Don't like the adverts?  Click here to remove them

A deranged obsession

Mr_Red

Active Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2017
Messages
62
Country Flag
uk
I have always wanted to get out and see the world, but my interest in overlanding using my own vehicle was really sparked by joining my brother for the last leg of his road-trip from Wales to Kyrgyzstan back in summer 2017. Granted I only joined for 2 weeks, I have never felt so free as we explored the wilds of Kyrgyzstan in a highly inappropriate 0.9 litre Nissan Micra.

I have always been really impressed by how well Japanese cars perform. I have seen Corollas and Hiaces in Gabon being thrashed to the end of their useful lives around partly washed away dirt roads and the like. I was similarly impressed with the performance of the Micra.

I started researching into options for an overlanding vehicle in Autumn 2017 and joined this forum a short while later. It's safe to admit I knew very little about cars at the time, my only experience being the pleasure of driving my mum's old Nissan Micra to work for a few months. I knew I wanted a 4x4, as there were so many parts of Kyrgyzstan we couldn't explore in the Micra and I knew I wanted a scaled down camper-van setup.

I quickly came to the conclusion that a 105 series would be a perfect vehicle, but settled on an 80 series as I couldn't find any 105s in the UK or Europe. The forum thread below shows what happens when you buy an 80 without knowing anything about cars.

https://www.landcruiserclub.net/com...-1-of-whats-wrong-with-my-landcruiser.149931/

I had a world trip in mind for this car, wanting to drive it around Asia and the Americas. A few months later, I discovered to my horror that I wouldn't be able to drive the RHD 80 through Central America. I was also starting to realise that I had purchased what was possibly the worst 80 series in the country. I decided to go back to the drawing board and set to pursuing the 105, which is the vehicle I had always wanted.

After exhausting various online vendors and search engines across Europe, I knew I had to cast the net out a bit further and flew out to the UAE in April 2018 in the deranged and epic quest for a 105.

Day 1 - Dubai
First stop - Dubai. So many Toyota's!

A lovely new 76 series and an absolute steal at just £40,000!

and an equally nice 79

but absolutely no 105s...

Day 2 - Al Ain and Fujairah
First stop Al Ain, one of the hottest parts of Arabia. 41c in April! After wondering around the town looking for Cruisers, I stepped back into my humble rental Kia Picanto and put on my sunglasses, which I had mistakenly left on the dashboard. I then quickly threw them off in a panic because they started burning my face. But anyway, back to the cars.

No shortage of Cruisers for sale! Even the odd Nissan Patrol

A very charming 40 series from 1975

An equally nice FZJ80

and just in case you were wondering where your parts are shipped from...

No joy in Fujairah..

Day 3 - Sharjah, Ajman and Umm Al Quwain

Stop 1. The renowned Souq al haraj - Sharjah. I was starting to panic by this point as I had flown all the way out to the UAE in a crazy search for a 105 and hadn't been able to find any. My luck changed once I hit Sharjah. I found 5 105s.

Here's 2 of them (I ended up buying the one on the left several days later)

Stop 2 - Ajman. Featuring the well hidden 105

So that was it. I had explored all major second hand car dealership areas in the country and found 6 105s. I purchased the least knackered 105 I could find in April 2018...

and by September I found it looking very sorry for itself in a warehouse not to far from its port of arrival in Felixtowe

Being completely unroadworthy and unregistered, it was onto the back of a flatbed...

and off to Scott's!

@Scott is a great guy and he took me under his wing back in 2017 when I got the 80 (which has since been flogged). He has also been invaluable in supporting my somewhat crazy 105 pursuit.

Next, he got rid of the highly illegal sand tyres. Cheers Scott!

After a lot of hard work and utter reliance on the help of others for which I am truly grateful, I now have a fully registered and MOT'd 105.

Of course the 105 is in need of a bit of TLC following its former life, which involved taking tourists out dune bashing in the vast deserts of Oman. To start I ordered £1800 worth of parts from @chapel gate. Cheers @chapel gate!
 
Sounds like the start of some epic adventures!

How much did it cost for the truck and getting it to the U.K. in the end?
 
Sounds like the start of some epic adventures!

How much did it cost for the truck and getting it to the U.K. in the end?
I bought the truck for £5800, but it cost about £8000 in total including import and shipping.
 
After the conversions we had, really happy to see this post and how far you have come. Long may it continue and I wish you many many miles of joy
 
That's a good deal 8k for a 105 isn't bad, depending on its condition.
 
Cool story. I hadn't realised that Dubai had such good shopping. How many miles does it have? What are your plans for it? I assume this one is LHD? As well as being able to access El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica you'll also be able to enter Saudi Arabia in this one. Looking forward to watching this progress.
 
Don't like the adverts?  Click here to remove them
Cool story. I hadn't realised that Dubai had such good shopping. How many miles does it have? What are your plans for it? I assume this one is LHD? As well as being able to access El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica you'll also be able to enter Saudi Arabia in this one. Looking forward to watching this progress.

It's got 150,000 miles on the clock, which isn't too bad for a 2006 and yes, LHD was the key reason to getting it from the middle east as opposed to Australia. I really wanted a 105, which I could drive almost anywhere and not have to worry about being banned from certain countries.

I would like to do a multistage worldwide trip (thread to follow later), which will also involve driving through central America. Would love to drive around the middle east as well in a future trip.
 
Thats a really good price when you compare to the cost and condition of 80 and 100 series in the UK, and no rust I assume.
 
Thats a really good price when you compare to the cost and condition of 80 and 100 series in the UK, and no rust I assume.

