You weren't kidding, looks like a brand new motor and cooling system! Additional cool points for the hard top man, don't see those everyday.
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After lurking around on this board for the past several months, I decided to join and came across your thread. I'm up in Seattle and, like you, have also grown frustrated over the lack of options in the area. I hope we both score one soon!
If you're commuting and might take it on a logging road... reconsider getting an 80. You're going to get 12 - 13.5 mpg (maybe) on your I5 commute. You're going to be fixing it - a lot for at least the first year or so.
I like my 80. But, it's a project by nature.
I like my 80. But, it's a project by nature.
- Thread starter
- #25
One just popped up in Tacoma (1994). Used car lot called Sunset Auto or something. I went and looked at it. Don't waste your time. It's trashed - literally and figuratively!
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- #26
Yeah, I know but I work from home four days a week. Will only "commute" with it once a week.
DO NOT BUY any 80 series I have 3 of each kind 80, 100 and 200 and I worked on them - 100 is the best it's have all what 80 is lacking . 200 have very strong engine but very expensive. So get LC100 or LX470 . Trust me on this one.
I like the 80 Series. It feels like a Land Cruiser. I had a 62 before my 80 with about a ten year drought in between. I will say though that I had committed to the idea of a light restoration before I pulled the trigger on the one I bought. It has rust, but the body is good and the price was right. I spent $3000 cash and I also painted the home that my sellers owned, which was probably worth another $3000, but I don't mind a deal where my free labor can contribute to a good deal. Everyone walked away happy and they liked the concept that their truck was going to Toyota Matt, rather some uninterested lout that would have ruined the vehicle instead of getting it back to it's former glory.
I did spend another $4000 on parts and machine shop bills, but I did everything else myself and I think I have a truck that may be good for another 250,000 miles and may well be the last truck I buy now that I am 40 years old. I have such an intimate knowledge and relationship with it that I don't think I could find another rig that I would rather have. That said, those 3rd Generation 4Runners do pique my interest, but most of them are rust buckets too and I already have a truck that I am reversing that trend on and another sounds like a lot of work and they are just not the same as the 80.
80's are sweet. They are an iconic vehicle and they have held their value well and those prices do seem to be ticking up now.
I did spend another $4000 on parts and machine shop bills, but I did everything else myself and I think I have a truck that may be good for another 250,000 miles and may well be the last truck I buy now that I am 40 years old. I have such an intimate knowledge and relationship with it that I don't think I could find another rig that I would rather have. That said, those 3rd Generation 4Runners do pique my interest, but most of them are rust buckets too and I already have a truck that I am reversing that trend on and another sounds like a lot of work and they are just not the same as the 80.
80's are sweet. They are an iconic vehicle and they have held their value well and those prices do seem to be ticking up now.
Thanks for sharing your (differing) experiences. I like the idea of doing work myself but didn't grow up working on cars. Part of what attracts me to 80s is the culture of constantly working on and improving your rig. Of course, I'm still at the research stage, looking up how to learn those skills and gather beginners tools - moving into a place with a garage is probably the first step!
It's funny but I went through a similar process before buying my 34-year old road bike several years back. I devoured books, asked bike shops to let me work for free, and in the end learned enough to make it a a very nice ride.
I admire your enthusiasm and encourage you to jump in eye$$$ wide open. As an old bike tech & racer boy and builder (LC, 911, C10) I promise, you're in for a challenge. All be it a rewarding one. The 80 is actually pretty cheap to build and maintain... compared to something fast and european. I've enjoyed fixing and improving my 80. It's a been a really stout and fun vehicle on and off road. Luxury rock crawler!!
It took me a long time (around 6 months) to find a good one. Part of this was test driving several 100 series, GX 470's etc and eventually finding out that the 80 was a better match for me. Patience is your friend on the search for a good 80 series but they do come up. Keep craigslist tabs open and refreshed for nearby cities and check the mud classifieds.
No idea on how well this works but if I were searching I'd put a want ad in the 80 classifieds on mud with budget, miles, options etc and see what comes your way.
As a fellow BMW guy it took me a year to find a clean 04' 325xiT wagon for my wife and about 6 months to find my 00' M roadster. This included daily searches from all cities in a roughly 500 mile radius (I was living in Seattle at the time). I ended up finding both within that range but was prepared to hop on a flight if needed. For the wagon I actually called a independent shop to come inspect/test drive the vehicle before I spent my time traveling over and looking at it in person.
No idea on how well this works but if I were searching I'd put a want ad in the 80 classifieds on mud with budget, miles, options etc and see what comes your way.
As a fellow BMW guy it took me a year to find a clean 04' 325xiT wagon for my wife and about 6 months to find my 00' M roadster. This included daily searches from all cities in a roughly 500 mile radius (I was living in Seattle at the time). I ended up finding both within that range but was prepared to hop on a flight if needed. For the wagon I actually called a independent shop to come inspect/test drive the vehicle before I spent my time traveling over and looking at it in person.
