Did I Find The Holy Grail Of The 80 Series ?

[Nick B]

This is what I've found . It's a 1996 LC and the owner is an older man ( 65 ? ) who goes to the same gym as me . He is the original owner and he bought it new in Miami . It has never been off-road or out of the state of Florida . No accidents, the original paint still shines, and it does have a split in the leather front seat . And, ( drum roll ) it has the front and rear factory lockers .
The milage is 135,000 . Is that a problem ? Also it has not had the expensive 100,000 service done .
What would be a fair price for this ? He's not ready to sell yet but I'm wearing him down .
Thanks for the help .
Nick

 

[adventureduo]

A 1996 with 135k is a good find. The rest sounds about right. As far as a good price point, i've been out of the game for so long i couldn't tell you. Good luck wearing him down.

 

[92hdj81]

Diesel 81 series = The Holy Grail . Still sounds like it would be a good find.

Cheers

 

[Outback]

Snatch it up when he gets Oldtimmers syndrome!

 

[BIGdaddy]

This is what I've found . It's a 1996 LC and the owner is an older man ( 65 ? ) who goes to the same gym as me . He is the original owner and he bought it new in Miami . It has never been off-road or out of the state of Florida . No accidents, the original paint still shines, and it does have a split in the leather front seat . And, ( drum roll ) it has the front and rear factory lockers .
The milage is 135,000 . Is that a problem ? Also it has not had the expensive 100,000 service done .
What would be a fair price for this ? He's not ready to sell yet but I'm wearing him down .
Thanks for the help .
Nick

I'd say anywhere in the $5000-10,000 range is fair.

 

[davegonz]

What's the 100k mile service you speak of? It's not a 100 series that needs the timing belt and water pump replaced ($600-1k). It probably just needs the birfs rebuilt (seals/grease) and the pesky heater hose swapped.

 

[carlpb]

Good find

I would say under $10 K for sure. 100 K service could mean a lot of things. As far as holy grail maybe for a non diesel, but only if it has no factory roof rack, no spoiler, no fake wood trim etc.

 

[Nick B]

What's the 100k mile service you speak of? It's not a 100 series that needs the timing belt and water pump replaced ($600-1k). It probably just needs the birfs rebuilt (seals/grease) and the pesky heater hose swapped.

Yea that's probably what I'm thinking, the 100 series service schedule .

 

[Nick B]

I would say under $10 K for sure. 100 K service could mean a lot of things. As far as holy grail maybe for a non diesel, but only if it has no factory roof rack, no spoiler, no fake wood trim etc.

It has none of those things . By holy grail I meant a 80 series with the front and rear lockers and one owner with no off road use .

 

[rusty_tlc]

What's the 100k mile service you speak of? It's not a 100 series that needs the timing belt and water pump replaced ($600-1k). It probably just needs the birfs rebuilt (seals/grease) and the pesky heater hose swapped.

Don't the 80 series need a head gasket r&r at around 100K

 

[Brian894x4]

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on whether your buying or selling) the prices for 80s have come down dramaticly. So I would say less than $10K as well, but these are very rare vehicles. VERY few were imported and even less have fewer than 150-200K miles on them.

If it has under 100K miles, that would make it worth a lot more. But 135K is not bad. Original owner and cherry condition are worth a lot in my book as these are extremely hard to find.

There's kind of two prices. The actual value if you had to go sell it (blue book if you will) and for something like this, as rare and as difficult as they are to find, the price you're willing to pay to avert the risk of possibly never finding another one in as good of shape.

With 135K miles, you can expect to have to do a full cooling system service including replacing some hoses and probably the PHH. Headgasket may or may not be an issue. I wouldn't sweat it. You might even get lucky and the owner already had it done. Chances are the front end will need servicing including serviced birfield and serviced and/or new wheel bearings on all four wheels.

Lockers have likely never been used and possibly won't work. They may need to be repaired.

That's the only major stuff I can think off. Other than tune up stuff.

