Hi Asdae, I am not sure if your will read this or not, but have read several posts about your and what you are doing down there in CR. If you truly want to bring in "fresh" cruisers and try to sell them respectably... Read my post above. Sorry for some misspellings, I was using my iPad and between auto correct and my fat fingers, I made some mistakes.
That said, the above land cruiser was my first EVER encounter with you or your selling of land cruisers from CR. I did not know of IH8MUD yet and though I could locate a cruiser on my own. Let me tell you, even before finding IH8MUD and knowing anything about you, I saw some things that almost made me turn around and forget about trying to find a clean cruiser for myself. Money is too hard to come by and throw away on garbage that people cover up with a fresh coat of paint!
I contacted you, or "TreeClimber" on ebay about the above white cruiser. I asked for a few more picture to see under the dash and see what problems white be there is I did bid on the vehicle. The vehicle looks really good on the outside. You created more problems for the buyer when the painter ran in there and sprayed EVERYTHING he could not take out white. Look at my information here. I am only two or three days on this site. I did not know anything about you or the things they talked about here until a couple days ago! But it is plainly obvious to even a novice, or as my title states, a Rookie like me!!!
I think from all that I have learned here after finding this website and doing a lot of reading, your best approach would have been, and should be to leave the vehicle in the condition you find it in, and let the perspective buyers see what they have to potentially work with. So you may not get as much money for the cruisers you are selling... REPUTATION, and INTEGRITY are everything. Don't compromise those for a quick "big" sale! because the reputation will come back and get you in the end... You want a name that people will come to when looking for a CR cruiser... Not run from!
I think the thing that has most seller intrigued about the CR and CA area of retrieval for land cruisers is the money they can potentially fetch. However, the only person you can fool are the fools who know no better... I mean anyone who is looking at the photos above can plainly see the dash was over sprayed onto the e-brake handle and the glove box was poorly painted silver over the label originally mounted there...
One last thing... I saw the red FJ45 "TreClimber" and you were claiming as a "Frame Off" restoration... I said I am no EXPERT by any means... Go back and look at the clutch, gas, and brake pedals... Those are NOT originally RED in that vehicle, EVEN if the vehicle was originally RED!!! I told CHAS404 the same thing I am telling you... Be honest with what you find and over time, you will get an idea of what the vehicle is worth. I am not sure you have any other accounts on ebay or not... But on the "private" bidding is a red flag for me as well that this might be a scam. If you are going to post a cruiser there and have no reserve... Leave it alone or at least tell those that bid that they cannot be anonymous... Reputation and Integrity again... The appearance of this type of activity is suspect in and of itself... I have bought several things off of ebay and I have never seen that before until this cruiser above... I have said enough...
And one last thing, I never did receive any of the additional pictures of this vehicle I requested from ebay... Look on this cruisers ebay page and you will see my same screen name as my ebay handle. I honestly was looking at... If you sent me those photos and other information, maybe something could still happen..??
I'm sorry you felt slighted that my husband or I didn't respond to your question. We tried to answer everyone's questions, but there were a ton. Were you the one who wanted the video?
First of all, to get things straight. The only cruiser we have ever had painted was the Troopy listed on this forum. The only reason why is because it was a neon green and I couldn't stand it that color. Most of the cruisers we find are already painted. The thinking goes something like this. "Well, I want to sell my truck, time to paint it".
One thing I dislike about the forum is that people instantly assume that because it was painted, it's hiding a bunch of rust and problems. Just because it's newly painted doesn't mean it's a rust or bondo bucket underneath.
You guys contradict yourselves. You bash the Costa Ricans for painting the truck or restoring it, because "oh, they must be hiding something", and the minute you get a truck that needs painting, you paint it or restore it. WTF, you guys aren't the only ones who can paint and restore cruisers! Is there varying levels of restore, of course. As I said about the red FJ45, this guy told me he took it off the frame, and listed a hundred other things he did to it. He then showed me a white HJ45 that was completely taken apart, it didn't have anything in the engine compartment, everything was taken apart, and told me that was his next project. So I believed the guy. I still do. Did he spend $40k? Not hardly, but he restored it the best he could. Did he try to do the restoration according to stock, red petals and screws, no. Stock doesn't really matter here. A good running, nice looking truck does.
And lest you think I'm in the business to sell junk cruisers, all of my customers are happy with their trucks. The truck that they bashed on this forum a while ago was bought by a guy who loves his truck. It has a strong 2H motor, runs awesome, very little rust.
Yes we are newbies, and I as a woman may see cruisers differently than you guys. We want to learn more so we can be sure to always chose a good cruiser to sell, which is why we are giving Crushers a free trip here to help us. Beyond all that, I wish the Columbia guy the best success and hope he has all his importing ducks in a row. 2 American guys came here to Costa to send cruisers to the states. They got totally screwed over by a Costa Rican customs broker and payed thousands of dollars more than they should, and still didn't have their trucks after 3 months, I don't know if they ever got them.
The fact is, there is no where else in the world to find LHD, diesel, little rust generally, and most low miles in the case of Costa Rica, but if Americans think they can come down here and easily import a Land Cruiser, they are greatly mistaken. My husband is Costa Rican, I've been coming here for 22 years, and we had to threaten to call the police to get our first Costa Rican customs broker to ship a cruiser they said they had shipped 3 weeks before. Of course now we have a group of honest, good people we work with.
Having said all that, I hope you find a great cruiser, best of luck in your search.