Drzhizago, one of the best things you can do to help yourself find an 80 is be willing to travel. While i was looking for my 80, i spent 2 months just looking local, but i couldn't find what i was looking for. Then i branched out to looking in every city within a 1000 miles of mine. In the end it took me 6 months to find my 3 X locked 94 with 101000 miles. One word of caution, when you find the truck your looking for, don't wait around thinking about it. Have cash in hand and buy it, because the good ones don't stay on the market very long.
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- #33
Yep, all good advice that I have found out the hard way. If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for your 94? I've run across a few nice ones (on evilBay), that they must think are painted with gold (close to 20k). I don't want to pay that much for a 20+ year old truck, even if it is a Land Cruiser.
mehbohdi
SILVER Star
All I can say is be patience, I live on San Juan Island and eventually found 1 in Bellingham, but for awhile I was willing to go as far as Utah, took 8 months to find the right one. Mechanically it is in excellent condition, lots of little things had been repaired or replaced correctly. I installed a complete Katz Skin leather interior kit and now the inside looks like new. Now all it needs is a decent paint job.
Good luck, its only money. Don't give it to your kids
Good luck, its only money. Don't give it to your kids
As low milage as you can get, well maintained (a record of all maintenance), no rust (get under it and look it over carefully), no accidents!
In order of importance:
1. No rust, you can't fix it.
2. No serious accidents, there can be problems you cannot imagine.
3. Good maintenance record - a well maintained vehicle will cost you less over the short haul and long haul.
4. Low milage means 220K or less on one of these vehicles. They are old!
In order of importance:
1. No rust, you can't fix it.
2. No serious accidents, there can be problems you cannot imagine.
3. Good maintenance record - a well maintained vehicle will cost you less over the short haul and long haul.
4. Low milage means 220K or less on one of these vehicles. They are old!
Drzhizago, to answer your question, i paid $8500 for my truck, but that was 2 years ago. It's sad to say that Toyota didn't import that many 80 series trucks into the U.S. From what I've been able to research, Toyota only imported around 75000 series 80 trucks from 91 to 97. Of those 75000 trucks, only about 7% of the 93 to 97 model year trucks came with the factory front, and rear lockers, so those trucks with lockers will command more money. Since the youngest of these trucks is now 20 years old, they have now reached the bottom of their depreciation curve. Knowing that, and with the limited supply, and strong demand, prices over the last year seems to be going up on clean examples. I don't know if they will command the money that a nice FJ40 does, but a smart buyer wouldn't want to wait to find out. If you want a nice clean truck, I'd be buying it now. One more thing you might want to think about, since these trucks are now as old as they are. You'll start to see a few more of the manual transmission, turbo diesel, right hand drive trucks being brought into the country from overseas. The last one of those i saw come up for sale where i live was priced right around 25000 dollars.
Thanks for the heads up! I saw that one pop-up today, seems like it's posted in several locations.
I too was recently in your boat (owned an XJ before too, but long ago). Had a '12 Raptor that I grew tired of and fell in love with 80's. Sold the Raptor and was vehicleless except for the fiance's Escape for a few months. At first I HAD to have lockers. But the more and more that I thought about it, and the more and more it narrowed my already narrow search, so I forwent that requirement. That only left the desire be a 93 or 94 (less electronics, liked the dash better, etc). Which quickly was followed by a cloth interior! All the leather I came across was hideous and I really did not like the door panels.
With that said, I finally found a '93 with 173k at time of purchase down in San Antonio. Clean interior, ARB front bumper, clean overall, no rust, etc. More than I wanted to pay, but it checked all of the boxes. Picked up a couple of one-way tickets (in case it was a turd-pile in person), flew down Sunday morning, left SAT at 3pm and pulled into my driveway 6am Monday. Took about 100 miles to get used to driving an older vehicle again, but after that it was smooth sailing. Laundry list of things that I want to do to it, but for the time being just doing PM's and enjoying it.
Good luck!
With that said, I finally found a '93 with 173k at time of purchase down in San Antonio. Clean interior, ARB front bumper, clean overall, no rust, etc. More than I wanted to pay, but it checked all of the boxes. Picked up a couple of one-way tickets (in case it was a turd-pile in person), flew down Sunday morning, left SAT at 3pm and pulled into my driveway 6am Monday. Took about 100 miles to get used to driving an older vehicle again, but after that it was smooth sailing. Laundry list of things that I want to do to it, but for the time being just doing PM's and enjoying it.
Good luck!
SmokingRocks
hopelessly addicted to Cruisers
Love the OBD 1 era!
Great story and glad it worked out! Look forward to maybe seeing a build or update thread. I hope I can stay patient enough but I'm almost at the point of switching over to looking for an old Subaru Outback or something
