About to buy (maybe) a LC100….but is the rust bad or normal?

Hi all

Newly registered to the forum. Have read various things from it for years though.

Looking for advice/opinions on the state of a 100 I’m looking at…

Background:

Currently have a LHD 2006 Land Cruiser Prado 120 3.0d with 72000km - it’s near perfect.
However, really want to get a 100/lx470. I’m torn between the 4.2d (More common and more sensible) and the 4.7 v8.

Live in Southern Spain where rust on cars isn’t a problem. My current 120 looks new underneath - don’t want to sell that one until I find an alternative.
Unfortunately there’s not many v8s available here and those that are available are pre-2003 and 500000km+.

I had found a perfect (Chassis/spec wise) v8, but it was a US import…which isn’t a problem for me, but the Spanish authorities don’t like that the paperwork is missing European Conformity information so they will not register it.

So I’ve continued looking and found others, but they’re from Northern/Eastern Europe… where rust is the problem.
I’ve not seen many rusty 100s so not sure how this one compares….is it ok or bad etc?
So interested to hear all your options on this candidate.

Cheers

James

 

[TurboJAM]

Some more pics

 

[TurboJAM]

YouTube video of chassis:

 

[whitec13]

I am from the rust belt and am 100% familiar with a lot of rust. This however, is someone’s crappy job of masking what is likely much worse than it appears. Look around the forum, the underside of any LC/LX is black. That grey is not kosher. If it’s an LX you can bet on the AHC components being as rusty, as well as brake lines and fuel lines. If the price is super low and the overall maintenance very good, f-it roll the dice. If you’re not doing your own work and the price is anything above $5k, walk away briskly.

 

[excessive]

HARD PASS do not buy that one. That's too much rust, and it was painted over, which is only going to make it worse.

 

[TurboJAM]

I am from the rust belt and am 100% familiar with a lot of rust. This however, is someone’s crappy job of masking what is likely much worse than it appears. Look around the forum, the underside of any LC/LX is black. That grey is not kosher. If it’s an LX you can bet on the AHC components being as rusty, as well as brake lines and fuel lines. If the price is super low and the overall maintenance very good, f-it roll the dice. If you’re not doing your own work and the price is anything above $5k, walk away briskly.

Thanks for that confirmation whitec13

I’ve been doing just that to figure out how good/bad it is. Contacted the dealer and he says it was restored, but about 10 years ago min. But yeah, the grey looks wrong.
It’s an AHC unfortunately and it’s done 280000km/174000 miles, maintenance supposed to be good (although not seen anything on that yet) but it’s one of the few post 2003 v8s I can find which is why it’s a contender.
Whichever one I buy I’ll be doing most of the work myself starting with a wire wheel and rust converters etc.
It’s 16000 euros… which is cheap here. Normally they’re 20-40k. Maybe time to start looking for the 4.2TD… there’s a lot more of those.

Cheers

 

[TurboJAM]

HARD PASS do not buy that one. That's too much rust, and it was painted over, which is only going to make it worse.

Yeah. It’s not the tidiest I’ve seen underneath.

 

[whitec13]

I would steer clear putting down that kind of coin, then maybe consider an engine swap
My Cruiser is one of the rustier I’ve seen on here. I still love it and living in Michigan, it’s common. But I gave $4500 for it 5 years back from the original owner with a mountain of paperwork detailing the maintenance.

 

[TurboJAM]

I would steer clear putting down that kind of coin, then maybe consider an engine swap
My Cruiser is one of the rustier I’ve seen on here. I still love it and living in Michigan, it’s common. But I gave $4500 for it 5 years back from the original owner with a mountain of paperwork detailing the maintenance.

Probably right.

For info; I can register any US car in the UK without problem - it just goes through a “special vehicle approval” process.
Spain doesn’t have an equivalent.

The only option in Spain is to register a car when you first become “resident” there and you bring the car with you - they just ignore all the rules then regarding Euro conformity etc. I can’t do that as I’m already resident so it’s a not starter.
OR the vehicle is 30+ years old.

So… another idea… I buy the best 100/470 I can find in the US, ship to UK and keep it on UK plates until it’s 30 years old - then over to spain.
Not a simple option but a possible one.

Could you tell me which US websites are best to find one? Maybe there’re specialists about?
If I’m going to do it, I’d prefer to go for a 2006/2007 vvti version.

 

[jlm43]

Facebook Marketplace, cars.com, autotrader.com, and cargurus.com are all good options. Finding one here in the Mud classifieds with a seller that is willing to help out on this end with shipping could save some potential headaches. With all of the internet scams happening, asking a seller to ship a vehicle to another country could eliminate a portion of sellers.

This one would be a hard pass for me as well. I can deal with a bit of corrosion in certain areas if I know what I'm dealing with. That paint is hiding too many unknown issues.

 

[TurboJAM]

Facebook Marketplace, cars.com, autotrader.com, and cargurus.com are all good options. Finding one here in the Mud classifieds with a seller that is willing to help out on this end with shipping could save some potential headaches. With all of the internet scams happening, asking a seller to ship a vehicle to another country could eliminate a portion of sellers.

This one would be a hard pass for me as well. I can deal with a bit of corrosion in certain areas if I know what I'm dealing with. That paint is hiding too many unknown issues.

Thanks jlm43.

Only knew autotrader from that list so will have a look. Plus this forum of course.

Luckily I’ve got family in Texas, so if buying in the US will leave car with them anyway for the first 6 months or so.

That one is ruled out now.
Just speaking earlier to a guy in Romania that seems to have a nice one, probably an enthusiast as the reg is “100 UZJ”…