Best Areas to Buy an 80

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DuManchu

DuManchu

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I'll be in the market for an 80 come this January, I've been looking all over and have found numerous Cruisers around the country. That being said, I don't know much about the different climates and their effects on the body of a Cruiser. Which areas should I concentrate on when looking for a rust-free (mostly) Cruiser and which areas should I avoid?

Areas meaning, Southwest, East Coast, South, etc....
 
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mooker82 said:
Southwest is probably the best. Texas, Arizona, etc.... Just be careful because I think one of the Southwest states is used to clean the title on salvage vehicles.
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The main reason I'm asking is because I seem to find so many Cruisers in the south (Birmingham, Atlanta, Houston), but I'm a little leery because of all of the humidity.
 
Mine came from SC and there is no rust on it at all. It was garage kept and babied its whole life though. When I bought it all the leather seats looked brand new. It was owned by a Japenese couple and the wife drove it(she was probably only 80 LBS). Now that my large butt has been sitting in it I can tell a big difference though. The humidity in the south is not nearly as bad as salt on the roads in the north in my opinion. I would not entirely rule out a vehicle though just based on its location. If it looks fine I would buy it.
 
Good point Mooker. My 95 came from Massechussettes where they use salt and Ive got no rust on the body, though some on the diff housing/axle area. I wouldnt be scared off buying one from the northeast...


Cheers
 
New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon(pretty sure they don't use road salt), Washington

watch out for flood vehicles....one thing to check is to pull up the carpet and see if there is any condinsation--there is an article about flood vehicles on www.consumerreports.com-- Good luck
 
Take a look in southern cal.. the price of gas is hurting alot of people and any SUV is dropping like a rock... I just bought a really clean 93 -perfect cloth and lockers.215K with all the maintence records... guy even spent 1500 for the dealer to do the birnfeilds....all for 5200$... but I was also the first one there...
 
Check all around California too. I might avoid one that comes from a city/town that's right on the ocean. It's usually not a problem with the 80s, but CA has the toughest emissions regs in the country -- it pretty much forces people to keep up on SOME types of maintenance.

I would look in TX, AZ, NV, NM, and CA.
 
I'd say to be careful about Southern California vehicles. Mine was first titled in Santa Ana and apparently didn't change owners until I bought it in San Diego six years later. It came with rust in five rock chips on the roof and the top edge of the lift gate is rusted as well. I'd avoid the coastal areas if possible -- I've heard of a few San Diego vehicles with rust problems just from being so near the ocean.

I'd expect that trucks in the San Joaquin or Sacramento Valleys, or the desert areas, ought to be in pretty decent shape if they've spent their whole lives there.

Definitely Nevada vehicles, but be sure to do a history on them to make sure they aren't PA vehicles just passing through. :-)
 
Good info.....

Just carfax it, several 80s I looked at here came with the Yanks that brought em down here....

One DC rig that ended up in Atlanta had fairly heavy surface rust all over the frame. Same with one that made it here from Chicago.......

Point is, condition is everything, but location doesn't as much, who know where a rig started at?

My 60 is rust free, been in Carolinas all of its life (well, maybe 2 yrs in GA).

I looked at a 62 thaqt had never been out of Carolinas ever, and that thing was rusting away (must have been on the beach on in the mountains)....

So IMO, there are no best places, sure the SW is a good place to start, but just have to be careful.
 
Idaho has nice rigs but they are spendy. I've seen some not so nice 80s come out of SLC, rust. Texas seems to be the hot spot for deals. Lots of them were never used for their potential down there. The more population you have the lower the prices seem to be. That is a problem when you get to some of the western states. I would avoid MN,MI, WI, IA, IL, SD, ND (isn't too bad because they can't afford to salt all the roads),
 
Thanks for all the great info everyone. Now here's to me finding the right 80 in about a month, I can't wait.
 
Definitely Nevada vehicles, but be sure to do a history on them to make sure they aren't PA vehicles just passing through. :-)[/QUOTE]

Southern Nevada maybe, but N. Nevada uses salt. I bought mine in Sacramento Ca. and with 94k on a '97 it looked almost brand new.
 
You might reconsider some of those northeast vehicles. Most of them lived pampered lives with regular trips to the dealer and nice garages to sleep in at night. Sure, they use salt and sand but most of the folks that could afford an 80 could also afford to have it washed and detailed on a regular basis too...

Nick
 
Just finished buying one - a pink panty - but nonetheless a two month search.

Paid $10.5k it has lockers and 150,000 -

I strongly suggest you invest in a 60 day CarFax account and just start runnin vin numbers - you would not believe how many i found with odometer discrepancies - salvage title - accidents - on and on...it was actually fun!

The one I bought had two previous owners and included all the reciepts from Slee - seeing that Christo and his posse had gone through the rig and installed everything showed me that the PO really cared to get the best!

Patience is the key!
 
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