Need advice on 1982 FJ60 for auction (1 Viewer)

[pmw42069]

Hey everyone thanks for all the helpful advice so far. Y'all helped me steer clear of a rust bucket once and now I'm asking for your advice again.

I found a 1982 FJ60 on no reserve auction. Right now the winning bid is $6k. The truck, from what I can tell--im not a mechanic--seems like it's in pretty good shape and could be a good deal if it's not bid up too high.

The seller says:

FJ60 Land Cruiser with 4wd and manually locking hubs. Power comes from 4.2 in line six paired with a four speed manual transmission and a dual-range transfer case, beefy straight axles and leaf springs all around.
This particular example is finished in Beige 464 over brown-beige interior and was re-sprayed 1 year ago due to paint fading and it looks nice but has few dents and bruises. Rear bumper is a little bent.
Interior has some wear and tear but looks good for its age.
Runs and Drives good.
Heat works. A/C broken
Fuel gage works 50 % of the time
I am getting rear shocks replaced in 5 days
Solid floors
Frame has some typical Land Cruiser rust
Headliner has some cuts and holes and can be replaced for $ 350
Odometer stopped working few years back and it still shows 157796 miles
Real mileage is 185200
Clean title in hand
Sold as is

 

[pmw42069]

So my questions are: How does the rust look? Decent? What do you think a fair price would be? Thanks everyone for all your great feedback!

 

[Seth S]

is this an eBay auction? How far is it from you? I am personally very wary of auctions for LC’s unless you can go see it in person before hand. Too much risk and scams out there. Even if it’s a legit auction it’s too easy for sellers to gloss over issues and make trucks look better than actual in the ads.

 

[Seth S]

This plastic wheel arches are some sort of add on. Good at collecting dirt and moisture and good for hiding wheel arch problems

 

[pmw42069]

is this an eBay auction? How far is it from you? I am personally very wary of auctions for LC’s unless you can go see it in person before hand. Too much risk and scams out there. Even if it’s a legit auction it’s too easy for sellers to gloss over issues and make trucks look better than actual in the ads.

Yep it's an ebay auction. Not local to me unfortunately.

 

[MarkBC]

Always beware of resprays but the rust doesn't look too bad underneath and they haven't done anything to hide the rust underneath. Would be helpful to have a pic of the C channels.

 

[onemanarmy]

i'd bet the asking price that those terrible fender flares are hiding all types of rust

be careful

 

[kirvesmies]

the mileage bull$h!t is what raises a red flag for me. how the f can you say "the real mileage" when you just said the odo is broke. what else is he b/s'ing about?

 

[georgebj60]

The seller states that the frame has "typical Land Cruiser rust", but then doesn't include any photos of the rear portion of the frame/u-channels. Because they are rusty. I think it's already hit the right price for this. If anyone pays more than 6K for this they will be disappointed. I would have said higher, but those fender flares reduce the value in my opinion.

But man, I feel for people trying to get into one of these with todays market. I felt the same way when I bought mine in 2017, and it's only gotten worse.

 

[pmw42069]

Always beware of resprays but the rust doesn't look too bad underneath and they haven't done anything to hide the rust underneath. Would be helpful to have a pic of the C channels.

What are the C channels lol? Please don't beat me up

 

[georgebj60]

These open portions of the rear frame, on either side of the spare tire area.

And for the record, you want your C-channels to look like the picture above, not the like the one here (stolen from someone else):

 

[MarkBC]

Here is mine from last week. Luckily the channel seems to be sacrificial, sparing the frame itself of rust. I took an air chisel to the scale underneath which is pretty tough to remove. But the frame is still thick sound metal. :whew:

nasty job

 

[FJACS]

The photos of the frame are taken in a manner to hide the actual condition of the frame. The outward facing parts rarely rust through, it’s the sides you should be looking at.

for example - in the photo you posted with the new muffler - ask the seller for more photos of areas like the one I circled.