Greetings all,
After fifteen years for messing around with diesel trucks and dual sport motorcycles, I find myself in Bogota, Colombia where I am surrounded by awesome Land Cruisers every day. It's gotten to the point that I can't resist anymore, and I have to take the plunge. In spite of the fact that demand in the U.S. has driven up the market price for vintage FJ and BJ 40 series land cruisers, there are still a lot of deals to be had here. Unfortunately there are also a lot of unscrupulous (or just uneducated) people and some of them view new buyers as a mark to be taken advantage of (especially if they are a foreigner). I have some good local friends who are helping me, but they are mostly purists who value original vehicle condition over all. Since I plan to take this back to the U.S. with me, I'm more willing to accept non-year-authentic components as I plan on installing a 5 speed transmission, disk brakes and an A/C unit so that I can drive year round.
For that reason, I was hoping for some advice:
While looking at several different vehicles, I have found three that I really like and that are in my price range. Each have downsides though. Can you help me avoid some pitfalls that will be expensive/timely?
Candidate number one is a 1984 FJ40 that had been purchased ten years ago by the current owner. He put a lot of money into it to install disk brakes, a 5 speed transmission, A/C, ARB lockers front and rear, and Old Man Emu suspension, an auxiliary gas tank, a snorkel, a WARN winch, rhino liner on the floors and a new soft top with a full roll bar/cage. He had the engine rebuilt about 25 miles ago. In spite of that, the vehicle has spent most of the past ten years just sitting in a garage since the owner has several vehicles and a driver who drives him almost everywhere. He used the vehicle occasionally on and off road and the paint definitely shows this. There is some corrosion but no rot and nothing evident in the fender wells. The owner is asking $14,200 USD but is flexible.
Candidate number two is a 1979 FJ43 that was purchased a year ago by a coffee farmer. He had it completely restored to it's original condition (not a full frame off restore and not even a level two restore but all of the original components are present and work well, the paint looks good, very minimal corrosion, new suspension and new tires) but it needs some weather strip work. The upholstery is good, but it has an underseat gas tank, manual steering and doesn't have disk brakes or A/C (obviously). It costs less than half of the cost of candidate one ($6,789 USD). It has the original motor, but the plate on the firewall is missing. However, I would want to move the gas tank outside of the cab (is that even possible/affordable?), install a five speed transmission, install A/C, install disk brakes and manual steering. Then I would basically install everything that candidate one already has installed.
Candidate number three is a rare beast. It's a 1982 BJ43 with a 3B diesel motor. Right off of the bat this appealed to me because I'm a diesel fanatic. However, it is on the other side of Colombia so I would have to fly out to see it (not a huge problem as this will only cost me $100 USD). Also, it was at one point painted black (it was originally red) and I don't know why. This could be because the previous owner just wanted a black paint job, or it could be because there was a collision/body damage and when repairing it they repainted (the world will likely never know). It has a snorkel, chrome trim, luxury rims (that look like crap), new upholstery and power steering. It is currently back in the shop getting a new paint job (still black). The dashboard was replaced with one from a later FJ70 with a 4.5 motor. I love the 3B motor and don't even mind the black paint but am a bit worried about all of the unknowns about this vehicle.
What do you think? Go with candidate A and deal with the cosmetic issues, Candidate B and sink ten grand into mechanical upgrades and know they are all new or Candidate C and risk the unknown for an awesome motor?
Update: Btw I should have mentioned that home is WV. We don’t have any emissions testing so no concerns about importing and registering a vehicle without emissions equipment. Also, I shipped a vehicle to Colombia with me for work so I will just sell that locally and ship the land cruiser back with me.
After fifteen years for messing around with diesel trucks and dual sport motorcycles, I find myself in Bogota, Colombia where I am surrounded by awesome Land Cruisers every day. It's gotten to the point that I can't resist anymore, and I have to take the plunge. In spite of the fact that demand in the U.S. has driven up the market price for vintage FJ and BJ 40 series land cruisers, there are still a lot of deals to be had here. Unfortunately there are also a lot of unscrupulous (or just uneducated) people and some of them view new buyers as a mark to be taken advantage of (especially if they are a foreigner). I have some good local friends who are helping me, but they are mostly purists who value original vehicle condition over all. Since I plan to take this back to the U.S. with me, I'm more willing to accept non-year-authentic components as I plan on installing a 5 speed transmission, disk brakes and an A/C unit so that I can drive year round.
For that reason, I was hoping for some advice:
While looking at several different vehicles, I have found three that I really like and that are in my price range. Each have downsides though. Can you help me avoid some pitfalls that will be expensive/timely?
Candidate number one is a 1984 FJ40 that had been purchased ten years ago by the current owner. He put a lot of money into it to install disk brakes, a 5 speed transmission, A/C, ARB lockers front and rear, and Old Man Emu suspension, an auxiliary gas tank, a snorkel, a WARN winch, rhino liner on the floors and a new soft top with a full roll bar/cage. He had the engine rebuilt about 25 miles ago. In spite of that, the vehicle has spent most of the past ten years just sitting in a garage since the owner has several vehicles and a driver who drives him almost everywhere. He used the vehicle occasionally on and off road and the paint definitely shows this. There is some corrosion but no rot and nothing evident in the fender wells. The owner is asking $14,200 USD but is flexible.
Candidate number two is a 1979 FJ43 that was purchased a year ago by a coffee farmer. He had it completely restored to it's original condition (not a full frame off restore and not even a level two restore but all of the original components are present and work well, the paint looks good, very minimal corrosion, new suspension and new tires) but it needs some weather strip work. The upholstery is good, but it has an underseat gas tank, manual steering and doesn't have disk brakes or A/C (obviously). It costs less than half of the cost of candidate one ($6,789 USD). It has the original motor, but the plate on the firewall is missing. However, I would want to move the gas tank outside of the cab (is that even possible/affordable?), install a five speed transmission, install A/C, install disk brakes and manual steering. Then I would basically install everything that candidate one already has installed.
Candidate number three is a rare beast. It's a 1982 BJ43 with a 3B diesel motor. Right off of the bat this appealed to me because I'm a diesel fanatic. However, it is on the other side of Colombia so I would have to fly out to see it (not a huge problem as this will only cost me $100 USD). Also, it was at one point painted black (it was originally red) and I don't know why. This could be because the previous owner just wanted a black paint job, or it could be because there was a collision/body damage and when repairing it they repainted (the world will likely never know). It has a snorkel, chrome trim, luxury rims (that look like crap), new upholstery and power steering. It is currently back in the shop getting a new paint job (still black). The dashboard was replaced with one from a later FJ70 with a 4.5 motor. I love the 3B motor and don't even mind the black paint but am a bit worried about all of the unknowns about this vehicle.
What do you think? Go with candidate A and deal with the cosmetic issues, Candidate B and sink ten grand into mechanical upgrades and know they are all new or Candidate C and risk the unknown for an awesome motor?
Update: Btw I should have mentioned that home is WV. We don’t have any emissions testing so no concerns about importing and registering a vehicle without emissions equipment. Also, I shipped a vehicle to Colombia with me for work so I will just sell that locally and ship the land cruiser back with me.
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