Am I stupid to buy this?

[vanhack]

On the local classifieds the following poped up. Owner bought it on auction, and I found the original auction listing. Owner has changed the wheels/tyres and lifted it. Then just serviced the original engine.

Says there is no rust, and now wants to sell it, it was displayed at mall car show here in UAE.

 

[charliemeyer007]

Looks nice to me, bet its $$$$$. Trust no one, buy the rig not the story. Does it come with the parking brake rock?

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Looks purdy. Roof is wierd, not OEM. Does not have heater. What engine?

 

[JohnnyC]

my grandma geargia had a lil bit more lipstick ... but... might be close with further inspection

roof is custom... hood looks wanky ... paint on the door latch ... painted over gasket... bed inside seams looks like a bit too much filler... missing knobs... pedal pads missing... look over REALLY well

with that said my cruiser looks like a royal s*** show in comparison

it's all relative to inspection and price

 

[vanhack]

so the seller sent me a video, seems suspect issues with paint. Price was fair, but definetly issues with body.

 

[pb4ugo]

Idk, you got all this bling, then you have a bunch of stuff that was probably removed for the restoration that's left unrestored and reinstalled. It questions what other shortcuts were done or not.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Knobs missing on dash in addition to the above. Undercarriage can tell a story. Check that out well. In the middle east, they work these trucks hard!!!

Seems like a Wolf in sheeps clothing. Run Forest, run.

 

[Paul_A]

It all depends on the $$ and you din't give us one.

 

[vanhack]

It all depends on the $$ and you din't give us one.

asking usd11000

 

[65swb45]

asking usd11000

Unless there’s a zero missing, that’s a crazy good price. And sometimes a crazy good price is it’s own red flag.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Engine bay pics?

 

[CBFJ]

"Stupid" is relative

Here's my flow chart:

1. Does it give you butterflies? If so, move on to 2. If not, probly look elsewhere.

2. Do you have another 5-10K USD to make it right? If you answered "yes" to 1 and 2, haggle him down to 9500, find a good mechanic to address the issues, throw your money in the hole and have fun with it!

 

[WarDamnEagle]

asking usd11000

Unless there’s a zero missing, that’s a crazy good price. And sometimes a crazy good price is it’s own red flag.

Actually that's about what I would expect. The market there is less than half of what is normally asked for in the US but remember, you have to get it imported, etc. so add another $5k+ to that price. Also, you have to be on the ground, or have someone on the ground, to buy something there.

@vanhack IIRC they changed the rules in the UAE and an expat can own a pickup. That's not the case in KSA. Check and make sure you can legally own it if you are seriously thinking about purchasing.

 

[Land Shark]

I would also look under that carpet/floor covering. How does it run? Lets see some undercarriage and engine bay pics

 

[vanhack]

Wow, this forum is so helpful!! Thank you. So i got some videos of the FJ, and one was showing very minimal rust on the chassis, but there were some issues with paint, and took advise from another friend, and we suspect that the paint is covering a very large bill.

I live in Dubai, so this would be used here, I have my own business selling overlanding products and can register it under the company name to get around the expat cant have pickup rule. I am not sure if i would build this to be a show car with some of the products we distribute, or leave it.

Yes I love the old FJ toyotas, original defenders, but defenders are best when you borrow a friends or family, I love some of the toyota pickups from the 80s that you have in the US, live axle and all.

I showed my wife, and she is part of the business, and she said we can't afford it, but i told I can flip it, and she said "you do you", she loved the look of it though. She is the least car person I know.

So here is a video of chassis

And seller pointing out some issues with paint

 

[bikersmurf]

Are you under 5’10”?

Videos come up as private at least on phone.

The 45 parts truck had the back 3’ of the frame rebuilt. There was no frame left between the front mounts of the rear springs and the back of the cab.

Everything behind the cab is prone to rust.

If there are issues with the paint, I’d budget for a strip off of all the paint and a new paint job. If it’s not needed consider it a win… but that hasn’t been my experience.

Shortly after buying my 40, I got it stuck in deep mud. I took it to the coin operated pressure washer and…

Red confetti everywhere. Half the paint flew off and a half decent paint job went down the drain. Literally

 

[charliemeyer007]

All I see is this video is private on my laptop

 

[White Stripe]

Looks like the hard top is welded on. 95% of the time there is no such thing as a cheap land cruiser no matter the series number. You can buy it cheap, but that doesn't mean your bank account is done writing checks for it.

 

[vanhack]

Sorry, changed the videos setting to unlisted

Yes I am 5'7" , but what significance does that have here?

 

[bhsdriller]

^ that they don't have much room inside