Sweet 80 series on ebay-21K

[Cruiserhead05]

i just couldnt help but post this. i think its awesome. looks like it would be a blast to drive with the supercharger and a 5-speed. also a push button lift...wow. if only i had the money...land pimp this is all you forget the G and get this...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2445988620&category=6443

 

[cruiserdan]

Old news,


That's Alan Podvin's truck. It's been for sale for a while.

 

[ELLTEE]

Is this his second e-bay auction? or third? I wonder if he didn't get his reserve price, or if the "winning" bidder stiffed him.

I just don't understand these auctions, because I can't imagine buying a truck without seeing it myself, even if I paid the local dealership (or a local expert a la C. Slee, esq.) to do a thorough check.

LT
8)

 

[Rogue]

I'm with you LT on buying a truck without ever having seen it. Despite my current state of poverty I doubt I will ever be able to hand over any amount of cash for a heavily modified vehicle, or even a stock one for that matter.

 

[T Y L E R]

[quote author=Rogue link=board=2;threadid=8193;start=msg69428#msg69428 date=1070238060]
I'm with you LT on buying a truck without ever having seen it ... I doubt I will ever be able to hand over any amount of cash for a heavily modified vehicle, or even a stock one for that matter.
[/quote]

Yeah , you'd have to be nuts !!! Never know what you'd be getting into . You'd at least wanna check with the DEA or Interpol ; if you know what I mean !

T ; yeah , thats it .. 'T' 8)

PS : I'll be using escrow in the future ...

 

[Rogue]

You know what I meant T.

 

[ELLTEE]

[quote author=Tyler link=board=2;threadid=8193;start=msg69448#msg69448 date=1070241565]
PS : I'll be using escrow in the future ...
[/quote]

Escrow. Hmmm.
Hey, Woody -- that's not a bad moniker for the Tyler-man!

LT
8)

 

[billnye]

Can I trust Alan podvin and this truck. I may be buying the truck and I haven't even seen the truck. I live in Canada and the hassle is huge so I am trying to figure out if this is worth the effort. I can buy a 97 lx450 up here with simmilar bumpers,winch roof rack 3"arb lift and otherwise stock for the same price with no hasstle. any advice? you can e-mail at kellyjoyjoy@hotmail.com or post here. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[CDN_Cruiser]

Billnye...

A big welcome from a fellow Canuck!

I don't know Alan, but it seems that you may be comparing two very different trucks.

Alan's truck is quite sweet - manual turbo, a combo never sold in NA, DVD system, big lift, (not sure about the 20" rims?!), etc. If you've got the mechanical ability or some big $$, this could be a great truck. The challenge is this is a truck that no Toyota Canada mechanic will have ever seen, let alone worked on. There may also be some challenges in getting parts for a manual + the turbo. If this is a daily driver, you should probably be prepared for some serious down time

I've only know one guy that had a manual, turbo 60 and his seemed to need lots of tuning to keep it running well - YMMV.

The LX450 is obviously a stock motor, but the one you are looking at has had some mods. The good news is it will be easier to get parts and they mechanics will have had some (often limited) experience with the truck. One problem I've found is that some Canadian Toyota dealers are not willing to service the truck (they want you to use a Lexus Dealer - C$110/hr shop rate). If you know the guy that's selling this rig - it may be worth it.

An alternative is to just buy a stock LX450 and modify it yourself (this is what I did/am doing).

My bottom line is that if you can't affort to fly down and have a look/have a mechanic give it a big check-over, you probably can't afford the unique cost of owning a manual, turbo

Where are you located? I'm in Toronto. A few others on this list are in BC.

Cheers, Hugh

 

[LINUS]

I can't comment on Alan's truck either, but here's a similar situation that happened to me (or more specifically a friend of mine).

I built up a VW GTI (watercooled hatchback) that had a forced induction dual cam motor in it. I could have bought a stand-alone engine management box if I wanted to, but the budget was limited and I'd bought a T3/T4 by itself, so with a little work I'd fabbed a wiring loom to run this turbo using all factory boxes, just that very few of them came in that vehicle so it was something I knew VERY well and could tune or sense when it needed tuning (which was often) just by instinct since it was my 'baby'. I had no intention of selling at that time, so I was the only one I had to answer to about how I built it.

Fast forward about 3 years and here I was counting money as one of my friends was driving away with an ear to ear grin. It was all good for a week and a half. Then he called "Hey, it doesn't spool as fast as it did a week ago, can you come by and check it out for me?" Can you see where this is headed?

Fast forward again, I'd been under the hood of a car I no longer even owned at least 6-8 times and it was just a repeating cycle. Finally, after 6 months of him owning it he sent it back to me 1 last time to tune it to sell to someone neither of us knew. I think some poor sucker must still be paying a pro mechanic big $$$ for work since my buddy said he didn't seem real worried about the details, just that it was real fast.

Moral of the story, if it is custom in any way (not an 'off the shelf' forced induction kit) and you didn't build it, it might bite you in the a$$. Notice the use of dollar signs.