80 series

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brownbear

brownbear

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Hey Coastals,

Has anyone purchased a Land Cruiser from Ace Cars LTD, in Poco? They have a bunch of 80/100s from the USA for sale from time to time....

My wife is in need of decent vehicle and I was thinking of an 80 series or early 100 in good shape. Unfortunately no JDMs(unless LHD). She will not do it.

But I was thinking I would try to get a clean California unit or Arizona/Nevada... . I cannot get a rusty one.

Anyone bought in the US or from a good source in Vancouver?

Ideas?

If I bought a higher mileage 80 I would consider dropping a diesel into it. But if it was newer and in good shape I would leave it gasser for awhile.

Thanks, BB
 
they're right by my house
I've been there several times with customers
no one has bought off them yet
prices are a bit high for the quality

trim missing, scrapes, cheesie touch ups, used car lot repairs for visual stimulation type stuff

is there something there you want looked at?

no ideas for you
 
B.B. , i looked at alot of 80's and 62's i fell in love with an lx450 but i just didnt believe any of the dealers when it came to the previos history or milage of these out of country vehicles , especialy with the rumors of katrina vehicles being flogged up here , if you can do a car fax history on it and find it extremley clean , with gas expected to hit over $1.30 a liter this summer i can see these vehicles dropping in price alot , B.B. these trucks are gas pigs big time .
 
Yah I don't really trust dealers either. And it is hard being up in Smithers to just pop down and look around.

I really appreciate the offers for a look over. I may take someone up on that.

I know the 80s would be hard on fuel. The plan in the back of my head is to install a 1HD-T into it later. I just cannot talk my wife into a RHD. She's from South Africa and grew up driving RHD in a rhd country. SO she can go back and forth between Canada and SA but it works in her head how do do it. And this would be her car so she has to be happy with it.

Actually the prices at ACE are bit high for sure. 3-4 grand more than what I see on craigslist in Seattle.

There a guy on mud here with an 80 in Arizona with high miles, but rust free. He wants 6k USD. That would be a good candidate for a swap. In the end might put me near the price of a HDJ81.

There is a 94 on the way with ace for 12,900 or so... Typical 94 on criagslist is about 5-8 thousdand US. So in my mind you buy a truck for say 7500 usd, exchange puts it at 8300 canadian. Take shipping from the US at maybe 1500 or more. Taxes, etc Maybe tops out at a bit over 10,000. So the ACE guy makes 3K or more cause he paid book value for it in California.
Many of the ACE vehicles do come with Carfax, is that a reliable service? Could Katrina units be missed on Carfax?
 
Went to look at ACE with Steve back in November. Wasn't too impressed with value for $. From what I understand the owner is of Middle East origin (not that there is anything wrong with that) and he has a relative in California who also has a dealership. The salesman at ACE is not the owner and he did not seem to have a lot of knowledge on specifics of Landcruisers. He just kept telling me how good of a reputation Toyota Landcruiser has and how expensive and difficult it is to import. He struck me as a typical used car salesman.

I ended up purchasing a 94 off of eBay from a dealer with a 97% positve feedback. It wasn't all as advertised, but even with a few repairs and shipping from Memphis I figure it was about $4000 less than ACE. Hope that helps.

Try and contact Craig Johansen if you have more questions. He has imported a few 80's in the last number of years. I'm not sure what he goes by on mud, but I think everyone knows his big ass yellow 80.
 
Many of the ACE vehicles do come with Carfax, is that a reliable service? Could Katrina units be missed on Carfax?[/quote]

From what I understand Carfax is only reliable if the problems are reported by the owner. If it was a flood victim, it may be sold by the owner for a $1000, fixed up by the dealer for $3000(or whatever) and sold for a profit with out anyone knowing it was a victim. Friends of our family live in San Antonio. They say a lot of Texas vehicles have been flood victims, so you need to know what part of the state it came from. A Texas vehicle may no longer be clean either.
 
Thanks for the information Vanny.

Yah I spoke with the owner of ace, his name was KOZ. He said he owned dealerships in California too. That is how he does it. Units he get there he thinks would sell up here he brings up.

My issue is I want the body perfect, and the interior almost perfect. But the engine with high miles, so I don't feel bad ripping it out and sticking in a 1HD-T.
 
It's hard to imagine anyone is going to drive a gas 80 very far these days with gas at about $1.30 a litre in most of the lower mainland.
 
you guys get seriously ripped off in Lower mainland. Prices up here in Smithers are about 1.15 a litre. And we are out of the way so to say.

In fact Vancouver has the highest cost of fuel in the country. That transit system better be good.


The north is the new Okanagan. Cheap housing, beautiful scenery and spots to go. Fair prices on insurance and other costs. Fuel for one.

