I took the plunge.. ('94 HDJ80) (2 Viewers)

[l0ngshot]

So the listing is ended on BaT and money has been spent and I'm currently about to go pick this up in Chicago and drive it back to Texas..

One-Family-Owned 1994 Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ80 VX Turbodiesel 5-Speed

Bid for the chance to own a One-Family-Owned 1994 Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ80 VX Turbodiesel 5-Speed at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #134,777.

bringatrailer.com

About me, I've been lurking around here on and off for a little bit and feel now with this it is time to come out and wade in the waters and say hi. At this point I know pretty much next to nothing about LandCruisers but I did know for a fact before the plunge that I wanted an older mechanical LHD manual diesel and I didn't mind paying something for one initially if it was close to OEM and not modded out, had a history I could verify and looked like good bones to it. With these 80 series LHD diesels being imports that criteria seemed to filter out ALOT of potential sales. This one seems to fit that criteria well enough.

I would love any open and honest thoughts about what you here think of this purchase or what things to know I might be getting into and should be prepared for.
-Did I pay too much?
-Did I get a fair deal?
-Did I strike gold?

I'd make a poll if I knew how lol
My overall goal is to keep this and extend the life of it and use it for quite a long time. No major offroading or anything unless I had to. I will eventually know everything about this vehicle. Unfortunately I did not see this listing until 1 day before it ended so I didn't have the full time to get into the details of the paper trail etc so I kind of did it backwards as I am doing that now.
I will update this thread here in a few about the things I'm noting, both plusses and minuses - please tell me what you guys think!

 

[l0ngshot]

• Grandparents of current owner were the original owners who kept the papertrail
• Was sold to grandson in 2022 and did not make it to Chicago from California until about a year ago
• seems that it has only been driven a little over 2k miles in 6 years
• Since in Chicago it has primarily been kept in a garage and has never been driven on salt roads
• tires are 2022, so no worry about major rot from sitting
• the papertrail and notes that the grandmother/father kept was solid
• in '99 it became CARB compliant (for $4k in '99 dollars )

 

[OffRoadScott]

Congratulations on the LC. From the pictures it appears you are missing a hose from the heater control valve. But I went back to the ad on BAT and looked at the pictures there as well, you are good to go. On my 94 I have a hose that runs down to the pesky heater hose under the intake and assuming since yours is diesel you do not have that hose.

 

[s13koop]

Nice!! Another local HDJ. (I picked mine up 2 weeks ago)
Welcome to the club

 

[jpoole]

Given your criteria and what I see in the pictures it looks like you found what you want, now have a great cruiser and paid a reasonable price. I don't see rust which is always where I start and if it's truly up to speed on service and maintenance then the price starts to look good in my opinion. It may be a few years before you really know how well you did here based on what crops up in that time and how much you enjoy the rig but it seems like you are off to a solid start.

Congrats!

 

[l0ngshot]

Hey thank you! I feel I paid a bit much

Congratulations on the LC. From the pictures it appears you are missing a hose from the heater control valve. But I went back to the ad on BAT and looked at the pictures there as well, you are good to go. On my 94 I have a hose that runs down to the pesky heater hose under the intake and assuming since yours is diesel you do not have that hose.

Everything I posted pic wise is from the ad so I'm not seeing one where it's missing... are you talking about how the hose looks like it just goes to nothing?

I did notice there are 2 different times engine pics were taken...you can tell by the battery securement bar...it was original in one pic and new in the others

 

[l0ngshot]

Nice!! Another local HDJ. (I picked mine up 2 weeks ago)
Welcome to the club

Holy smokes that is awesome!! How are you liking yours so far? It being a '96 you got the fancy FT or the fancier FTE?

 

[l0ngshot]

Given your criteria and what I see in the pictures it looks like you found what you want, now have a great cruiser and paid a reasonable price. I don't see rust which is always where I start and if it's truly up to speed on service and maintenance then the price starts to look good in my opinion. It may be a few years before you really know how well you did here based on what crops up in that time and how much you enjoy the rig but it seems like you are off to a solid start.

