Since I didn't get a chance to sign up for the ROTW and it looks like we have a hole, I'll step up and fill it until PK comes back
In July of 2004 I started looking for an 80 series Land Cruiser to go with my FJ40. I looked locally, but they wanted $16K and above for ones that were not in pristine condition. I started looking on ebay and Autotrader. I was leary of ebay even though my friend bought an Infiniti there. I set my list of requirements for 100K miles or less, Factory lockers, no rust, great condition and for less than $14K. I read in the 80’s thread that the LX450’s were the same thing and started looking at those. I found a black one I really liked in Houston and I pm’d Texican to ask for advice on having it checked out. He put me in touch with Jim Reiss (El Mariachi) and he kindly went to look at it. Jim sent me a 2 page write-up on every thing that was wrong with it and then came the clunker. The underside was rusty and the Carfax showed it spent 4 years in Jersey. I talked it over with Jim and passed. I then found another one in Dallas and Gary Coberly ( Wagonner5) looked at it for me and gave me a similarly detailed report. This was a one owner Texas vehicle with no rust and I ended up buying it. I paid $13.8K for it and flew down to Dallas Saturday morning and drove it straight back to Denver, getting home about 2AM on Sunday. It was a dream to drive and I have been real happy with it.
Thanks Again Gary and Jim!
Photos from ebay showing how it looked when I bought it.
In July of 2004 I started looking for an 80 series Land Cruiser to go with my FJ40. I looked locally, but they wanted $16K and above for ones that were not in pristine condition. I started looking on ebay and Autotrader. I was leary of ebay even though my friend bought an Infiniti there. I set my list of requirements for 100K miles or less, Factory lockers, no rust, great condition and for less than $14K. I read in the 80’s thread that the LX450’s were the same thing and started looking at those. I found a black one I really liked in Houston and I pm’d Texican to ask for advice on having it checked out. He put me in touch with Jim Reiss (El Mariachi) and he kindly went to look at it. Jim sent me a 2 page write-up on every thing that was wrong with it and then came the clunker. The underside was rusty and the Carfax showed it spent 4 years in Jersey. I talked it over with Jim and passed. I then found another one in Dallas and Gary Coberly ( Wagonner5) looked at it for me and gave me a similarly detailed report. This was a one owner Texas vehicle with no rust and I ended up buying it. I paid $13.8K for it and flew down to Dallas Saturday morning and drove it straight back to Denver, getting home about 2AM on Sunday. It was a dream to drive and I have been real happy with it.
Thanks Again Gary and Jim!
Photos from ebay showing how it looked when I bought it.
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. Still like the snow pic(even if it was potshoped). One day I will have a 80......
