Should I buy an 80, costs of ownership? (1 Viewer)

[jaymar]

If you plan to drive older vehicles you do yourself a disservice if you are not learning how to turn wrenches on them yourself. I won't go into the esoteric reasons, me, I am big kid that likes playing with all things mechanical. But, even if you do not do your own work and have to pay a shop to work on your truck that would be the same case with any used vehicle you may choose. In the long run a well maintained 80 is a great vehicle, so long as gas MPG is not a concern, it's a truck.

When ours is actually running (in the midst of a swap/paint/interior/mechanical rebuild) it is a perfect second vehicle. My wife uses it to haul horse feed, dogs to the vet and prefers nothing else in bad weather. I use it as a shop truck and as a general DD along with my pickup. We also use it for wheeling and camping trips.

Most of us do not look at our Cruisers like we look at most other vehicles. Most of us keep them far longer than we keep most vehicles and they are "special".

Now, compare a well maintained 80 to any new vehicle that is similarly capable and see what the bottom lines tell you. Shame you can not factor in cool when you are looking at expense.

Now, compare a well maintained 80 to any new vehicle that is similarly capable and

Whoa, yeah. No. Lemme stop you right there...

 

[Corbet]

I love my 80, don’t ever plan to give it up. But I wouldn’t enter the 80 market now without a near endless supply of discretionary income. Better off to shop for a used 200 if you don’t want to constantly work on your truck and dump money in. Or just buy a new 1958-250.

 

[cruiserdan]

to think I have to pay 20-25K for a good one bothers me,

You should have thought of that sooner, before you gave away the one you had.
This has always been, and will continue to be, an expense hobby.
Any original or long-term owner would be a fool to part with one now, unless it's a stupid amount of cash. Sub 5,000 mile examples have been selling for over double their original retail price, AFTER INFLATION.

 

[jaymar]

You should have thought of that sooner, before you gave away the one you had.
This has always been, and will continue to be, an expense hobby.
Any original or long-term owner would be a fool to part with one now, unless it's a stupid amount of cash. Sub 5,000 mile examples have been selling for over double their original retail price, AFTER INFLATION.

I dunno man, seems like pretty soon Joe Rogan's $250k 80 is gonna look like a bargain.

 

[DivByZero]

Thinking about getting another 80....

not much of a mechanic so looking for a low mile....

Yeah, the second part there worries me more. Honestly, the 80s are a great vehicle, but at 30+ years since manufacture you should expect all of them to require significant work. If you put that work in, they'll be a vehicle your kids can inherit one day, but it is a lot of parts and a lot of work to get them into a healthy reliable state. That basically means you have three options:

1. Buy the parts, do the work yourself. This will take a reasonable amount of money and a LOT of time. If you don't have the mechanical skills already, the 80 is a great car to learn on, but you should buy it intending to grow your skills and learn how to do that work as you go. Consider if you have the time and inclination to do that.

2. Pay someone to do everything. You will need deep pockets. Like, I could afford to buy a brand new Lexus but I chose to do this instead kind of deep pockets. If you have the cash, go for it. There are plenty of vendors on this forum that make a living restoring and building up rigs for exactly this kind of buyer. The fact you're concerned about a $20-25K buy-in cost indicates to me you're not this kind of buyer though.

3. Buy the car, don't put anything into preventative maintenance. Your life will be hell. Your wife will leave you as you sink into a pit of depression and alcohol.

 

[jaymar]

Yeah, the second part there worries me more. Honestly, the 80s are a great vehicle, but at 30+ years since manufacture you should expect all of them to require significant work. If you put that work in, they'll be a vehicle your kids can inherit one day, but it is a lot of parts and a lot of work to get them into a healthy reliable state. That basically means you have three options:

1. Buy the parts, do the work yourself. This will take a reasonable amount of money and a LOT of time. If you don't have the mechanical skills already, the 80 is a great car to learn on, but you should buy it intending to grow your skills and learn how to do that work as you go. Consider if you have the time and inclination to do that.

2. Pay someone to do everything. You will need deep pockets. Like, I could afford to buy a brand new Lexus but I chose to do this instead kind of deep pockets. If you have the cash, go for it. There are plenty of vendors on this forum that make a living restoring and building up rigs for exactly this kind of buyer. The fact you're concerned about a $20-25K buy-in cost indicates to me you're not this kind of buyer though.

3. Buy the car, don't put anything into preventative maintenance. Your life will be hell. Your wife will leave you as you sink into a pit of depression and alcohol.

Ehhh there is a Door Number Four: Buy one someone else has already fixed up/built, PM and more already done. Check the Mud classifieds, forget BAT because their prices are BATsh*t.

 

[Tachycardic]

One should not buy an 80 (or a 100 for that matter) and not know how to do the basic stuff at a minimum. Whats the basic stuff? Engine/gear oil changes, brake jobs, spark plug replacement, chasing down and fixing leaks (power steering, coolant, vacuum, etc.), replacing hoses and window seals/door rubbers.

