Been following the For Sale site on IH8MUD.COM for the last several years looking for a late model FJ Land Cruiser. The wife finally gave me the OK to buy one, yeah! 2 weeks ago, one nice one came up, a FJ60 located in Fresno. After a couple of inquiries, found out it was in almost perfect condition, and low mileage (133k), but what scared me away was an oil leak, knuckles never rebuilt, carb never rebuilt, and the owner needed to bypass the ERG to pass smog. I did not want to deal with this!
Then another FJ60 came up, but it had a V8 conversion and CA certified. Research on the seller showed that he previously posted on the forums in January with a list price of 12,500. Now he has it listed for 9,500. More digging after he posted his email address, I was able to find where he lived and his profession, a cinematographer. I emailed him a couple times, and we met at his house on Memorial Day. Driving up Lincoln, I was a bit disoriented. He lived accross the street from a presbyterian Church, but I prematurely stopped at another church. Then I saw a white FJ62 zoom by, and by his posts I kew he had 2 FJs and perhaps it was him driving home. The original appt was for 10am, but he changed it to 10:15. Anyhow I followed the truck up a bit, and it stopped at his house. I passed it and it was a female driver, prob his wife. Anyhow, not to scare her I parked up the street a bit. I walked to the house and me his wife and two kids, and dog. He showed me his truck, popped the hood and explained the conversion to me, and showed me the CA tag. Nice guy but there was something about him that wasn't all nice and cozy. We took it out for a test drive, and for the life of me I had difficulty with 2nd gear, it was rather difficult to pop it in, and it didn't feel like the V8 was adding anything to the truck. Upon our return, I thanked him and asked for his bottom line, he stuck with 9500, but perhaps a possibility of some negotiations. The exterior car was great for it's age, and no paint defects or console defects.
Left feeling a bit confused. Was I a bad driver or was there something wrong with the transmission?
Luckily the day after memorial day, I looked at another car I was following on the Wondries site, and the price dropped from 9,995 to 5995 for an 84 FJ60. WOW, what a drastic sudden drop. Popped in on Wednesday for a look see. 1st problem was the person's name on the email quote no longer worked there. Jorge showed me around, and the 2nd prob was he didn't know where the car was. We finally found it in an elevated garage. 3rd problem was the on-line photos showed a pristine truck, and the FJ60 sitting in front of me was far from it.
Things wrong
1.The multiple long scratch dent on the side roof that has already rusted.
2.Dashboard with dents and cracks that show someone tried to pry out the stereo
3.Multiple dents on bodywork
4.Fading paint on Hood
5.Dent on front and rear bumpers
Test Drive
1.Steering wheel clocked 1/4 turn counterclockwise
2.Brakes, almost non existent, had to put all body force onto pedal to make it stop
3.suspension acceptable for now
4.high idle, choke cable, no use
Dealer kept saying that the car has not gone through service yet, and that after service they would talk to used car and determine what and if certain things would be fixed. I told him no way is this car worth 5k, maybe 2k but definitely not 5k.
