Do you remember when…

mgreenspan

Founding Member
You could buy a 110 with 49k original miles for $6600? Pepperidge Farms remembers…

Found this while burning all of my old documents from the past 20 years. Almost unbelievable.
 

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Wolf Fabrication

Founding Member
I remember and shed a tear. Seems to be happening with just about every vintage make and model. Classics are now getting stupid prices.
 

Andrew

Well-known member
In 2010 prices were low due to the recession, but a NAS 110 was still in the $50-60k range. I just checked old listings. You could find a decent 94 NAS 90 for about $20k, a bad one for under $20k, and a nice 97 was in the $30-40k range.
 

lcdck

Well-known member
It's funny, I was just thinking "this truck is really not worth the money I could sell it for now." Don't get me wrong. I love my 90. I enjoy driving it and working on it but for what it is I don't think the price reflects the actual value. Same goes for the series trucks as they go up in value now too.
 

pfshoen

Well-known member
Would have been better for the market if Range Rovers had stayed expensive and Defenders cheap.
Now it's reversed and it's popular to try to turn Defs into Range Rovers, and end up with something that's neither.
Hard to see how any of it makes sense.
Why didn't Rover just pimp out Defenders instead of building Range Rovers and Discos?
 

TravelinLight

Well-known member
There is an interesting article on the fall of FTX and the decline in prices for G Wagons and other exotic cars. I wonder if the impact in those areas will have a trickle down effect.
 

Andrew

Well-known member
Would have been better for the market if Range Rovers had stayed expensive and Defenders cheap.
Now it's reversed and it's popular to try to turn Defs into Range Rovers, and end up with something that's neither.
Hard to see how any of it makes sense.
Why didn't Rover just pimp out Defenders instead of building Range Rovers and Discos?
That's basically what Land Rover is doing now, except the RR and Disco have been moved farther upmarket too. I prefer Defenders to stay utilitarian. I love how they were available in so many different configurations to suit actual work, on the farm, industry, military, etc. Now they are just people movers like all the other boring SUVs.

When I was browsing old listings from the early 2010s someone complained about a Defender listed for $45k and said you could buy a 2011 Range Rover Sport for that. Now you could pick up one of those for less than $15k and the Defender is probably $90k now.
 

evilfij

Well-known member
Range Rover Classics are not cheap. A nice 95 is NAS defender money. G-wagens are down a lot, but the entire car market is going down.

Land Rover can’t compete globally in the utility segment and really hasn’t since the defender went up market in the 90s. UK it’s a man with a van, US has pick ups (and vans), ROW (absent some legacy contracts with UK commonwealth militaries and NGO) runs Toyotas and Kei vehicles, China has its domestic vehicles, and yes, you could still buy a relatively utilitarian defender until near the end of production, but it was a niche vehicle.

The new defender, ya, you can buy a stripped down van model with rubber floors, but it’s 2x the cost of an actual utility vehicle.
 

javelinadave

Administrator
Staff member
After look at a few way overpriced rusty, crusty pieces of crap I came to the conclusion that it was time to move to a new platform. That's what brought me my 97 Prado.
 

evilfij

Well-known member
After look at a few way overpriced rusty, crusty pieces of crap I came to the conclusion that it was time to move to a new platform. That's what brought me my 97 Prado.
This is why I want a new 4runner (or wrangler or GX460). The prado is still made along with the 4runner in Japan and I think the GX460 too. I am not sure what a 97 prado goes for these days, but nice LHD 70 series cruisers are very expensive. And I don’t care what it is, it’s 25 years old so not new so they will need stuff (even if it is just service things). And when newish and I was at the dealer, I would not say my beloved NAS defenders, discovery, and Range Rover classics would be considered reliable. Durable yes.

I won’t say want I paid for my 110 other than to say @WreckITFrank gave me what I consider a good/fair deal and it’s fine (and was fine) to drive around, but of course I got ship fitters disease so it got new doors, interior stuff, wheels and tires (most of which I had) but I still have to do a bunch of other stuff to get it to where I want it and finding someone to pay to do that is not easy (setting aside the cost). Even sorting a few minor things takes time. So a well sorted 30 year old 110 and a new 4runner are approximately the same cost at the end of the day. I have such limited time to turn wrenches, it will be nice to have a nice capable durable and reliable new SUV with working heat and AC.

I know this sounds incredibly dumb, but the one thing I don’t like about my tacoma is that it’s hard to load groceries in the space behind the front seats when I have a passenger because of the extra cab doors. When I am alone, I use the passenger side footwell. It’s also a bit long to parallel park in some spots and it’s stick so GF won’t drive it.
 

evilfij

Well-known member
Average Prado is in the $19.500 range. Check out Vansfromjapan.com , that's where I got mine. Briggs did a PPI with knowledge given to him by @mgreenspan
That seems fairly reasonable although only one prado has a price on the site. I wonder what the LHD premium is. I know a lot of people don’t mind (or even prefer) RHD, but ….

One idea I had was to buy a new 70 series and a 25 year old 70 series and rebuild the latter with parts from the former. No reason the same could not be done with a prado. It would be a logistical nightmare of course (getting the new vehicle and rendering it parts), but I am surprised no one is doing it professionally as you can still buy new 70 series (and prados). Maybe there is not a market for six figure 70 series like there is for defenders. I also have in the back of my mind paying someone to take the frame out from under my tacoma and galvanize it. Really what I need is a full time mechanic to complete all the projects I want done.
 
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