Due to my day job, I can only keep up with basic maintenance and it has been running reliably and I’m still able to consistently hit 15mpg and pass the UK MOT. My biggest cost is fuel. However, I have some water leaks (body) that I’ll address before the stormy season and my front bumper, which used to be black is now a nice shade of rust.

It’s my daily driver and I considered selling it to get a Defender 110 of similar vintage. Two things stopped me…a test drive in a vintage Defender (my goodness, the 80-series is like a Lexus compared to it) and my kids forbidding me from getting rid of it. They’ve had too many good memories camping and going off roading in the thing.

Yes, 80s are money these day, but seriously what isn’t? I almost pulled the trigger on a 90s Mitsubishi Montero—then realized that parts availability is worse. You know about the Defender. They are going for 18-20k easy in the UK—with body rust much worse than my truck. Similar vintage Discovery’s are cheaper, but you have to work on them more than the 80-series and hundy-series are going up in money as well. New truck prices of similar, or better capabilities start at 55k (factoring in dealer markups).

So go head and buy an 80. But you should go into with a mindset that you will, and should wrench on it. I’m not saying that you should buy an engine hoist and replace the head gasket as your first job, but at least get a grease gun and get under that vehicle. Admire the tech from bygone day where a driver needed to learn how to drive a 4x4 based off their senses, and not have to rely on computers and their software to get you back to civilization.

 

[greentruck]

Ehhh there is a Door Number Four: Buy one someone else has already fixed up/built, PM and more already done. Check the Mud classifieds, forget BAT because their prices are BATsh*t.

MUD Classifieds are the way to go. The sellers tend tobe more knowlegable

 

[TXMeatball]

Pretty funny that 80s have doubled/even tripled in age since this was first posted.
But seriously +1 to not buying one of these if you're not the one working on it.
Next month will be 1 year with my current one/8k miles put on it. This is just parts, thankfully haven't counted hours spent crying under it.

 

[gray rider]

In 2006 I was in 6th grade and had no idea what a Land Cruiser was.

Apparently (as they say) "youth is wasted on the young".

 

[thatcabledude]

MUD Classifieds are the way to go. The sellers tend tobe more knowlegable

 

[gray rider]

The inflation in automotive repairs is not unique to 80s. I am starting a business in my retirement because of it. I am appalled to see what shops and dealers are charging. My brother in law's Lincoln MKX was overheating and I diagnosed it as a bad cooling fan assembly. The dealer part was $373 but with labor it came to over $1100. It was a 1.4 hour job and required one of the radiator hoses be removed so a gallon of coolant. I did it in his driveway in less than hour. For the life of me, I cant comprehend why it was over $1100.

FUTA, FICA, SUTA, PL insurance, WC Insurance, mortgage on a bldg, property tax on a bldg, utilities, maintenance on a bldg.....Your driveway is looking damn good!!

 

[TOYSTRY]

I dunno man, seems like pretty soon Joe Rogan's $250k 80 is gonna look like a bargain.

Is that what he paid for that restoration? Holy !!!

 

[cruiserdan]

Any decent restoration will easily be 6 figures.

 

[OGBeno]

Any decent restoration will easily be 6 figures.

Truth.

 

[OGBeno]

@Mr. Lawrence

You need to chime in here as an OG.

 

[mudgudgeon]

1. Buy the parts, do the work yourself. This will take a reasonable amount of money and a LOT of time. If you don't have the mechanical skills already, the 80 is a great car to learn on, but you should buy it intending to grow your skills and learn how to do that work as you go. Consider if you have the time and inclination to do that.

If you're not a professional mechanic, be prepared to **** stuff up, and have to turn around and pony up for more parts, and more hours under the truck fixing your mistakes, good sourcing age ordering parts, waiting days for lists to ship, all after crying in your beer because a simple mistake, or rookie error has cost you $100's or $1000's just in parts, and ruined that wheeling trip you had planned next week.

The positive is, it can be rewarding and satisfying taking care of these things.

 

[blinkerfluid]

The truth has been spoken

 

[justbecause]

80s are cool. But there are dozens and dozens of things I would buy with 250k other than a land cruiser. I enjoy my 5th gen 4runner significantly more than I ever did my 80. And my 80 was in great shape. Except for a random no start I never did track down I didnt do anything over 2 years other than brakes and oil changes, and pointless mods that I wanted to do because I thought I needed them. I wouldn't buy another one even for $5,000

 

[duece71]

If you're not a professional mechanic, be prepared to **** stuff up, and have to turn around and pony up for more parts, and more hours under the truck fixing your mistakes, good sourcing age ordering parts, waiting days for lists to ship, all after crying in your beer because a simple mistake, or rookie error has cost you $100's or $1000's just in parts, and ruined that wheeling trip you had planned next week.

The positive is, it can be rewarding and satisfying taking care of these things.

Truth. FSM can help. YT and Mud and go slow.