Is this 1997 80 have any issues? Please advise. (1 Viewer)

[chmura]

Nice truck, I also have a stock 97 Ls and with 113k miles, as clean of an interior except for the driver seat wear. Holly molly!.. to think mine might be in that ball park, wow . I personally would not put down that kinda money without physically seeing it in person. Pictures are fine, but until you see it in person should you pull the trigger!..it might be too good to be true. Good luck.

Of course I won’t buy it sight unseen. That LC was 2800 miles away and if a seller cannot be 100 percent honest with me then unfortunately I can’t do business with a person like that.

That being said I purchased 3 cars out of state and flew to purchase them. All 3 purchases worked out great and they were flawless vehicles.

Hoping to buy something soon from a reliable source and honest person.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

I'm paying 24k for it. Is it worth it? Having second thoughts. I am nervous buying from a dealer and not the actual owner. Cant ask questions such as has it been smoked in, any dogs inside, etc.

Its definitely nice and well documented service records and lived in California all its life.

Also remember that nobody can polish a turd as well as a used car dealer. They have many tricks for making things look like they are in amazing condition. Some of the tricks certainly make things look nice and new but can very well end up hurting the vehicle.

I knew a guy who bought a tacoma from a local used car dealer. The engine looked so clean that you would eat off of it and the truck was advertised as never going offroad. After a week of driving he started having some idle and running issues. When we started looking at things closer it became apart that the dealer must have sprayed the whole engine bay with some kind of cleaner and probably hit it with a steam pressure washer. The maf was covered in some kind of weird chemical and the air filter was so full of dust it was ridiculous. The truck frame also had some rocks and mud inside of the frame so it became obvious that the tacoma that never went offroad had done plenty of offroading.

 

[Dirt Ferguson]

Also remember that nobody can polish a turd as well as a used car dealer.

This is a signature-worthy statement.

 

[MickeyB]

Of course I won’t buy it sight unseen. That LC was 2800 miles away and if a seller cannot be 100 percent honest with me then unfortunately I can’t do business with a person like that.

That being said I purchased 3 cars out of state and flew to purchase them. All 3 purchases worked out great and they were flawless vehicles.

Hoping to buy something soon from a reliable source and honest person.

Sounds like you already made up your mind. Congrads on your LC purchase!

 

[ajax1]

As pointed out the knuckle 2 studs replaced, prob loosened up at some point but any cruiser guy would do all four. Heater hoses are original, I bet the plug wire and distributor is too. All your vacuum lines and rad hoses. All your links need new bushings, do the lockers work, as in actually lock not just blink. How about the 24 year old trim pieces on the windows. If you give him 24k for that I bet you will have easy 5k in maintenance on top of that. If you do the work. Unless you can get that for 13kish I would pass and keep looking. You as the buyer have the power, show up with cash and stand your ground

 

[BILT4ME]

I'm paying 24k for it. Is it worth it? Having second thoughts. I am nervous buying from a dealer and not the actual owner. Cant ask questions such as has it been smoked in, any dogs inside, etc.

Its definitely nice and well documented service records and lived in California all its life.

Has never had the head gasket replaced. Plan on that in the next two years.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Run away, there are plenty of mud members who have actually dealt with this guy. It seems very obvious to me that he is basically a scam artist. I say artist because it seems that he manages to walk that fine line of ripping you off while not incurring any legal risk to himself.

It sounds like this is one of those people who work harder at scamming and cheating instead of just working hard and honesty.

 

[ppc]

The front seats have definitely been recovered. The grain of the leather is not Lexus quality, most likely recovered with Lseat or similar quality. If paying those kind of dollars I would expect a much higher quality of cowhide, not cheap pigskin. If it was priced under $8K then the pigskin would be acceptable.

Looking at the pictures of vehicles around "their facility" I believe I've seen some of those pictures previously most likely from some other source. The ad has a phone number, a Gmail email address and no physical street address. For a company that ships 1,000 vehicles a year I would expect their own domain name not Gmail, and post the address of their 30,000 sq ft facility.

 

[whaler]

Walk away. Actually run. He looks like hes gotten better at photoshop in past years. At least they actually show undercarriage shota now.

 

[Broski]

Taking a second Look at it obvious that the undercarriage has been steam clean/pressure washed the hole thing was covered with Oil. Not a bad thing as it as acts like a rust prevented.
Mine was like that ( covered in oil ) 270K miles when I got it home I pulled it into the shop, the next morning there were thirteen oil puddles on the floor.
My guess is it has a bunch of oil leaks, very typical of these older Reg. And way more miles the advertised!!!!!!!!

