Dilemma

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

audaciousduo

audaciousduo

Joined
Jul 28, 2007
Threads
143
Messages
838
I've got a cruiser dilemma. My Clan and I have had enough of the overcrowded lower mainland and are moving to the east Kootenays. Likely one of the cruisers is going in favor of a commuter car for the minister of finance (Wife). Most of our family are within a three hour drive of where we are moving and the FZJ80 will get very spendy for her to drive to and from on a regular basis. She's not overly fond of the 70 despite the reasonable fuel milage the 3B gets. Here are my options.

1) Sell the 70, pick up a commuter for the minister of finance and mod the hell out of the already locked 80.

2) Sell the 80, pick up a commuter and continue on with the 70.

I'm not interested in insuring three vehicles but don't want to sell either as they are both great trucks. A diesel conversion for the 80 is out right now as I will not have time with the renovations the new house needs. I know, not a bad dilemma to have and I'm certainly not whining, just being indecisive. :hmm::hmm:
IMG_8293.jpg
 
After all that work and basically no time to enjoy it, it would be a shame to sell the 70. Ditch the gas guzzler and keep the 70 for your off road toy!

Or keep 'em both and get a VW diesel, and only insure the 70 for the summer months?

Don't blame you for wanting the move - that area is beautiful. Don't know if I could handle the winter though...
 
bj70_guy said:
Or keep 'em both and get a VW diesel, and only insure the 70 for the summer months?
Click to expand...

That's the best option. You will find it hard to get an 80 like yours but even hard to get a 70 in the condition yours is in. If you absolutely had to sell one, I'd sell the 80. Maybe after one winter of driving an econo box on those highways back and forth she will see the light about driving something a little bit more substantial. It didn't take my wife long to fall in love with the security of all that steel wrapped around her after saying she would never drive a RHD.
 
Keeping the 80 makes more sense with the wee ones not being so wee anymore. I will need the 80 for towing the trailer with renovation materials and byproduct to the dump. I'm leaning toward the 80 from a practicality point as my commute to work is about three minutes so the fuel milage isn't a big deal for me. All the work on the 70 was fun, thats the hobby. I've done lots of vehicles and not kept them forever. I guess the journey was as good as the destination with the 70. I had a blast building it and figuring out how to convert it to LHD. I'm looking at a Subaru out back for the wife. Great cars and good in the snow. Decisions decisions .....
 
i never sell anything
 
What about store one, and still get a commuter, or do you need the money from the sale of one to fund the commuter puchase?
 
Money is not an issue, financially its a good move. With the difference in housing prices I'll be able to give the bank a one finger salute in a year or two. I'm building a huge shop at the new place but have never been a collector. I've always been stricken by an anti pack rat, OCD personality. If I'm not using it or it has no practical purpose it goes. If I kept the 80 eventually I could put a diesel in it, I just wont have time for a year or two. Thinking it through logically, other than the cool factor there isn't much point in keeping the 70. My kids are out growing it, it wont tow the weight I need it to and it's not practical for the wife. It will likely collect dust for years.
 
If money or "proper" storage space (not the blackberry patch on the parent's back 40 ;)) is not an issue, then spray the 70 with oil and wax and pack it away. In 10-15 years when the kids are older, you will be dreaming of having the 70 you built. This way you will have it. If then you want to sell it, it will have only sky rocketed in value.
 
sell the 80. The 80 is a gas whore.
You have worked way to hard to ditch the 70. Don't
 
Given your obvious enjoyment with modding/restoring vehicles, I think you'd have a lot of fun modding that 80 and it will be more practical for the family than the 70.

I'm in a similar boat, my kids love the 42 but it's really only practical for day trips and in the summer it's fun to cruise with the top off. My :princess: doesn't care for it at all, but she did spend time eyeing up a nice 80 in WA State the other day :rolleyes:

Our second car is a 2011 Outback. Great in the snow and the :princess: loves it.

Kootenays are beautiful....

Good luck!
 
I'm certainly leaning hard toward parting with it. With a family of four and a dog its tight even on day trips. I comes in very handy for those odd days I get out fishing on my own or with a buddy but those days are few and far between. I think a modded up 80 will be perfect for those family back country trips and the :princess: is keen on a subaru, I owe it to her for 13 years of driving my projects. A slee lift kit, cursing off road bumper, sliders and XD9000 on the 80 should make it more than capable with the factory E lockers. There is so much more cargo room as well. I should get a decent buck for the 70, not too many Canadian trucks with no rust holes in them and original paint ;). I know I will love the Kootenays and being from Alberta I'm not too worried about the winters.

AJAEbj42 said:
Given your obvious enjoyment with modding/restoring vehicles, I think you'd have a lot of fun modding that 80 and it will be more practical for the family than the 70.

I'm in a similar boat, my kids love the 42 but it's really only practical for day trips and in the summer it's fun to cruise with the top off. My :princess: doesn't care for it at all, but she did spend time eyeing up a nice 80 in WA State the other day :rolleyes:

Our second car is a 2011 Outback. Great in the snow and the :princess: loves it.

Kootenays are beautiful....

Good luck!
Click to expand...
 
audaciousduo said:
. A slee lift kit, cursing off road bumper, sliders and XD9000 on the 80 should make it more than capable with the factory E lockers..
Click to expand...

I wish I had a cursing off road bumper, when I'm driving to work.
 
LanceCruiser said:
I wish I had a cursing off road bumper, when I'm driving to work.
Click to expand...

She will log PLENTY of hours in the bush, don't worry. There are thousands of Km of back country roads and trails I haven't scratched the surface of yet. I'll have to log all my new secret fishing spots on the GPS and Topo Maps. I should have auctioned off my topo maps for the surrounding area here. I gave them all to a buddy who now has the captain cook version of back country fishing maps with five years X's and notations all over them.
 
jfc said:
i never sell anything
Click to expand...

x3

Honestly though, I'd keep the 70 for summer fun, get the subaru and a cummins pickup. The 80 is not a very good work/tow vehicle. The market for a 70 doesn't seem so great now either.
G/L, I might be facing a similar choice next year.
 
If you want I could store the 70 for you. I could insure it and drive it around for you just so it won't 'dry up'. For a fellow cruiser lover I won't even charge you for this service.
 
Still think my solution is better.

lowenbrau said:
How long before the 70 can go to the US? I'd wait at least that long and then sell both and replace them with an HZJ77 and a diesel VW
Click to expand...
 
lowenbrau said:
How long before the 70 can go to the US? I'd wait at least that long and then sell both and replace them with an HZJ77 and a diesel VW
Click to expand...

That's a pretty frickin' good plan (sorry Vanny...).
 
Then I'd have to go through the whole RHD fiasco again. The 70 is already exportable to the US so I'm hoping that works in my favor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom