Builds spinning the roulette wheel (twice) on a 1996 Middle East HDJ81 at auction (2 Viewers)

[John Young]

I have this terrible habit of having a glass of something and then looking at local adverts and auctions. Back when I was married I would self-regulate to some degree and if things got out of hand, well the spouse would let me know. Now... well the governors are off.

A few days ago I saw an auction listing for a 1996 Model 80.:

You have to look close but the left front bumper is pushed in--there is some damage. Then there was this:

So OK, a Model 80 with some problems and an accident history of some sort, the listing said 188k km, so there is that. The interior was dirty as all heck, but all there and actually looked pretty nice. Nevertheless I would not have pursued the matter any further.

But I like looking at pictures so I continued to page through them until this:

And the data plate confirmedhat this was a Middle East original delivery, left hand drive 1HD-T, in other words a left hand drive turbo diesel model 81.

The auction listing did not mention the fact that it was diesel, or had a turbocharger. So the day before the auction was to end I went to have a look. Considerably less inviting in person:

Just baking in the sun.

More in a sec...

 

[bhsdriller]

YOLO

 

[John Young]

I went to the storage yard on Saturday morning relatively early, but it was already well over 100 degrees (38-40 degrees C), and in person that it had been in some kind of serious incident was obvious. I had not even noticed the left front corner damage until I saw the truck in person.

Then I crawled underneath and saw this:

Although relatively uneducated in this area, it did seem to me that at least that top one wasn't supposed to be curved like that... Near as I can figure the truck must have come down hard on something. The front end is not really that messed up otherwise. The aircon cooler is not crushed:

and as near as I can tell without measuring, the frame does not seem to have been kinked--but I could be wrong about that.

Even the kink in the running board does not involve the body

After I located the truck and had had this look at it, I went back to the office and chatted with the guys there. I was only the second one to show interest in the truck. The other guy was a Lebanese fellow who had had the keys--we must have just walked past each other. The guy at the auction also mentioned that they had been unable to get the dash to light up when trying to jump it.

So, I left and went home and thought about it. And I decided to bid because it was a factory turbo diesel with low mileage and nothing I saw seemed insurmountable. For those of you interested I correctly predicted the ending price in this little video I sent to some whatsapp friends.

The auction took place last evening. It was supposed to have ended a little after 6 pm. I waited until the last five minutes or so and then jumped in. If there are more than a certain number of bids within a given time frame they extend the auction by 4 minutes. This went on and on and on. There are people with all kinds of bidding strategies. I just bid to stay on top. Sometimes thats great sometimes not so much. The auction finally ended after 10 pm last night and I had managed to get it. Hurray!

 

[John Young]

This morning I made the bank transfer and by noon they had the paperwork ready, and I met my mechanic's flatbed driver at the storage lot. Really interesting watching them move the little cars out of the way with a forklift, but I asked them not to do that to land cruiser. The forklift guy anyway said the Land Cruiser might be too heavy for his forklift. Eventually they got it loaded, albeit with disconcerting crunching sounds which I think and hope were that destroyed tire.

I have been a little under the weather and really should have gone home to bed at this point, but I was half-way to Sharjah where the parts places are. I decided it was too good an opportunity to waste so I went to a few of the dismantlers I know.

Unfortunately it was a little before 4 pm which is when they re-open for business after a 2 hour break. So I took a break:

And found nothing here when it opened--

So I went to the next place where I had better luck after showing them some photos of the bent up steering links:

That's one; he found the other one too, with the steering damper attached.

And I even found a pretty nice stock bumper with a winch cutout to replace the bent up one on the truck:

 

[John Young]

I dropped into see my friend Jaweed at his new yard and I happened to mention that I was in the market for an OEM winch WITH 80 series original brackets... and he had that, so I had to buy it:

I should add that I have not paid for it yet. Was short on cash.

So then all that was left was to deliver all this to my mechanics in Dubai Investment Park, clear on the other side of town. At the moment they have my 91 diesel pickup, my 95/96 troopy and now this HZJ81, so I seem to be taking up a lot of their shop space.

Parts delivered, sun falling, me fading, I took another look at this poor abused truck and thought what if we put in a couple of batteries and tried to start this thing....

Well we did. And here's the video to prove it. Started right up and ran very smoothly to my ear. (For those of you with Toyota diesel experience I'd very much like to hear from you about what you think of how it sounds.) I did not try to rev to see about the turbocharger--Like to change the oil before doing that. I know that the truck has not been sitting too long. When I first looked at it I found receipts from 2017 in glove box.

Oh, and BTW, no fridge between the seats on this one.

[Edit: link to video fixed; thanks Ross!]

 

[Heckraiser]

Bent drag link and shredded tire are likely due to the same curb (hit at high speed). Good pick up, looking forward to your progress!