 

[Klierslc]

Don't the 80 series need a head gasket r&r at around 100K

No.

 

[BIGdaddy]

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on whether your buying or selling) the prices for 80s have come down dramaticly. So I would say less than $10K as well, but these are very rare vehicles. VERY few were imported and even less have fewer than 150-200K miles on them.

If it has under 100K miles, that would make it worth a lot more. But 135K is not bad. Original owner and cherry condition are worth a lot in my book as these are extremely hard to find.

There's kind of two prices. The actual value if you had to go sell it (blue book if you will) and for something like this, as rare and as difficult as they are to find, the price you're willing to pay to avert the risk of possibly never finding another one in as good of shape.

With 135K miles, you can expect to have to do a full cooling system service including replacing some hoses and probably the PHH. Headgasket may or may not be an issue. I wouldn't sweat it. You might even get lucky and the owner already had it done. Chances are the front end will need servicing including serviced birfield and serviced and/or new wheel bearings on all four wheels.

Lockers have likely never been used and possibly won't work. They may need to be repaired.

That's the only major stuff I can think off. Other than tune up stuff.

Yup, I have to second this. My dad bought a nice 1994 with lockers and 216k miles. It was also never used off road. PO was the 2nd owner and also knew for sure the original owner only used it to go to the snow once or twice a year, but even then the roads were plowed and open.

Consequently, the lockers and transfer case all had issues locking up, and needed to have their solonoids worked on. He did a lot of PM, too. birfs, fluid flush, baseline tune-up, lift and tires to replace worn out suspension and existing tires, from lots of highway miles carrying a full load.

He bought it for $6000 or 7000, I think. Put about $4000 into it. Just sold it for $6500. :Wow1:

His reason was that after all that, tranny was starting to act up. He priced a new tranny, as well as a R&R to find the specific problem, and just said, "forget it", when non of those totals were less than $2000.00.

So....yeah, Holy Grail? No.

Very good platform with lots of potential? Absolutely. :ylsmoke:

 

[luk4mud]

Price, I would say 5-6k would be a really good deal. Much over 6k, I owuld be looking hard at what major maintenance has been done to justify a higher price.

Also, take it to a dirt area and check the transfer case and lockers before you buy.

 

[RiverCityDave]

I bought mine a few months ago and it was worth every penny, if youre looking to make financial sense of it though, stop right now. It wont work out, hell a good baseline as stated above will blow your financial budget.

The prices vary DRAMATICALLY depending on where you are buying them, when I was in Utah I couldnt believe how many 80's there were on the road, but here in Austin, they are no where near as common. The average I saw in the mountains was maybe 5 to 6K, here in Austin anything nice was still 10K or more. The thing was, they were in comparable condition. Rust is rust, whether it comes from snow or rain and humidity, and lots of those that havent been off roaded have never had diff services, and the lockers wont engage. Enthusiasts USUALLY take care of their vehicles, but they also USE them. Mine has 185K and I wouldnt hesitate to drive it to Argentina today.

Lockers down here dont add to the value like they might up north, lots of folks dont know they have them, lots of those who do dont know what they are for. I heard, "well it has lockers" a lot and I would ask, how often they used them and the most common answer was a proud "Never used" like it was a good thing. The cost of RnR ing inop lockers could be as much as just installing an ARB and Aussie.

Its typical that when people find out they have something others think is valuable, they assume theirs is perfect, I saw trucks that needed the entire brake system over hauled, the interior would be trashed, head gasket needed done, and folks were like "its in acceptable condition for its age" maybe if you want 2500 for it, but at 6500 to 9K, its not.

And finally, I never saw a single truck with leather that wasnt cracked, and AATLAS over on mud has a kit for 500 to 1K to replace it all with brand new. Just include it in your budget. Im so happy I found mine in cloth, but I included the leather kit in my budget while I was looking. I plan to do my steering wheel and shifter next spring. Its nice to have a nice interior, regardless of how youre gonna use the truck.