Alright, so I've owned an 80 series Landcruiser since I was 16 bought it in 2000 off the auction block it was a 1997 coming off a lease, my dad put it in his name and I made the payments. It was my first car I busted my hump working for it and I kept her up until 2018.....18 years later definitely didn't take it for granted. It was the Lexus version the LX450 which for all intents and purposes is just a re-badged Landcruiser with a few very minor differences, it was my tank and while I owned plenty of cars/trucks in between the Tank never let me down. I decided to finally sell it because as I had leased a GX460 and I didn't need two trucks, that and obviously it was a 20+ year old vehicle and I'm not a mechanic. It was bone stock one owner, a completely pristine example that would probably fetch 30k in todays crazy market for Landcruiser's.......sold her in 2018 for 10k which at the time was even then a crazy fetch but they always held their value and have been sought after just not as much as they are now which is true for most 90's trucks and of course cars in general are crazy right now.
Well I regretted it ever since to say the least and I picked up a 97 Landcruiser in the fall to use a daily driver, this time I planned to build her up instead of keeping it all stock. A few reasons for this besides that I missed my truck, one being that I wanted a hobby which has gone well I have learned to do things on a vehicle that I never imagined myself doing and the other being that I saw the writing on the wall for what was happening with cars and I didn't want to get killed on another lease or buying a new car. I have a second GX lease which is up next month and I'm actually going to do quite well buying it out and then selling it, it will more than pay for the LC.
So it all went well, the truck runs really strong it's completely mechanically sorted it just needed aesthetics which I knew going in and I chose this particular truck because it shockingly had no rust. I personally upgraded a lot of things to modernize it, new tires, new basket rack, new stereo, backup camera, navigation, TPMS, new carpet, new seats, new trim, new LED tails, markers and headlights and dozens of other things. It's in the shop right now for paint and should be done any day, after that it goes to my welder for the aftermarket off road rear and front bumpers and sliders then whatever is left I can do myself. When it's done it's going to be one heck of a built rig!
I have a fun exotic car for the summer and the LC will be my daily driver tank. I've attached an example pic of the look I'm going for pretty much, it will be close to that no snorkel though I'm not doing any river crossings and not a fan of black wheels, also the main color will be a dark grey with all the trim pieces, front/rear bumper, fender flares and sliders being satin black.
So long story short the problem is I now feel like I'm going to be an idiot driving down the road in it!
You know when you see some guy driving around in some crazy truck and you say to yourself "wow what a douche"....yep that's going to be me. Kinda starting to feel I totally miscalculated this decision, I could just sell her she would have a lot of value probably well over what I paid but that defeats the entire purpose of buying her in the first place.....riding out the disaster which is car prices right now. I'm not a flashy or "loud" person, I've always believed in being subtle or humble and even when I do flash it's classy and understated.....I don't think I will have that vibe with this truck!
So as a forum of like minded men......I put it to you, would you feel like a jack wagon driving around this truck daily? I know I know....who cares what anyone thinks I'm just curious what you guys have to say.
Well I regretted it ever since to say the least and I picked up a 97 Landcruiser in the fall to use a daily driver, this time I planned to build her up instead of keeping it all stock. A few reasons for this besides that I missed my truck, one being that I wanted a hobby which has gone well I have learned to do things on a vehicle that I never imagined myself doing and the other being that I saw the writing on the wall for what was happening with cars and I didn't want to get killed on another lease or buying a new car. I have a second GX lease which is up next month and I'm actually going to do quite well buying it out and then selling it, it will more than pay for the LC.
So it all went well, the truck runs really strong it's completely mechanically sorted it just needed aesthetics which I knew going in and I chose this particular truck because it shockingly had no rust. I personally upgraded a lot of things to modernize it, new tires, new basket rack, new stereo, backup camera, navigation, TPMS, new carpet, new seats, new trim, new LED tails, markers and headlights and dozens of other things. It's in the shop right now for paint and should be done any day, after that it goes to my welder for the aftermarket off road rear and front bumpers and sliders then whatever is left I can do myself. When it's done it's going to be one heck of a built rig!
I have a fun exotic car for the summer and the LC will be my daily driver tank. I've attached an example pic of the look I'm going for pretty much, it will be close to that no snorkel though I'm not doing any river crossings and not a fan of black wheels, also the main color will be a dark grey with all the trim pieces, front/rear bumper, fender flares and sliders being satin black.
So long story short the problem is I now feel like I'm going to be an idiot driving down the road in it!
You know when you see some guy driving around in some crazy truck and you say to yourself "wow what a douche"....yep that's going to be me. Kinda starting to feel I totally miscalculated this decision, I could just sell her she would have a lot of value probably well over what I paid but that defeats the entire purpose of buying her in the first place.....riding out the disaster which is car prices right now. I'm not a flashy or "loud" person, I've always believed in being subtle or humble and even when I do flash it's classy and understated.....I don't think I will have that vibe with this truck!
So as a forum of like minded men......I put it to you, would you feel like a jack wagon driving around this truck daily? I know I know....who cares what anyone thinks I'm just curious what you guys have to say.
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