Price Check on 78 FJ55

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

John Smith

John Smith

In the garage
10 Year 15 Year 20 Year
Joined
Jun 7, 2004
Threads
88
Messages
4,482
Location
Maryland
Please help me put a value on this 78 FJ55.

Short Story:

My neighbor has a 78 FJ55 in his garage/basement in pieces. He bought a running, almost rust free AZ truck over 10 years ago to "restore". Life got in the way and all he did was take a perfectly good running truck and reduce it to a rolling chassis and boxes of parts. He is moving and wants to sell the basket case for $4,000 to me. The wife has reminded me we bought our running FJ40 for less money.

The Bad:

The previous owner butchered the interior to install a "stereo system". All interior panels and headliner are trashed. They glued Styrofoam to the backside of the exterior sheet metal in the rear cargo area and all doors. Someone installed a camper vent in the rear roof area which has been removed and patched with metal welded in and bondo and paint. All glass had been removed from truck along with wiring harness and doors. Truck was hit from behind and repaired but I can still see damage on tailgate and rear corners. Truck was repainted all white from a Green/White. There is white overspray which has been covered with rattle can black on the frame. Has a Fairy (Sp) overdrive installed, not sure if this is good or bad but I have heard bad things about them. Original carb and electronic distrubtor replaced with a rochester and delco points distributor from MAF "kit". Windshield needs to be replaced along with gasket.

The Good:

Most rustfree FJ55 I have ever seen on the East Coast. Lots of brandnew OEM Toyota parts to "restore" truck. The highlight being a set of brandnew OEM front fenders!

Am I crazy for taking on this basketcase for $4,000?

Are FJ55 windshields still available anywhere new?

fj55011su9.jpg


fj55015op0.jpg


fj55055bm7.jpg


fj55048gx5.jpg


fj55050rn9.jpg


fj55039nk9.jpg
 
Last edited:
I think if you want to waste a couple grand I'm a college student and accepting donations. I wouldnt pay nearly 4k for that. I am not sure what I would pay maybe like 1000-1500 depending on what all he has sitting around parts wise. But that is a lot of work to put it all back together and fix all the bad stuff you named and make it a good useable pig. Plus replace that carb and windshield. The best thing about it is the limited rust but that alone isnt worth that kind of money.
 
Thank You for your input. Am I correct that the windshield is not available any longer except used? How about headliner?

Some of the parts he has I believe are unobtainium these days such as a set of OEM front fenders, rear bumper corner, rocker replacement panel. Not sure what else he has in boxes I have not seen.
 
He might have a good many nice unobtanium parts but you have a ton of work ahead of you. 4k is a lot of $ for something in pieces that may or may not have everything you need. Expect to be missing parts. Without seeing it I would offer no more than $2k.
 
I know he does not have a headliner, windshield, or any interior panels. I checked his receipts and those are not included. I will see if he has any interest in selling for 2K. That does sound like a more reasonable price for a basketcase.
 
John Smith said:
I know he does not have a headliner, windshield, or any interior panels. I checked his receipts and those are not included. I will see if he has any interest in selling for 2K. That does sound like a more reasonable price for a basketcase.
Click to expand...

To clarify I said no more than 2k, not "I would pay him 2k." The parts have potential but it could be worth a good bit less - hard to say w/o seeing more. As clemson55 pointed out it might be worth as little as 1,000 to 1,500. Vehicles stripped down like this are worth a lot less in pieces than if they were reassembled - you just don't know what you have except a ton o work ahead of you.
 
Yeah dood, if I've got to tow a vehicle away, I have a hard time justifying anything more than $1K. Since this is an older vehicle, maybe $1500, but seriously, pigs are hardly widely sought after collector's vehicles.

I'm sure you can get a windshield from somewhere and SOR has brand new headliners. $4k is retarded for this thing. Tell him to have fun moving it and have a fist full of cash in hand.
 
I would agree with what everyone else has said, 4k is way too much. With everything in boxes, you have no idea about all the small crap that might be needed.
 
I paid less than that for mine and it was running and not in that much worse shape that that piggy. And mine is all intact with all those unobtanium parts (minus the carb and the bumpers, but I have those now). I am in the process of pulling mine apart and honey, let me tell you, you are in for a time.

I wouldn't offer more than $1K. And I'd do it in cash and be ready to walk away for anymore than that. The PO of mine was asking $5500 for mine originally and there was no way. He couldn't sell it and took my offer for much, much less than that.
 
Thank You!

I will let you all know if it comes over in boxes. I am betting he won't lower his asking price because of what he has into it. We shall see this evening. This just may be the motivation he needs to put it back together himself. :)
 
Update!

I just got off the phone with the owner and let him know I had to pass on the truck. He is holding firm at 4k for now. I guess I can't blame him as he is looking at over $10k in receipts and a truck in a million pieces. I am hoping he will drop the price once the move date gets closer. We shall see.
 
I am going to agree that the pig isn't worth $4K, but I am going to disagree that it is only worth $1-$1.5K. That looks to be a very clean truck for our neck of the woods. If I had a 55 that was built, but had been beaten by rust I would pay quite a bit to have a clean body to swap. I don't know how I would feel about the damage, I know my 55 was in an accident, but not many other people can tell. If you can fix the PO's mistakes and have a clean solid body. I wouldn't feel bad paying $3K.

Just my $.02
Ryan.
 
10k in receipts? Okay so lets say he paid 400 for new fenders back when they still made them. And maybe 2000 max for the vehicle. What else is there to make up the rest? If you tell me he has new seat covers, a factory PTO, factory A/C and PS and a tailgate that is good shape and you might better have a second look.


Fenders are a nice find.
 
non runner....not more than 1000$...an engine sitting for a long time might be very good or very bad; also the other parts that deteriorate when it is a non runner.look at rebuilding all the hydraulics, brakes, does the rear window work??...guess what I am trying to convey is that probably one of the worse things that can happen is have a vehicle taken apart then not run for years. you just don't know what you are getting into from a mechanical point of view; echoing Marshall, it would have to have goodies such as PS/AC and factory PTO to bring the price up to the 2000 $ Range.......with the uncertanty of a factory AC which might need rebuilding;

Lou
 
You can buy clean ASSEMBLED pigs all day long on EBay for $2-4K. I personally paid $1000 for a non runner with almost a perfect body. A guy I work with bought a non-runner complete 55 for $850 with very little rust but had been in an accident and repaired. They are out there and I would never pay more than $1000 for a pile of parts unless it was a heck of a lot more valuable than a 55. Way bad investment no matter how you look at it.
 
Look at my build and what I started off with. Even with it costing only $600 I would only say I got an okay deal. COnsidering the work that needed to be done.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom