For Sale 1997 40th Anniversary 80-Series $3,500, 144K Mi Seattle (1 Viewer)

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Location
United States
VIN JT3HJ85J8V0171123

$3,500

My plan is to sell this on MUD (not craigslisted or Ebay) and hopefully somebody feels like they get a good deal and that when I buy another 40 series (I used to have a 1967 and miss it nearly every day), karma comes back around. I tried to document (with photos) just about everything that I’m mentioning here, but please feel free to ask any questions. I want to be fully transparent so that there’s no surprises (good or bad) when somebody shows up to pick it up. I’m attaching the CARFAX. I’m the third owner and talked a fair bit to the 2nd owner who was soccer-mom-and-family-vacation style owner.

Here’s the story. For years, I’ve really wanted a low-mileage 80-series. Starting in late 2015, I began seriously looking. In late-spring 2016, I found this 40th Anniversary on craigslist in Maine with 133,000 miles for $7,500. Mom lives in Maine, works for a truck body shop. I had her go, with one of her technicians, to check it out. I said, “don’t buy it if there’s rust.” She and the technician say that there’s very little rust. I pulled the trigger. Got to Maine with the kids a couple months later. It’s got a lot of rust. Lots. But I still fell in love with it. Shipped it back to Seattle after a summer of driving it. Kept it in the garage (with a dehumidifier!). I freakin’ love this thing (and the MUD community is great). I have a truck and 2 motorcycles and I’ve almost exclusively used the Land Cruiser for climbing missions. I’ve never done any heavy off-roading in it, but I’ve driven through a ton of snow and forest roads and it performs exceptionally well. It’s savage and capable and I’m always asked to drive on climbing trips because it’s always going to get us there and back. Writing this, I’m realizing that I’m having a hard time letting go.

Last winter I got high-centered and pulling it out bent the bumper (there’s a lot of rust and the bumper is weakened—pictures below).

Early summer, I ran a red light and hit a Grand Cherokee. Mostly superficial damage to the Land Cruiser but I didn’t feel it was worth it to spend the money at a body shop—there’s a fair amount of minor body damage already.

Ultimately, my daughter is about to turn 16, I’ve added a Volvo to the quiver (and will be adding another jalopy when she starts driving), I’m a single-dad 75% of the time, and I just don’t have the time to care for this Land Cruiser as well as she deserves, nor the garage space. We’ve had a great run--amazing memories--but it’s time for somebody else to enjoy.

The details (I’ll keep adding items as I think of them):

The Good:
· ~144,000 miles, Engine runs very strong
· New Brakes
· Factory Triple-Locked—Electronic locking hubs work very well!
· BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A with tons of tread life
· I have a fair amount of service records going back to 2012
· HID bulbs and LEDS for all internal and exterior lighting. Makes a huge difference on backroad overnights.
· Pretty much everything electronic (other than the antenna and the rear heater) work well—AC runs cold
· Since I got it to Seattle, I’ve had it serviced at Toyota of Seattle (which is expensive but it’s right down the street from where I work and I wanted OEM parts). I could connect you with the service technician who has supervised all of the work (he also owns an 80-series).

The Bad:
· Rust. I tried to document with photos of the undercarriage. There’s a lot of rust, increasing the further rear you go, and the further into time…
· The rear hatch, below the window, rusted a through-hole because the seal around the rear window went. I cut it out and slapped some bondo in there in such fashion that it drains down the exterior and rattle-canned it with some rustoleum camo paint.
· There’s a crack in the windshield.
· There’s a small exhaust leak which the catalytic converter sometimes doesn’t like and turns the check engine light on intermittently (check engine light is currently off). Feel free to bring OB2 2 (I have one but just got a new phone and they couldn’t link).
· There currently isn’t a spare tire. I’d never needed to use it but checked it out just a little while ago and found that both the spare tire and the assembly were rotted out. I haven’t replaced either.
· The handle for the rear hatch broke—you can still open without any issue by grabbing the latch itself.

Other (?):
· Haven’t done the head gasket
· The hood was replaced by the PO. Color doesn't quite match. It fits 99.9% well but there's a tiny wiggle at high speeds.

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Attachments

  • CARFAX Vehicle History Report for this 1997 TOYOTA LANDCRUISER S_W_ JT3HJ85J8V0171123.pdf
    424.3 KB · Views: 56
Last edited:
West coast tolerance is low. FWIW I don't think its that much rust. It is not rust free, but a pretty good buy
 
Yeah, Toyota of Seattle commented that they feel the rust is mainly superficial. I wanted to be full-disclosure and, if anything, over-share.
 
Going to be a hard sell in Seattle where vehicles don't normally rust. Perhaps you could take it back east on a road trip to visit Maine and it would be more competitive.

To compare I bought my 80 in the Seattle area is even though it had 270k miles at the time there was almost no rust.

Good luck either way!
 
Interested... and my inlaws are in seattle. Would you have time to jump on a call to discuss? PM me if you can
 
PM'd
windstorm in seattle tonight. internet is already down (hotspotting from my phone). likely to lose power so no hard feelings if i'm not snappy in responding tonight.
gusts to 60mph!
 

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