How did Toyota end up with the LC80 design ?

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John E Davies said:
Here is a 2005 Series 80 with manual tranny:

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You don't see pics like that every day......

http://articulo.tucarro.com.ve/MLV-405433159-toyota-burbuja-_JM

I must say I don't like the stacked LightForce 240s or the choice in tires and wheels.

Are these importable to the USA?

John Davies
Spokane WA USA
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If you are a Venezuelan citizen and decide to "travel" to the USA and ship your "autana" you can. As long as you have all the paperwork required, pay for shipping, etc and you can have it in Port Everglades in about 3 weeks. However it will be driven with Venezuelan plates, and it can't be either sold or registered in the States. There might be a loophole somewhere that I do not know. Now that vehicle will be allowed to be driven in the USA for a year, after that it has to leave the country. What you can do is either go to Canada or Mexico. Stay there for a week and then come back to the USA again....... you will have to do that every year......

Now as a US citizen, going there, buying one, and shipping it to the US as if you were "traveling" I do not know if that is possible as a US citizen with a Venezuelan vehicle with Venezuelan plates
 
canman said:
The first pic reminds me of a early nineties lwb range rover.
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I am pretty sure that the first pic is of a _J-62 with a bunch of mock-up panels on it. I see lots of lines on that rig that appear to match my FJ-60. Same with the second pic. Note the windows and upper door frames.
 
Whew, it looked like a Grand Cherokee for a second there! Dodged a bullet.

Thanks for the history lesson.
 
Well things are easier here in Panamá as long as you pay your import taxes and other related cost to the local registration you are good to go .. that's how I end with a 99 Autana parked in the garage ..
 
Oh. The three zeros after the decimal place threw me off.
 
Very cool to see some of the original design pics, Thanks!

Perroetaller said:
Sir yes sir. stick, automatic, AWD, part time, however you want it. Go to www.tucarro.com select Venezuela, then toyota and look for "burbuja" "autana" and if you wanna finish off, select "macho" and "macho pick up"
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Nice!
 
dontblink said:
They're asking $198,000 for this vehicle?
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Crazy, eh! The Venezuelan Bolivar to USD exchange rate is: 0.2325, so yeah, almost $200K!

I work/live in Vietnam right now and Gubment tax on vehicles is 100% of purchase price, so it doubles instantly...maybe Venezuela is the same? Not worth it! :flipoff2:
 
TheBigBoy said:
Likewise. Imagine everything brand new! The next best thing is I've rebuilt everything on mine and upgraded as I went. Going to cost more than a new 1.
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X2! Lol
 
dontblink said:
They're asking $198,000 for this vehicle?
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The Price is 850,000 BsF. The government exchange rate in Venezuela now is 4.3 BsF per $1.00. That would be $197,674.41

Now since there is a currency exchange control in Venezuela since 05FEB03, a black market for US dollars and EURO does exist. The black market rate at this time is 17.50 BsF per $1.00. In that case the actual price for this 2005 is $48,571.42
 
greentruck said:
Unfortunately, vehicles not originally certified as US-spec compliant are subject to the 25 year rule:
http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/import/faq site/pages/page2.html#Anchor-13029
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Taken from that website:

"
If the vehicle is less than 25 years old and was not originally manufactured to comply with all applicable FMVSS, and/or was not so certified by its original manufacturer, it cannot be lawfully imported into the U.S. on a permanent basis unless NHTSA determines it eligible for importation. The agency makes those determinations on its own initiative or the basis of a petition from a registered importer. These are business entities that are specifically approved by NHTSA to import nonconforming vehicles and to perform the necessary modifications on those vehicles so that they conform to all applicable FMVSS. The petitions must specify that the vehicle is substantially similar to a vehicle that was certified by its original manufacturer as conforming to all applicable FMVSS and is capable of being readily altered to conform to those standards, or, if there is no substantially similar U.S.-certified vehicle, that the vehicle has safety features that comply with, or are capable of being altered to comply with, the FMVSS based on destructive test information or other evidence the agency deems adequate. Import eligibility decisions are made on a make, model, and model year basis. "

This FZJ80 has dual airbags, and is the same as a FZJ80 sold in the US. Now the headlights might have to be changed, windshield and some other things to make it US standards. I think we can find headlights and windshields for a FZJ80 at a Toyota dealership or a junk yard.
 
Have at it. The language sounds like it's no big deal, but if you try to look up these importers, well there's not much there. If it was that easy, there'd be a lot in Miami right now hocking '07 80s.

While the airbags are a good start, I suspect this whole affair will run firmly aground on the Shoals of Smog...

Weren't a lot of these late-build Venezuelan 80s carb-equipped? Do they even know what a cat is for down there, other than catching mice? You can spend a lot of money keeping a US-spec 80 street-legal in places like Cali. I'd hate to think what it'd cost starting with a Venezuelan-spec truck. Of course, if you're spending $200k on the truck, what's $15,000 on smog parts?:rolleyes::doh:
 
greentruck said:
Weren't a lot of these late-build Venezuelan 80s carb-equipped? Do they even know what a cat is for down there, other than catching mice?
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here is the fun part .. all of those ( post 94 or so ) are EFI but .. ( but always but ) they are ODBI or some kind of weird port .. ScanGauge didn't work with ..

Basic ( Autana ) model don't have O2 sensors :eek: ECU it's pre programmed and it's always running rich, since Gas is free in Venezuela there is no big deal coz of it ..

Newer VX model ( Burbuja ) have cats ( actually both ) and from some date range ( which I'm not positive enough write here ) they also have O2 sensors and rear 100 series axles ..
 
Excellent information. Thank you Tapage. It's VERY interesting learning about and looking at pictures of these Venezuelan 80/70/60-Series on the site listed above. Also, no matter the year, all the 80-Series seem to share a common aftermarket accessory: Friggin' HUGE walls of speakers and subwoofers in the rear! :eek:

Jwp
 
Tapage said:
here is the fun part .. all of those ( post 94 or so ) are EFI but .. ( but always but ) they are ODBI or some kind of weird port .. ScanGauge didn't work with ..

Basic ( Autana ) model don't have O2 sensors :eek: ECU it's pre programmed and it's always running rich, since Gas is free in Venezuela there is no big deal coz of it ..

Newer VX model ( Burbuja ) have cats ( actually both ) and from some date range ( which I'm not positive enough write here ) they also have O2 sensors and rear 100 series axles ..
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Tapage,
Thanks for the run-down on the thicket of potential issues that could arise if you tried this with just any Venezuelan 80. The only one that looks like a likely candidate would be the newer VXs, because they have cats and O2 sensors in at least some of the later ones.

But I'd almost bet they'd say any conversion must be OBDII compliant, regardless, if built in 1995 or after. They might even require the exact same ECU, which might be possible but sure isn't going to be cheap.

It'd be a real can of worms to try to sort through all that with the feds.:eek::bang:
 
Wife Autana ( basic 80 series model sold in Venezuela ) which it's 99 have no O2 sensors, no cat and no OBDII ..

this is how they run ..

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Wow... so that's what they look like when they were clean and new on the inside... hah!
 
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