If you've ever looked at Land Cruisers on eBay, you've almost certainly come across Dave Gitman and european-cars, which often has a dozen or so 80s, 100s, or LXs up for sale. This Feasterville-Trevose seller is also known as Car Cheer, but your check is made payable to Cars of North East. They buy dozens of Land Cruisers and LXs a year at dealer auctions, "clean them up" and sell them for top dollar. Unfortunately, clean up is typically whatever is the minimum necessary to make them look good in low resolution photographs.
Here are two threads full of stories of other MUD member experiences with Dave:
forum.ih8mud.com
forum.ih8mud.com
My own experience was quite similar to the ones described there, a relatively low mileage LX470 (135K), that looked gorgeous in photos. Dave was a pleasure to interact with via the eBay make offer interface, although my first warning sign came when he accepted my final offer via text instead of on the platform. The BADVIN report wasn't too surprising, although it revealed that the car had spent a lot more time in New York and New Jersey than the apparently edited Carfax on the eBay listing suggested. Still, it looked great, so I made a deposit and ordered a PPI. As soon as I ordered a PPI, Dave reported that he had decided to replace the timing belt and water pump. That seemed odd and early, but also seemed like good news. Dave never includes photos of undercarriages in his eBay listings, so the PPI photos were the first to reveal the extremely heavy recent undercoating. They also showed much more interior and exterior wear. Not great, but I still wanted to go see the truck. Just before I got on the plane to Philly, I learned that you can look up dealer service records by VIN. It was there that I learned why the previous dealer had held on to it for over a year — it had been taken to a Lexus dealer for a presale inspection because the steering was rough, and the dealer found "underside of vehicle and most engine compartment components severely rusted (some flaking off to the touch)...visually see the steering column shaft is warped". Not what you want to read sitting at the airport. I texted Dave a screen shot and gave him a call and he tried everything to get me to follow through on the deal. He made it a struggle to get even part of my deposit back.
Given the volume he is moving, there are bound to be a few good ones in there, but I wouldn't trust any work done by his team, or any of the stories being told about the vehicles.
Here are two threads full of stories of other MUD member experiences with Dave:
European-cars: Where do they find these 80s ?
I've noticed for the past year or so a company on ebay selling 80s. Here is an example https://www.ebay.com/itm/1996-Toyota-Land-Cruiser-Low-122K-mi-FJ80-4wd-3rd-Row-Rare-Clean-CARFAX/192862582258?hash=item2ce78175f2:g:LBwAAOSwR2ZckN9N How do they consistently find these things? Its almost...
forum.ih8mud.com
Wanted - COLORADO/USA -- Looking for 06/07 WHITE/BLACK LX 470
Howdy ya'll, Like many, I'm on the hunt for a 2006/2007 LX in either white or black. In Colorado, but willing to fly for the right truck. I'm more concerned about maintenance over miles or mods. Interior color doesn't matter as much. Little to no rust obviously. LX only, not interested in...
forum.ih8mud.com
My own experience was quite similar to the ones described there, a relatively low mileage LX470 (135K), that looked gorgeous in photos. Dave was a pleasure to interact with via the eBay make offer interface, although my first warning sign came when he accepted my final offer via text instead of on the platform. The BADVIN report wasn't too surprising, although it revealed that the car had spent a lot more time in New York and New Jersey than the apparently edited Carfax on the eBay listing suggested. Still, it looked great, so I made a deposit and ordered a PPI. As soon as I ordered a PPI, Dave reported that he had decided to replace the timing belt and water pump. That seemed odd and early, but also seemed like good news. Dave never includes photos of undercarriages in his eBay listings, so the PPI photos were the first to reveal the extremely heavy recent undercoating. They also showed much more interior and exterior wear. Not great, but I still wanted to go see the truck. Just before I got on the plane to Philly, I learned that you can look up dealer service records by VIN. It was there that I learned why the previous dealer had held on to it for over a year — it had been taken to a Lexus dealer for a presale inspection because the steering was rough, and the dealer found "underside of vehicle and most engine compartment components severely rusted (some flaking off to the touch)...visually see the steering column shaft is warped". Not what you want to read sitting at the airport. I texted Dave a screen shot and gave him a call and he tried everything to get me to follow through on the deal. He made it a struggle to get even part of my deposit back.
Given the volume he is moving, there are bound to be a few good ones in there, but I wouldn't trust any work done by his team, or any of the stories being told about the vehicles.
