Will Van
GOLD Star
Back in December of 2022, I sold my 1996 HZJ75 Land Cruiser pickup on BAT. The HZJ75 auction was another truck in a long line of owning a Toyota 4x4 for a few months, dumping a bunch of money into it, and then fire-selling it to pay bills.
After the auction was over and the dust had settled, I began asking myself, "Why do I keep doing this? This is so dumb." I decided then and there that I wanted to buy a Land Cruiser and hang onto it. And that meant getting out of debt, paying cash, and building it slowly. This may seem obvious to most of you, but I'm a slow learner (and a slow mechanic).
I waited over a year to get out of debt, build my budget, and find the right truck (big credit to Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps).
While cruising social media a couple weeks ago, I posed the question, "Does anyone have a 1991 or 1992 Land Cruiser they want to sell without a sunroof?" Most responses were, "The 80 series Land Cruiser never came without a sunroof." But member @GDA62/100 reached out and said he had a white 1991 without a sunroof that he would be willing to part with. Even more interesting were the full specs on it:
The price was very reasonable and the truck was within my budget...the only problem was the truck was in Northern California and I live in Central Texas. But my wife and I agreed that the truck was special and made a plan. We booked one-way tickets to Sacramento, rented a car, and drove to Redding California on Valentine's Day! After a good night's rest we checked out the truck at Galen's place. It was awesome! And Galen is such a great guy. Very honest and forthright about the condition of the truck. It was immediately apparent that he loved this truck. He included tons of extras with the sale and went above and beyond with the presentation. I was truly thrilled to not only buy the truck, but to meet such a cool Cruiser Head.
Galen even pulled off the aftermarket Australian flares so I could drive it home flareless!
From there we drove towards Stockton, California. I wanted to stop by Valley Hybrids/Cruiser Brothers and say hello to Georg Esterer (@orangefj45) and his team. Going to Valley Hybrids is like a trip to Mecca for Cruiser Heads. Georg's shop is so cool and full of tons of wild Land Cruisers. And Georg and his entire staff were so friendly and helpful to both myself and my wife. I am really grateful I got to meet Georg and his team.
Not to mention, Georg also swapped out my front rotors, calipers, and pads to get me back on the road!
After spending the day at Georg's shop, it is apparent to me how hard-working and dedicated Georg is to the Cruiser community. His business phones, email, personal phone, and shop were constantly buzzing with people asking for Georg's advice. If you spend ANY money on your Land Cruiser, your first call should be to Georg and his team. He has a customer for life!
After the auction was over and the dust had settled, I began asking myself, "Why do I keep doing this? This is so dumb." I decided then and there that I wanted to buy a Land Cruiser and hang onto it. And that meant getting out of debt, paying cash, and building it slowly. This may seem obvious to most of you, but I'm a slow learner (and a slow mechanic).
I waited over a year to get out of debt, build my budget, and find the right truck (big credit to Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps).
While cruising social media a couple weeks ago, I posed the question, "Does anyone have a 1991 or 1992 Land Cruiser they want to sell without a sunroof?" Most responses were, "The 80 series Land Cruiser never came without a sunroof." But member @GDA62/100 reached out and said he had a white 1991 without a sunroof that he would be willing to part with. Even more interesting were the full specs on it:
- No sunroof
- No 3rd row seats
- No cruise control
- No sliding rear windows
- No fender flares
- Cloth interior
- One-piece bench seat
- Manual crank windows
- Manual door locks
- OEM 15" steel wheels
The price was very reasonable and the truck was within my budget...the only problem was the truck was in Northern California and I live in Central Texas. But my wife and I agreed that the truck was special and made a plan. We booked one-way tickets to Sacramento, rented a car, and drove to Redding California on Valentine's Day! After a good night's rest we checked out the truck at Galen's place. It was awesome! And Galen is such a great guy. Very honest and forthright about the condition of the truck. It was immediately apparent that he loved this truck. He included tons of extras with the sale and went above and beyond with the presentation. I was truly thrilled to not only buy the truck, but to meet such a cool Cruiser Head.
Galen even pulled off the aftermarket Australian flares so I could drive it home flareless!
From there we drove towards Stockton, California. I wanted to stop by Valley Hybrids/Cruiser Brothers and say hello to Georg Esterer (@orangefj45) and his team. Going to Valley Hybrids is like a trip to Mecca for Cruiser Heads. Georg's shop is so cool and full of tons of wild Land Cruisers. And Georg and his entire staff were so friendly and helpful to both myself and my wife. I am really grateful I got to meet Georg and his team.
Not to mention, Georg also swapped out my front rotors, calipers, and pads to get me back on the road!
After spending the day at Georg's shop, it is apparent to me how hard-working and dedicated Georg is to the Cruiser community. His business phones, email, personal phone, and shop were constantly buzzing with people asking for Georg's advice. If you spend ANY money on your Land Cruiser, your first call should be to Georg and his team. He has a customer for life!
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). It looks to me like someone "upgraded" to an ARB bumper. Either way, I would like to shake their hand. They did a phenomenal job organizing and labeling everything.
