Over the last several months, I have been looking for an FJ80-series Toyota Land Cruiser. It was to be our beach vehicle, as it has three rows of seats and is also an appreciating model that shows no signs of slowing down.
My friend Jeff, who was the mechanic that spent a fair amount of time on the blue 1986 Isuzu Trooper and allowed the white Range Rover County to live at his house for a spell, has connected me to a seller with my preferred variant of the FJ80: the Lexus-badged LX450.
Now, I pointed this truck out to Jeff when he told me he felt the Range Rover wasn't worth working on, a noble gesture considering I was going to pay him too much to bring it back to life. He may have decided he didn't want the money that bad, which is also sort of what happed with the Trooper. I ended up feeling like the shop just wanted to be done with it, so I quickly sold it and a project-grade 1985 Toyota Cressida I had dropped off there a few months beforehand. It just felt like everyone was burnt out. But as I was preparing the Range Rover to get picked up by its new owner, I showed Jeff the picture of the dark blue/green LX450 parked at the shop and asked him about it.
Turns out it was a good customer of theirs, someone who lived outside of the U.S. half the year and whose son was using the truck in Newport. Jeff promised to inquire about it and indicated he felt it could be had for a good price. Fast forward a few weeks and Jeff indeed confirms he can make the deal happen, with the owner dropping the truck along with the title at his house in the coming weeks while he prepares a new vehicle for his son to drive around in.
The price is really good - well below current valuations for a Land Cruiser of this vintage - and the whole thing just seems too easy. I'm a firm believer in "If it's too good to be true, it probably is." But there's also a part of me that believes Jeff feels bad I sold the Trooper and that he never did any real work other than diagnostics on the Range Rover, so maybe he thinks he owes me a good truck. I don't know how strong his moral compass is.
Regardless, I'll find out in the coming days if this is all going to come together, and then I'll hopefully know for sure which end is up.