Wanted Advice on a 1992 Toyota Land Cruiser Purchase

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Year
1992
Vehicle Model
  1. 80 Series
Mileage
155000
Color
Beige
Hi Ih8mud community,

I have been researching the Fj80 land cruiser for some time now, been eyeing a 1992 land cruiser that my coworker has been getting me to purchase for some time now. The question I have is that what are the disadvantages I have in purchasing a 92 land cruiser that has been sitting at the ex-husbands moms house since 2013? The reason why it's been sitting is because she purchased a more economical car (camry or accord) and left this car to sit in the mother-in-laws yard. After she split up or divorced, the cruiser sat in the yard since 2013 and she is in good terms with the ex's mom so that is why it has been there for 7 years!

Reason why I included that info above is so there is an idea on why it possibly sat there and according to my colleague, her ex and her just hasn't had time to sell it. It has also been hard for me to try to get pictures of the vehicle for about a year as the ex promised pics and never sent it unless she had a serious buyer. After bugging all week, the pics were finally sent!

She indicated no accidents and 2 owners and a beat up interior (although the pics seem to show the interior is just fine for it's age)
Carfax is clean, 3 owners (not sure if an additional owner appears if they moved addresses)
California car
She said 155k miles (which I find odd because before she bought it in 2008, the carfax shows the vehicle between 1992 and 2003 had 150k miles already! So between 2003 and 2013 before it was in the yard, means it only went another 5k miles? That is the questionable part right now in my head!
Other than that, I am satisfied with the exterior based on the pictures, verbally no rust and it does start.

Is pulling the trigger to just buy it at $2k a smart move just due to the price? or is it recommended to just push with seeing the car and driving it first before purchasing? I bought two used cars in my life, a civic and a gx470, both over 100k miles and even though I only test drove the gx, both never had problems.

Am I thinking too much about this purchase without driving it? Or am I doing the right thing in waiting it out to confirm if I can see it and drive it.

I want to say that the reason why it took long for pics to come my way and for the no response in not being able to see it right away is the fact that my coworkers land cruiser is not at her apartment or house, but rather at her ex's mothers house where no one lives anymore!

Complicated if you ask me but my believe is that $2k is obviously an excellent price, even for an FJ80, as I will be base-lining the vehicle anyway. I just don't want to kick myself in the head if I was driving it home a few miles away and find out that the engine/tranny is bad.

Here are some pics!
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B30FBF68-1C20-40E5-B294-ECB8F92F77C2.webp
74AC0608-1A14-4F0E-A9D8-A99AB35790EA.webp
9E5C43D4-550E-4DB2-87A1-0B6C53AA438B.webp
69BB162F-F7F1-405C-BCE7-E96997EEEAF8.webp
 
a '92 has the mighty 3FE engine, not known for power and speed in a vehicle as big and heavy as the FJ80. It was replaced the next year by the 1FZ engine. Many find the 3FE-powered 80 to be an underwhelming experience on the freeway or in the mountains; otherwise they are fine.
 
I got to see the car yesterday, took about 30 minutes to get it jump started by the owner and the old tires inflated. What I noticed when comparing the vehicle to the carfax, is that in 2003 the carfax shows the vehicle having 150k miles.

Owner told me that they bought the car around 2008 with 80k miles on it. (I was skeptical about this because it had much more miles according to carfax before those years!)

I asked if the odometer was working, he said yes.

I then test drove it and immediately noticed the miles today, is the same miles from 2003 (because the odometer ins't working!)

I couldn't get the CDL to light up either on the dash but I am thinking it's just a bad switch or bad bulb.

Definitely lots of interior clean up work but it does drive.

My guess is the car really have at least 250k to 300k miles.
 
Hmm. How deep are you thinking of going on fixing it up? Is this a trail rig or a potential daily or ??.

Could be a cool project but may be $$ to baseline, depending.
 
Any 3fe FJ80 with no rust and running is worth 2k. If you are handy at all it should be a good project to clean upl detail throughly and flip for a couple grand profit. That front passenger fender has been painted by the way...
 
I wouldn't buy a car from a guy that just lied to you about the odometer working. Would make me wonder what else he was hiding.
 
Hmm. How deep are you thinking of going on fixing it up? Is this a trail rig or a potential daily or ??.

Could be a cool project but may be $$ to baseline, depending.
Mainly a trail rig, for easy/moderate trails.

After test driving it, I did feel it was going to take a lot to baseline! I have held off for now.
 
I wouldn't buy a car from a guy that just lied to you about the odometer working. Would make me wonder what else he was hiding.
The price is great, but like you said, it's the trust factor here that has held me back because there could be other things wrong that he hasn't disclosed. Not that he would anyway.
 

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