I'm not sure why many don't leave the crowed stinky air for life in the smaller centres.
 
brownbear said:
you guys get seriously ripped off in Lower mainland. Prices up here in Smithers are about 1.15 a litre. And we are out of the way so to say.

In fact Vancouver has the highest cost of fuel in the country. That transit system better be good.


The north is the new Okanagan. Cheap housing, beautiful scenery and spots to go. Fair prices on insurance and other costs. Fuel for one.

I'm not sure why many don't leave the crowed stinky air for life in the smaller centres.
Click to expand...

One word: WORK
regrettably I am not in a position to work from home or have a job that I only do while traveling, like, but no such luck yet.
 
Gas is about $1.19 here right now.
I last time I fueled up diesel (1 week ago) it was 90.9.

I like living in the smaller towns too. But more because I hate the city.
No so much because of gas prices (sometime we are high, other times low).

I recently heard, for every cent the gas companies overcharge per liter, they make an extra million aday. Think about how much they are making! Last year a gas company (exxon I think) announces a 370 something billion profit. And you can be sure they are lying about more. It was the biggest profit every for 1 company in world history.

Stupid gas companies...
 
brownbear said:
I'm not sure why many don't leave the crowed stinky air for life in the smaller centres.
Click to expand...

I'll steal this shot from Deny. Nice weather :flipoff2:

Think I'll ride my motorcycle today...
attachment.webp
 
Hey atleast I can ride my snowmobile to work today:flipoff2:
 
Cool, snow machines are a blast - just not in May, thanks!

Your truck's looking good Deny. Looks like it's going to be big, how much tire are you planning? (maybe I should ask that in your thread...)
 
bj70_guy said:
I'll steal this shot from Deny. Nice weather :flipoff2:

Think I'll ride my motorcycle today...
Click to expand...

enjoy the break from the rain.....







One thing about Vancouver; I worked in Coal Harbour downtown quite a bit in 2002. All I got was pissy rain all day. Yah love that warmth.

I gotta admit I do like Vancouver when they get sun.

Give me the dry weather I get here any day. LOL
 
I grew up in Vancouver. It's a beautiful city. But it has turned into an outrageously overpriced traffic jam infested nightmare. And if real estate there keeps going the way it's gone the past 5 years I wonder if anyone with an even close to remotely average income could ever buy. There was an article in the Sun recently that the average single highly paid professional (income approx. 75K) could no longer afford an APARTMENT in Vancouver. Something is SERIOUSLY wrong when it gets to that point.
 
Hey Martin, we in Abby are not too far behind them in terms of property costs; and we have the joy of around a 16% Tax increase :mad: to look forward to next year. If I could move NE, I would. On the up side, diesel is still pretty cheap here. I filled up with B40 in Delta @ 99.4/L. Their dino was around 106.9/L. Dino is still 94.9 here in Abby. I was told we can fill at the Shell cardlock (with credit card) in Chilliwack for 84.9/L.
 
Martin White said:
I grew up in Vancouver. It's a beautiful city. But it has turned into an outrageously overpriced traffic jam infested nightmare. And if real estate there keeps going the way it's gone the past 5 years I wonder if anyone with an even close to remotely average income could ever buy. There was an article in the Sun recently that the average single highly paid professional (income approx. 75K) could no longer afford an APARTMENT in Vancouver. Something is SERIOUSLY wrong when it gets to that point.
Click to expand...

Exactly!

I think the province(and federal) has really screwed up in management of immigration. My wife is an immigrant, so I do understand why immigrants will move to the larger centres. But to constantly allow the big money of Asian immigrants into Vancouver has seriously altered the economy. So much so that is waay overpriced.
IMOP anyhow,

Allow immigration(it's important) but make zones up of where people may immigrate to.

I think it's sad that many towns only have one or two Chinese families, yet Richmond or other areas are completely filled up.

I work on planes, so I need to be around an airport. YVR is not an easy airport to get to and from, commuting around Vancouver was is not developed. Basically Vancouver didn't expand the roads. Toronto did. Calgary is. But Vancouver never did. SO it takes an hour to drive from YVR to downtown.

I always said Vancouverites don't have a clue what a highway is. Or freeway. Sure they have roads. But nothing like the system in other areas.

But many cities are getting bad like Vancouver. Last time I was in Calgary every road was congested. But they were building interchanges and more roads. But still they are falling behind.

Ahh the simple life up North. I live 5 mins drive from the airport in a nice residential area. I bought my house before the growth for 134K, Now it's worth about 200k. But still very affordable up here.

If many in Vancouver sold there homes they would be able to retire. Buy an acreage and fix cruisers all day. :)
 
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