It was a bad week for land cruisers in my family with one notable exception. It started with this silver 1986 FJ 60. Garaged for 15 years, It has zero rust. Body, frame and undercarriage are perfect. Inside is moldy. It does not run for unknown reasons. Finally the owner agreed to sell it to me. I'm excited to troubleshoot and possibly rebuild the motor but even thinking about an engine swap. Talked to some LC shops about a GM swap or even the Cummins 2.8. I was going to have a marine shop completely redo the interior to better than new. Wife was on board - 
. I talked to the guy at noon and we agreed on 2'Oclock to pick it up. I brought cash. When I got to the door his wife answered and said he decided not to sell. 
She was embarrassed and a little mad. He was not home. I can't blame him but I was heart broken. But not as heartbroken as I was a couple of days later.
It was raining and there was a wreck on the highway. My daughter tried to stop but slid into a F250.
Luckily and most importantly she was completely unharmed. The 100 series didn't look too bad.
The insurance company and shop agreed to $4500 to repair - new radiator, bumper, hood and right front quarter panel plus lights etc. All is good, but then they do a diagnostic check and the transmission fails. They tow it to the toyota dealership and Mr T says it needs a completely new transmission; so at this point it is totaled. No idea how the transmission got fried but I suspect the tow truck driver drove it into the lot (I know he did) with no transmission fluid. It's a dealer maintained 2003 with 190K so they want to give me 12K which maybe a little light but not too far off?
I am considering buying it back with a salvage title and having it fixed but think it is probably not worth it. I LOVE that Cruiser. I have had it for a long time. But it did what it was supposed to do and protected my daughter.
The bright spot: I picked up a 2013 LX. I could not find a 200 series LC that I thought was priced right but finally broadened my search and found this 2013 LX with 38K miles. I immediately loaded it up with bird dogs and shotguns and drove from Va to Maine for 4 days of grouse hunting. It's pretty sweet. I was probably the only Lexus driving down old logging trails. With the suspension adjusted to high, there was plenty of ground clearance. This thing is so smooth, I felt like I was cheating.
What's the vote on the 2003 - salvage title and rebuild or look for another one?
. I talked to the guy at noon and we agreed on 2'Oclock to pick it up. I brought cash. When I got to the door his wife answered and said he decided not to sell. She was embarrassed and a little mad. He was not home. I can't blame him but I was heart broken. But not as heartbroken as I was a couple of days later.
It was raining and there was a wreck on the highway. My daughter tried to stop but slid into a F250.
Luckily and most importantly she was completely unharmed. The 100 series didn't look too bad.
The insurance company and shop agreed to $4500 to repair - new radiator, bumper, hood and right front quarter panel plus lights etc. All is good, but then they do a diagnostic check and the transmission fails. They tow it to the toyota dealership and Mr T says it needs a completely new transmission; so at this point it is totaled. No idea how the transmission got fried but I suspect the tow truck driver drove it into the lot (I know he did) with no transmission fluid. It's a dealer maintained 2003 with 190K so they want to give me 12K which maybe a little light but not too far off?
I am considering buying it back with a salvage title and having it fixed but think it is probably not worth it. I LOVE that Cruiser. I have had it for a long time. But it did what it was supposed to do and protected my daughter.
The bright spot: I picked up a 2013 LX. I could not find a 200 series LC that I thought was priced right but finally broadened my search and found this 2013 LX with 38K miles. I immediately loaded it up with bird dogs and shotguns and drove from Va to Maine for 4 days of grouse hunting. It's pretty sweet. I was probably the only Lexus driving down old logging trails. With the suspension adjusted to high, there was plenty of ground clearance. This thing is so smooth, I felt like I was cheating.
What's the vote on the 2003 - salvage title and rebuild or look for another one?