Congrats!

Hey thank you for the input that you think it was at least a reasonable price... in all honesty I don't know for sure and sort of feel it was a maybe a little high because it doesn't have the triple lock and FT/FTE engine but like you say time will tell.
So far the seller has been very good to deal with and immediately responsive and asked me to give him first dibs if I ever choose to sell it. He's 25 and can't give it it's due and I realized it's actually been in the family longer than he has.

Monday I plan on testing this thing out with a drive down from the top of the US to the bottom...currently preparing for the worst lol

 

[s13koop]

Still getting the registration/inspection worked out but its pretty solid.
Doing maintenance now and doing the baseline.
lol, just the FT here, she sure purrrs tho
Maybe we'll meet at one of these Cruiser events!

 

[jpoole]

I feel I paid a bit much

Depends on how you look at it but this type of 80 is pretty scarce stateside so you can't compare to the more common variants that easily. Any 80 with those miles, cleanliness and paperwork is also a rare bird and in it's own price bracket. Finally, what would $40k get you in the new car market? All of those perspectives shine a favorable light on the deal I think. We could all drive 20 year old Corolla wagons if we wanted to maximize economy but an 80 delivers a lot more than just transportation for most of us.

The main risks to it being a good deal that I see are if it turns out to have issues and need a lot of work, you don't end up enjoying it and how insuring it goes.

If you drive this 80 much you will likely spend more than $40k on fuel, fluids and parts within the decade. The purchase price will quickly fade in the rear view...

 

[sogafarm]

Nice score, congratulations!

 

[duece71]

Nice truck OP, quite a unique find. Have fun.

 

[l0ngshot]

Still getting the registration/inspection worked out but its pretty solid.
Doing maintenance now and doing the baseline.
lol, just the FT here, she sure purrrs tho
Maybe we'll meet at one of these Cruiser events!

Honestly the FT was as high as I wanted to go.. FTE seemed too complicated for me and not as simple to keep going forever down the road

Where/when are the Cruiser events?

 

[l0ngshot]

Depends on how you look at it but this type of 80 is pretty scarce stateside so you can't compare to the more common variants that easily. Any 80 with those miles, cleanliness and paperwork is also a rare bird and in it's own price bracket. Finally, what would $40k get you in the new car market? All of those perspectives shine a favorable light on the deal I think.

These were pretty much my thoughts on it at the time and the seller being as forthcoming and proactive as he has been speaks well to it

 

[s13koop]

Honestly the FT was as high as I wanted to go.. FTE seemed too complicated for me and not as simple to keep going forever down the road

Where/when are the Cruiser events?

Haven't been to one yet but Bayou City Cruisers seems to be our local chapter. On here and FB group
They have a meet this weekend actually but sadly I can't make it.
But I'll hit you up if you wanna hit some trails/camping/Hidden Falls etc
Met @Magic Spool Bus on here and we had some fun out there

 

[l0ngshot]

Thank you for that tidbit! I never heard about Bayou City Cruisers. If or when everything works out and gets all settled I'll definitely have to plug into that network too
Magic Spool Bus is a great name lol

 

[StinkyPig]

Welcome!!!
And you did great!
You will have all the help and support here that you could ever need.
NICE machine!

 

[l0ngshot]

hey thank you!

Welcome!!!
And you did great!
You will have all the help and support here that you could ever need.
NICE machine!

Hey thank you! Yea this site has been pretty solid and been my go to in learning about the LC. I just didn't want to contribute much until I had some skin in the game
Time to call the DMV and make sure this weird CA VIN isn't going to cause too much issue

 

[l0ngshot]

DMV said if Illinois accepted it's process and it has a clean title (which it does) then it's just the normal process and no big deal

 

[l0ngshot]

Hmm this 4H button looks like it's going to be interesting...
I wonder how different it is and if it's better/worse (or both) compared to the CDL

edit* How unique is this guy?