12.5k seems high, but a complete, unmolested 40 year old car is going to have zits. I bet he gets what he wants for it.
With that said I'd have run away with that board there - to me that just sounds like someone put rizlone or similar stuff in the crankcase to cover a bad bearing, flat cam, or something similar. In short, the real reason he's selling it is because it needs a motor (I've seen a seller use a board to quiet the knocking from the crank - it does work, fwiw).
And finally, setting a price before you see the car is a quick way to heartbreak - if it had run perfect, been everything you wanted, and you lost it for $100 or even $500 - only to finally find the one you want and be backed into paying 15k for it.... I play with Corvettes, and C3 Corvettes are my thing. I've had LOTS of Corvettes that were drivers for less than $1500 and sold them for lots more when the world suddenly realized that there was more to them than gold chains, disco, and chest hair. The FJ40 is getting the same renaissance - my first 7 FJ40s, purchase price combined, was less than $5,000 - and I drove every one of them home from the seller (one even had new paint)... my current one, was 50% of that price and it's a basket case the only difference is 10 years. The market is going up, and whether the economy sustains to support rapid growth or not, it's not going down in price or value.
With that said I'd have run away with that board there - to me that just sounds like someone put rizlone or similar stuff in the crankcase to cover a bad bearing, flat cam, or something similar. In short, the real reason he's selling it is because it needs a motor (I've seen a seller use a board to quiet the knocking from the crank - it does work, fwiw).
And finally, setting a price before you see the car is a quick way to heartbreak - if it had run perfect, been everything you wanted, and you lost it for $100 or even $500 - only to finally find the one you want and be backed into paying 15k for it.... I play with Corvettes, and C3 Corvettes are my thing. I've had LOTS of Corvettes that were drivers for less than $1500 and sold them for lots more when the world suddenly realized that there was more to them than gold chains, disco, and chest hair. The FJ40 is getting the same renaissance - my first 7 FJ40s, purchase price combined, was less than $5,000 - and I drove every one of them home from the seller (one even had new paint)... my current one, was 50% of that price and it's a basket case the only difference is 10 years. The market is going up, and whether the economy sustains to support rapid growth or not, it's not going down in price or value.