 

[GSTMike]

Looks and sounds to be a pretty decent purchase for I'm assuming in the $8k USD range?

 

[John Young]

Bent drag link and shredded tire are likely due to the same curb (hit at high speed). Good pick up, looking forward to your progress!

My final bid was 25,100 AED, and after auction fees and VAT it was AED 26,932.50 total cost. Tthat's 7,330 USD. So pretty close.

I love old cars in general, and they have a few hundred cars going through this auction site every couple of days, so I keep my eyes on it. Some interesting lots come through from time to time, like:

 

[GSTMike]

HAHA that's nutty!

 

[John Young]

HAHA that's nutty!

That's kinda why I have not yet moved back to the US. I like it here. And I liked it in Asia before coming here. There is an edge of uncertainty to living outside one's own home culture. You get to meet people and have experiences you would not otherwise get to know. And you have to live in a place, not visit, to really do that. That said, when I go back to Virginia, that's comforting too. Going back and forth a few times a year seems to work well for me right now.

I'll just go on to share that I recently drove a Model 77 across the US with my younger son (writeup still in progress) and I had a little whatsapp group where I posted photos and videos and commentary. Among the group were an Afghani and an Indian national that had never been to the US. Guys I've met here through Land Cruisers. I enjoyed sharing that experience with these guys and also I thought it was fun seeing them interact with family and friends in as far away as South America and the Far East.

 

[John Young]

Just a little update, per my mechanics, the tie rods have been fixed and there is a tire on the left front now. Here's a photo:

Tomorrow they will check the alignment. And that's Golden Boy the pickup next to the 96. Golden Boy's transmission and transfer case are out, ready for the transplant tomorrow.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Nice 80. Congrats!

 

[Jroc561]

Great price man for what seems to be manageable damage. Cant wait to see what comes from this

 

[GSTMike]

That's kinda why I have not yet moved back to the US. I like it here. And I liked it in Asia before coming here. There is an edge of uncertainty to living outside one's own home culture. You get to meet people and have experiences you would not otherwise get to know. And you have to live in a place, not visit, to really do that. That said, when I go back to Virginia, that's comforting too. Going back and forth a few times a year seems to work well for me right now.

I'll just go on to share that I recently drove a Model 77 across the US with my younger son (writeup still in progress) and I had a little whatsapp group where I posted photos and videos and commentary. Among the group were an Afghani and an Indian national that had never been to the US. Guys I've met here through Land Cruisers. I enjoyed sharing that experience with these guys and also I thought it was fun seeing them interact with family and friends in as far away as South America and the Far East.

I can relate I started traveling at 18 and after working all over Europe and Asia took a weird turn on the way back to the UK somehow ending up in the US, here I am several decades later still trying to figure out where I would ultimately like to live and what I should do when I grow up!

 

[Whiskerz]

Nice truck. Are you bringing it to America later?

 

[John Young]

Thanks all!

To answer Whiskerz's question, yes I will be bringing the truck to the US. My intent is to ship the 1991 diesel pickup 'Golden Boy' and a US spec LX470 (long story about its origin) to the US late this year or early next--as soon as both are as nice as I can make them here. The troopy and this 81 are not eligible until very early 2021 and I intend to ship them as well around that timeframe, assuming I don't want to keep one of them here. I bought the troopy to use as a camper in the desert. And I might like the 81 as a daily driver. But I might be returning to the US around then anyway.

 

[1HaytchZed]

John, that is a 1HD-FT, maybe -FTE? It's definitely not a 1HD-T.
Nice find!

 

[John Young]

John, that is a 1HD-FT, maybe -FTE? It's definitely not a 1HD-T.
Nice find!

You are correct, 1HZ. Thanks for pointing it out. It is a 1HD-FT. I'm still getting familiar with this new world of Toyota diesel... Here's the data plate.

On another thread I'm trying to figure out what makes this an 81 instead of an 80. ToyoDIY decodes this as a JDM model, but it really looks like it has been in the UAE since new--and it is LHD. Maybe a special order? It has coil springs and single headlight, and another poster suggested the 81 reflects these updates. As I said, still learning. All I can say definitely is that this is only the second diesel Land Cruiser I've seen here in the UAE older than 2000. They are not common. Big part of why I jumped on it with both feet.

 

[SNLC]

That’s an oddball.

Everyone I have ever seen is in LHD is an HDJ80. Even with the same engine, trans and more goodies from Toyota. ALL were HDJ80s.

Only HDJ81s I have seen are JDM trucks.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

I think what you have is a LHD conversion. See here,

ToyoDIY.com

See where it says "market", Japan.

It is possible it is a special order but guys like @Onur will probably say otherwise.

Cool truck regardless and good score!

Cheers