver area that haven't sold. and they're at an 'okay' price.

 

[DurtyDeeds]

You’d be better off sending @LINUS $5k and asking him to go pick out an 80 and he can keep the change for whatever he gets you.

@LINUS where do I send the money!
Just kidding.

 

[DurtyDeeds]

You guys have convinced me. It is better to buy a well maintained vehicle with records and higher miles than to do a salvage(until I get some builds under mud belt)

I'll keep my eyes open, may catch a flight to the coast during the break! Thanks again for the quality advice!

 

[LINUS]

@LINUS where do I send the money!
Just kidding.

Haha, I'll stay out of your wallet - we already have 'the Armenian' here out West.
(dealer in the L.A. area - high prices, questionable 80's)

If one is somewhere close & you want me to scout it objectively, I'm willing to help.

 

[decoco]

I'm going to play the devil's advocate with salvage, sometimes these things get written off because they're so old, that the market won't appreciate it's worth, so they'll "total" the vehicle, when barely any damage was done. The owner at that point, if they're not a cruiser head, but still holding on to the relic of soccer mom cart, may let the insurance company take it and keep some cash; other owners knowing what they have will take the cash and try to buy it back- same difference, keep the car take some cash, barely any damage.

 

[DurtyDeeds]

Haha, I'll stay out of your wallet - we already have 'the Armenian' here out West.
(dealer in the L.A. area - high prices, questionable 80's)

If one is somewhere close & you want me to scout it objectively, I'm willing to help.

That my friend is mighty kind of you!

 

[LINUS]

@decoco -- If you buy a salvage, buy to literally own for the rest of the life of it & sell it for the $150 scrap value.

Was the very words the owner of the Honda dealership(s) & a couple Ford 'ships.

He was nearly 80 & still visited all dealerships he owned at least 1x/week (6 total), he ran a tight ship & only told you something once, then delegated who was promoted & who was kicking rocks.

He never wanted to deal with them even to wholesale - they just are bad for business & reputation, so unless he was making a real killing on the deal he made sure to steer clear & that instruction was made clear to each dealership manager.

You just run into issues when you take on a salvage - like many women, it was damaged & you know someone was sick of the crap dealing with it.

 

[LS1FJ40]

I was only semi joking about giving @LINUS your money.

Seriously, I paid someone to look at my 93 and pick it apart before I bought it. I had agreed to $2800 over the phone based on our conversation. The person I paid knew 80s very well and was anal retentive. He beat him up on a few things he didn’t mention. Got it down to $2000. I let him keep the $800 for his time. We both won.

I then flew half way across the country and picked it up to drive back. Knowing what was wrong with it and what I needed to address before I left.

It was a blast!

 

[decoco]

@decoco -- If you buy a salvage, buy to literally own for the rest of the life of it & sell it for the $150 scrap value.

Was the very words the owner of the Honda dealership(s) & a couple Ford 'ships.

He was nearly 80 & still visited all dealerships he owned at least 1x/week (6 total), he ran a tight ship & only told you something once, then delegated who was promoted & who was kicking rocks.

He never wanted to deal with them even to wholesale - they just are bad for business & reputation, so unless he was making a real killing on the deal he made sure to steer clear & that instruction was made clear to each dealership manager.

You just run into issues when you take on a salvage - like many women, it was damaged & you know someone was sick of the crap dealing with it.

I wonder if wise business man would endorse the purchase of a 20 some year old vehicle, with over 200 miles, for 5000 to only go in and put another 4-10. I guess I'm wondering what this very successful guy would think of people who FZJ80s in 2017, salvage or not, would he think it's a wise decision?

 

[gummycarbs]

It looks like they didn't bother removing the fender flares when they repainted it. That's a pretty big red flag with regards to attention to detail.

I figure lockers add $2k or $2.5k. I'd say a wrecked runner with lockers is worth around that same amount in parts. So, I'd call $4800 a reasonable value if YOU think it's in acceptable condition.

The problem I've had with rebuilt cars is about stuff like popping noises from poorly aligned internal structure, damaged cooling system from a front impact, and of course a likely lack of airbag on a 97. If it's rebuilt from flood damage or the like, run away unless it was meticulously rebuilt by someone you know very well. If it was a stolen recovery that just needed a lock cylinder, then no big deal.

 

[LINUS]

@LS1FJ40 -as often as you talk about how well yours went, I'm surprised how few people have asked me to either do a look-see & text some good pics, or if I knew of a solid 80 guy nearer to a specific 80 than myself.

-4 personal looks, only 1 worth the range money asked but person found another.

-2 referrals to a guy in Metro Seattle / works on Eastside
(I'm really Blaine/BC,CA border to Everett)

An upside to 80's that lived life here is no UV-cracked dashboards, to me that's worth the bump in price over Cal market 80's. (No desire to dash swap, I'm the guy who caulked my crack dead center over dash cluster/the spot they all crack 1st).

Hell, I bought a VR6 Corrado in TX & drove home, had a f'ing blast! (& 2 speed tix) -

Upside as well when you open your range is you can pick the color 80 you want, approx range $$$ & odometer you want, etc. Concentrate on the rust free zones & within 90-120 days I'd bet you find one worth your $$$.

 

[IndecentExposur]

Find a colorado (most of its life) or Arizona truck. Something that hasn't been in a humid environment.

 

[LS1FJ40]

@LS1FJ40 -as often as you talk about how well yours went, I'm surprised how few people have asked me to either do a look-see & text some good pics, or if I knew of a solid 80 guy nearer to a specific 80 than myself.

-4 personal looks, only 1 worth the range money asked but person found another.

-2 referrals to a guy in Metro Seattle / works on Eastside
(I'm really Blaine/BC,CA border to Everett)

An upside to 80's that lived life here is no UV-cracked dashboards, to me that's worth the bump in price over Cal market 80's. (No desire to dash swap, I'm the guy who caulked my crack dead center over dash cluster/the spot they all crack 1st).

Hell, I bought a VR6 Corrado in TX & drove home, had a f'ing blast! (& 2 speed tix) -

Upside as well when you open your range is you can pick the color 80 you want, approx range $$$ & odometer you want, etc. Concentrate on the rust free zones & within 90-120 days I'd bet you find one worth your $$$.

I chose to buy mine from LA for a couple reasons:
A) I had been looking for a few months and couldn’t find anything worth a $hit for under $10k.

2) I told Joey that and he said “they are everywhere out here”. He told me where to look on CL. I looked. Five minutes later I called a guy that had just listed my 93. I got voicemail. He called me back 2-3 minutes later. He was asking $3800. I asked him what he his bottom price was and he said $2800. I agreed and called Joey to tell him I needed him to go check it out and I needed to send him the money. Hahaha. He then beat the guy down to $2000.