That's a major advantage of getting a car from the desert. It's full of sand but is rust free (except a bit of rust on one of the doors).
 
What are the tax issues with exporting these vehicles?

How much was the 40 going for?
 
What are the tax issues with exporting these vehicles?

How much was the 40 going for?
There's no tax to pay in the UAE when exporting. Just a £35 admin free to get the paperwork done. I think the import tax was a total of 15% for my truck. Not sure how much the 40 was going for I'm afraid.
 
There's no tax to pay in the UAE when exporting. Just a £35 admin free to get the paperwork done. I think the import tax was a total of 15% for my truck. Not sure how much the 40 was going for I'm afraid.
That makes export quite viable then if the price is right
 
Well done Mr. Red, just proves there’s no such thing as “can’t” if you’re committed to achieving something :thumbup: BTW, when I spent some time living and working in Qatar, it was my intention to bring my Pajero back with me, it cost me €14k at 10 months old and was as-new with only 14k km on the clock and still with plastic on the seats. I found out the shipping would be about 2,500 plus a staggering €12k for import duty and bribes to get it registered in România... so I sold it there...
 
Last edited:
There are a few left hookers (105 / 78) in Belgium, but importing from UAE maybe cheaper.
 
There are a few left hookers (105 / 78) in Belgium, but importing from UAE maybe cheaper.

If those are the guys I'm thinking of, I gave them a call a few months back regarding their too good to be true collection of low mileage 105s. Sadly the cars have no papers and can only be bought for parts.
 
There's another nifty way around the whole RHD/LHD issue. Just get a Mog with Vario Pilot.

 
I have always wanted to get out and see the world, but my interest in overlanding using my own vehicle was really sparked by joining my brother for the last leg of his road-trip from Wales to Kyrgyzstan back in summer 2017. Granted I only joined for 2 weeks, I have never felt so free as we explored the wilds of Kyrgyzstan in a highly inappropriate 0.9 litre Nissan Micra.

I have always been really impressed by how well Japanese cars perform. I have seen Corollas and Hiaces in Gabon being thrashed to the end of their useful lives around partly washed away dirt roads and the like. I was similarly impressed with the performance of the Micra.

I started researching into options for an overlanding vehicle in Autumn 2017 and joined this forum a short while later. It's safe to admit I knew very little about cars at the time, my only experience being the pleasure of driving my mum's old Nissan Micra to work for a few months. I knew I wanted a 4x4, as there were so many parts of Kyrgyzstan we couldn't explore in the Micra and I knew I wanted a scaled down camper-van setup.

I quickly came to the conclusion that a 105 series would be a perfect vehicle, but settled on an 80 series as I couldn't find any 105s in the UK or Europe. The forum thread below shows what happens when you buy an 80 without knowing anything about cars.

https://www.landcruiserclub.net/com...-1-of-whats-wrong-with-my-landcruiser.149931/

I had a world trip in mind for this car, wanting to drive it around Asia and the Americas. A few months later, I discovered to my horror that I wouldn't be able to drive the RHD 80 through Central America. I was also starting to realise that I had purchased what was possibly the worst 80 series in the country. I decided to go back to the drawing board and set to pursuing the 105, which is the vehicle I had always wanted.

After exhausting various online vendors and search engines across Europe, I knew I had to cast the net out a bit further and flew out to the UAE in April 2018 in the deranged and epic quest for a 105.

Day 1 - Dubai
First stop - Dubai. So many Toyota's!

A lovely new 76 series and an absolute steal at just £40,000!

and an equally nice 79

but absolutely no 105s...

Day 2 - Al Ain and Fujairah
First stop Al Ain, one of the hottest parts of Arabia. 41c in April! After wondering around the town looking for Cruisers, I stepped back into my humble rental Kia Picanto and put on my sunglasses, which I had mistakenly left on the dashboard. I then quickly threw them off in a panic because they started burning my face. But anyway, back to the cars.

No shortage of Cruisers for sale! Even the odd Nissan Patrol

A very charming 40 series from 1975

An equally nice FZJ80

and just in case you were wondering where your parts are shipped from...

No joy in Fujairah..

Day 3 - Sharjah, Ajman and Umm Al Quwain

Stop 1. The renowned Souq al haraj - Sharjah. I was starting to panic by this point as I had flown all the way out to the UAE in a crazy search for a 105 and hadn't been able to find any. My luck changed once I hit Sharjah. I found 5 105s.

Here's 2 of them (I ended up buying the one on the left several days later)

Stop 2 - Ajman. Featuring the well hidden 105

So that was it. I had explored all major second hand car dealership areas in the country and found 6 105s. I purchased the least knackered 105 I could find in April 2018...

and by September I found it looking very sorry for itself in a warehouse not to far from its port of arrival in Felixtowe

Being completely unroadworthy and unregistered, it was onto the back of a flatbed...

and off to Scott's!

@Scott is a great guy and he took me under his wing back in 2017 when I got the 80 (which has since been flogged). He has also been invaluable in supporting my somewhat crazy 105 pursuit.

Next, he got rid of the highly illegal sand tyres. Cheers Scott!

After a lot of hard work and utter reliance on the help of others for which I am truly grateful, I now have a fully registered and MOT'd 105.

Of course the 105 is in need of a bit of TLC following its former life, which involved taking tourists out dune bashing in the vast deserts of Oman. To start I ordered £1800 worth of parts from @chapel gate. Cheers @chapel gate!
It's a pleasure.
Great Post and the most interesting car shopping trip I've ever come across!
Well done.
 
Back
Top