Last Year my daughter's Honda was stolen I was helping her to find a replacement. We found a nice looking Camry 2006 It looked all most new in the pictures 100K mi. when we went to look at it it was total crap. The Pictures were definitely Photoshoped and the Guy was a total scumbag, and very sharky these guys are good at deception.
Good thing my wife & daughter were with me as I wanted to Knock him OUT !!!!!!

 

[RS6tofj80]

I'd stay away unless you've got deep pockets and really put a premium on what is a decently clean rig with a few question marks - the guy is miserable to work with, had a frind from Maine buy a "mint" 97 40th from him that turned out to basically need a full overhaul in spite of assurances it'd been serviced..... it also had a bent rear frame rail that he'd redrilled and put a shim on so the bumper wouldn't show the issue....

on this one I'd question the need for two coolant changes that close together and factor in a HG redo.... as well as front axle service a ton of little things like PHH and lines etc,,,

keep us posted. and also look at the CL's for the SW regions..... I saw a mint 40th hit before Xmas with HG redone for 22k - locked and no rust tx truck.

 

[chmura]

I just sent a text message to Dave that I will not be purchasing the vehicle. I was looking for a inspector or someone in the Philadelphia area to take a look for me. It is difficult to find someone, also this dealership does not have a good rap on here so I do not want fly for 5 hours and be disappointed.

Thanks all.. My search continues.

 

[chmura]

I looked at those pics pretty hard and probably one of the cleanest cruisers I have seen. As for price probably in line with market value. Depends on your overall situation, but some things to consider.
-It is 23 years old and has a good amount of miles. Overall looks really good and I don’t see anything major that would need fixing, but you have no warranty so I would plan budgeting 2k-3k for repairs or other unknowns.

-As previously stated the 80s are getting up thier in age and do not have the power, gas mileage, and comfort of a newer vehicle. If your planning to use this as your primary family transportation your wanting to take it on long trips you might want to get something newer. They can be slow and noisy in a highway. If you want something to drive around occasionally and run errands or go camping and off-roading in this is your ticket

-Another big, big, big item to think about is the insurance. If your going to pay 24k+ then I would want to have a n insurance policy to match with that. Problem is most companies view this as a classic and the policy follows accordingly. I quoted my 94 through Hagerty at 15 li and policy was gonna be around 200 a month with a bunch of restrictions. That is practically what I pay now for full coverage on three vehicles.
The economics are not good.

-As for them being a sketchy vendor do your diligence and don’t try to convince yourself that something is okay when it’s not. If they are not open and willing to meet your requests then take it as sign that it may not be the one. The biggest piece of advice is don’t be afraid to walk away. I have read that in general wealthy people walk away from more deals than they make and it usually takes them long to make a deal than the average person. So this means they are waiting for right opportunity and they do not rush into things.

80 will be a second off road adventure rig for me when I go on solo trips. I also have a 2015 Tacoma that is modified that I go on longer camping trips with. I am well aware the 80 is raw, underpowered, louder, etc. I have no issue with those. I do my own work and maintenance so that should help with the cost of maintaining an older 80. I can install a lift myself, ,etc.

Actually I am not worried about insurance at all. This will be my 4th vehicle, what I learned is the more vehicles you own the less you pay for insurance on each vehicle. Also the price of the vehicle does not dictate the price of the coverage. 2 years ago I purchased a brand new vehicle that was 4-5x more expensive than one of my other vehicles, and the coverage was less than my 4 year old Honda CRV... The key to low insurance is having your vehicles listed as 'pleasure' and not 'commuter' on your policy and put low annual mileage on there as well. i.e. 5 k miles a year. Right now lots of people are working remotely everyone should call their insurance companies and change this. You will see a discount after this change...

Attached is a picture of my Tacoma.

 

[COYS]

Actually I am not worried about insurance at all.

Perhaps you aren't, yet I'm not certain you're fully picking up on what some of the experienced 80s folks are laying down along this front.

It's not a question of "cheap" insurance rates. Rather, it's coming to terms with a risk/reward matrix agreed upon by you and the insurance company on how much your 80 is worth should sht hit fan.

Unlike your brand new car where it's very easy to assess overall value because data, it's much more challenging to do the same calc for a 23+ year old used jalopy. I believe I can easily fetch $30K+ for my 260K '97, but I'll be darned if an insurance company is going to provide coverage for that amount without a list of stipulations.

IMHO, the 80 is in this insurance no man's land where it's a classic car that can be driven like a new Prius. How many beloved classic cars fall in the same utility niche as an 80 series even within the LC family? 40? Too small, too crude, too special. 60? Under-powered and suspension is too harsh for daily duty. Land Rover Defender? Even worse. Porsche 993? It's a sports car, weekend warrior.

My wallet is my declared coverage.