[dpb3]

Hi All,
I'm new to the list, in fact I'm new to Toyota being a long time Jeep owner. However, I have an opportunity to purchase a 1982 FJ40 and would love to get some opinions on what this vehicle might be worth. I know, there's really no way to accurately say what an individual vehicle is worth, but I'd like to at least get an idea of wether or not the guy is asking WAY too much. So, about the FJ...
1982, 6 cylinder, manual
lifted about 4" with 33" tires, fair rubber
rust on the floor boards
exterior was Rhino-coated in black (why would they do that?) and it's Ugly (with a capital "U")

It's very rough looking in and out. It has usable seat covers but probably needs new seats. Carpet needs to be trashed. A rough estimate I got for sandblasting the exterior and priming it was about $1500-$2000. It runs pretty good and has power (140,000 miles) but needs to be tuned. Lots of small leaks so I imagine just about every orifice in the engine, tranny, transaxle, and differential needs to be sealed. Essentially this is a pretty good running truck that needs a complete restore or could go to somebody's garage as a hunting truck.

I'm in west Texas, the guy wants $5000. If I bought it I would restore it a small amount at a time. Since it runs pretty good I could I drive it until I have time to dedicate to the restore. Any opinions on what this vehicle is worth? I would think more like $3500, but he says the 82's are more rare. Thanks for any help!

This post has been edited by dpb3: 08 July 2007 - 01:15 PM

[rsc71]

dpb3, on Jul 8 2007, 02:14 PM, said:

Hi All,
I'm new to the list, in fact I'm new to Toyota being a long time Jeep owner. However, I have an opportunity to purchase a 1982 FJ40 and would love to get some opinions on what this vehicle might be worth. I know, there's really no way to accurately say what an individual vehicle is worth, but I'd like to at least get an idea of wether or not the guy is asking WAY too much. So, about the FJ...
1982, 6 cylinder, manual
lifted about 4" with 33" tires, fair rubber
rust on the floor boards
exterior was Rhino-coated in black (why would they do that?) and it's Ugly (with a capital "U")

It's very rough looking in and out. It has usable seat covers but probably needs new seats. Carpet needs to be trashed. A rough estimate I got for sandblasting the exterior and priming it was about $1500-$2000. It runs pretty good and has power (140,000 miles) but needs to be tuned. Lots of small leaks so I imagine just about every orifice in the engine, tranny, transaxle, and differential needs to be sealed. Essentially this is a pretty good running truck that needs a complete restore or could go to somebody's garage as a hunting truck.

I'm in west Texas, the guy wants $5000. If I bought it I would restore it a small amount at a time. Since it runs pretty good I could I drive it until I have time to dedicate to the restore. Any opinions on what this vehicle is worth? I would think more like $3500, but he says the 82's are more rare. Thanks for any help!

seems a bit high to me

[rwilley]

1982s are rare and are worth $5k if they are in good condition. However the rust you are talking about runs the price down quite a bit. And to me the rino coating lowers the value also. In Calif. that vehicle would be worth only about $3k because of the smog laws here. Are the floor boards rusted through or is it just surface rust? Usually the rear quarter panels are rusted also. The only bennafits to getting a cruiser that new is it has front disk brakes and the larger bolt pattern on the knuckle arms. Except for those thing an older cruiser is the same. I don't know if my rambleing help or not but good luck.

[dpb3]

Thanks to you and rsc71, I appreciate the comments. I really just did a quick look on the floor boards and saw rust but not daylight. I wouldn't be suprised if there was a lot more rust since the truck originated in Hawaii where I hear the salt air can be murder.

I'm starting to think this thing may be more trouble than it's worth since I doubt I can afford to do a restore from the frame up.

rwilley, on Jul 8 2007, 05:30 PM, said:

1982s are rare and are worth $5k if they are in good condition. However the rust you are talking about runs the price down quite a bit. And to me the rino coating lowers the value also. In Calif. that vehicle would be worth only about $3k because of the smog laws here. Are the floor boards rusted through or is it just surface rust? Usually the rear quarter panels are rusted also. The only bennafits to getting a cruiser that new is it has front disk brakes and the larger bolt pattern on the knuckle arms. Except for those thing an older cruiser is the same. I don't know if my rambleing help or not but good luck.

[mwilley]

I dont know where you are located in Texas and I do not know the smog laws there either. But if you have a presmog law, I recommend that you find a presmog cruiser and put a Chevy 350 in it...pretty standard application for FJ40 Land Cruisers. Check craigslist and you can usually find some pretty good cruisers down in the Southern United States. There are usually some good deals on some nice cruisers in Florida on ebay, if you are willing to drive to go get one. New Mexico and Arizona are also pretty popular states to find cruisers. And these don't have bad rust. If you are considering a land cruiser I would take time to look around.

[dpb3]

Thanks for the advice. I'm not sure about the smog laws either to tell you the truth, but I know that they're nothing like in California. It looks like the seller is sticking firm to the $5000 on this cruiser. Heck, he'll probably get it from some oil guy who'll take it on his quail hunting trips.

mwilley, on Jul 10 2007, 10:00 PM, said:

I dont know where you are located in Texas and I do not know the smog laws there either. But if you have a presmog law, I recommend that you find a presmog cruiser and put a Chevy 350 in it...pretty standard application for FJ40 Land Cruisers. Check craigslist and you can usually find some pretty good cruisers down in the Southern United States. There are usually some good deals on some nice cruisers in Florida on ebay, if you are willing to drive to go get one. New Mexico and Arizona are also pretty popular states to find cruisers. And these don't have bad rust. If you are considering a land cruiser I would take time to look around.