Having owned a 100 Series for about 7 years, I was itching to get into another Land Cruiser. The 200 was too new, the 70 too crude and the 62 too challenging to build. It had to be an 80 Series.
The hunt began and lasted for a couple of months. Most were too rusty, expensive, or had boring options.
Like all good project cars, this one presented itself to me in the form of a Facebook marketplace link from a friend:
I immediately brushed it off as it was carburated (bad previous experiences). Otherwise, it seemed to be in OK shape behind all the desert dirt, stick-on chrome, and "off-road" lights
It wasn't until about 2 weeks later that I decided to have a look at it after exhausting all my other options.
The car was located in the border town of Al Madam, about an hour away from Dubai. It was being sold by a used car dealership run by a very elderly local man who barely spoke any English.
It's a 1994 VX-R fully optioned car minus a sunroof and lockers. Equipped with the venerable 1FZ in carburated form, which was the only petrol engine option available in the GCC from 1992 to 1994 when mated to the 5-Speed manual transmission.
My first impressions:
The paint was in average shape but could clean up nicely.
Interior was worn but very original (Factory floor mats!)
The engine bay was covered in homemade wiring (typical of any old car in this region)
Time for the test drive:
It started great but ran terribly when given any light throttle. A/C was non-functional and so was the power steering. This, in addition to the higher asking price, really put me off so I made them an offer for 2/3rd of the asking price and left.
I didn't think much of it at the time but in the following days, I could not stop thinking about it. Naturally, I had my local buddy @Thebedouin60 call the dealer a couple of times to try to lowball him in the local old-man dialect and we were able to take a small amount off the asking price to which I eventually agreed.
We set off the following day to bring her home.....
The hunt began and lasted for a couple of months. Most were too rusty, expensive, or had boring options.
Like all good project cars, this one presented itself to me in the form of a Facebook marketplace link from a friend:
I immediately brushed it off as it was carburated (bad previous experiences). Otherwise, it seemed to be in OK shape behind all the desert dirt, stick-on chrome, and "off-road" lights
It wasn't until about 2 weeks later that I decided to have a look at it after exhausting all my other options.
The car was located in the border town of Al Madam, about an hour away from Dubai. It was being sold by a used car dealership run by a very elderly local man who barely spoke any English.
It's a 1994 VX-R fully optioned car minus a sunroof and lockers. Equipped with the venerable 1FZ in carburated form, which was the only petrol engine option available in the GCC from 1992 to 1994 when mated to the 5-Speed manual transmission.
My first impressions:
The paint was in average shape but could clean up nicely.
Interior was worn but very original (Factory floor mats!)
The engine bay was covered in homemade wiring (typical of any old car in this region)
Time for the test drive:
It started great but ran terribly when given any light throttle. A/C was non-functional and so was the power steering. This, in addition to the higher asking price, really put me off so I made them an offer for 2/3rd of the asking price and left.
I didn't think much of it at the time but in the following days, I could not stop thinking about it. Naturally, I had my local buddy @Thebedouin60 call the dealer a couple of times to try to lowball him in the local old-man dialect and we were able to take a small amount off the asking price to which I eventually agreed.
We set off the following day to bring her home.....
