Toyotie, part 4: Adopting Toyotie

Once I had made the decision to go with a series 80 Toyota Land Cruiser, the next challenge was to find the right one.

There was the matter of the model year. I wanted a later model with the updated, more powerful engine and other updates, so my preference was for a 1995 to 1997 model, the later the better. I also had a strong preference for the factory locker option, which would save me a lot of money vs. having to have ARB air lockers put in after the fact.

I preferred mileage as low as possible, although this was going to be relative on a vehicle this old. Happily, the TLC80 is known for its longevity and I’d seen examples with over 300k miles for sale.

I also wanted a model that was stock or close to stock. If it had mods, I wanted them to be in line with what I wanted, which would eliminate the vast majority of the more modified vehicles… I also wanted leather seats and some other options to varying degrees.

Over a period of a few months I carefully watched the market within about a 300-mile radius from San Jose, all the way out to Reno. That market was a modest one, given the relative scarcity of the TLC80, but I tracked over two dozen examples in all. I made a spreadsheet and watched the stats, compared prices, noted what sold and what didn’t, and so on.

I saw a few outrageous prices, some really inexpensive vehicles on the low end, an everything between. I watched Craigslist, Auto Trader, forums, eBay, and more. I saw some nice examples sold which sometimes made me wince!

In the end though, the right one appeared on a specialty forum. It was semi-local, located up around Sacramento. It was a ’96 (next-to-last year), all white in color – which I liked -with a leather interior with other good options like the tow package, moon roof, electric front seats, burl wood, and third row seating. Best of all, it had the factory lockers.

The miles were higher than my preference but not unusually so. It needed a few fixes but nothing major. The Carfax report and history looked good, and it came with a large folder of service records. The price was right.

The icing on the cake was the modifications that had been done. There weren’t a lot of them, but they were all in line with what I had planned: BFG KM2 255/80-R16 tires on the factory rims; the Old Man Emu (OME) 2.5″ lift kit with Slee caster bushings; a 4×4 Labs rear bumper with tire carrier and dual jerry can carrier; and a custom roof rack inspired by the scarce INTI rack. Also included was the massive (and expensive) factory service manual and almost $700 worth of new Toyota maintenance parts.

Including the money saved by having the factory locking differentials, trailer wiring, transmission cooler, etc., this Land Cruiser was going to save me right around $10,000 in upgrade part costs alone, not including shipping, installation, and taxes. That’s more than the vehicle cost!

Happily, as best I could tell, everything looked good when I made my inspection and test drive. I asked a lot of questions and made a lot of observations… And made the deal. On the long drive home, Allison quickly named the Land Cruiser “Toyotie” and declared “This is one sweet ride.” And she was right.

Welcome to the family, Toyotie.

Addendum: This is my first post that has been entirely composed on my iPad 2, including the image management and editing.