toy
I gave an approximation - it was not a straight change from miles to
km! give me at least an ounce of brain cell, matey! and yes, I DO know
how to convert one to the other...
Renate
"Dear Jon,
It was nice of you to take the care to find some LC's for sale, go and
take
pictures of them at the weekend, spend time uploading them onto your
pictures site, then writing a description of them and posting it here.
We
have all had a good laugh at shooting them down in flames, please do it
again to keep us entertained, we know you have the capacity to do it
again
for us as you are such a reliable supporter of the list.
Love and kisses the ELCO team "
=========================So experts, to answer some of your points.
First, bear in mind I have an 80 bought at such a sale as the one I
have
illustrated. After nearly 4 years and a lot of mountain miles later it
is
still with me. 'Charlie the Cruiser' is my best mate and replaced my
old
Labrador.
I also had an ex UN 4Runner from bulk disposal which was in just as
good a
nick.
Who has run an engine to a great mileage on dyno oil - ME. But since I
got
the 80 I have put synth in it. No leaks, no bad seals, no high oil
consumption. Its a Toyota quality engine not a Ford Explorer. And as I
wrote, aid agencies do look after the mechanicals and service at timely
intervals, if nothing else cos they expect them to last a long time
after
making such a high investment, otherwise the developing world would be
covered with Lada Niva's and YAZ 4WD's. (Russian army 'jeep').
Renate I think maths is possibly not your forte, 300,000 miles is not a
direct conversion of 300,000km . Just divide by 8 and multiply by 5 !
The seats of the 80's offered are cloth, with carpets too - I know cos
not
only have I seen them - I used to drive one of them. The 75 is a
troopie
and has plastic covers. But the spec of a 75 is much lower, though an
easier vehicle to work on. It is not meant to be a family car but a
rough
workhorse that can be hosed out weekly. Both my military spec Toys have
had
cloth seats and plastic mats.
Seat covers are part of the spec that you request even from specialist
suppliers like Toy Gib. But at times they may have certain items
included
to meet an import standard to dodge duty etc. (I once came across a man
in
Hungary who imported a whole trainload of Renault 5 vans - ever heard
of a
R5 van ? they never made them. But he took out the seats, put plastic
panels over the back windows colour keyed to the body and 'sealed' in
with
black auto body sealer. They came in at minimal duty. A truck came over
the
border with assorted 'used spare parts' - the seats which had no
packing on
them cos they were just take out of the cars and loaded-up roughly. You
can
guess the rest of the story). But I digress.
As for engine power in the sand, I haven't a clue. But you can email my
mate who is purchasing officer for the USA/Algerian oil company Andarko
out
in the Sahara. He buys 70 series today with HZJ engines and leaf
springs.
They are still made for the mineral extraction and oil industries cos
they
are best for their work, do the job and are easy to maintain in
difficult
terrain. I think they may still make them in Venezuela. Power enough
for
those boys.
Gibraltar sourcing. They just supply what you want as long as you don't
want a 'saloon' type car and are 'trade' or an official body. They are
not
bought there cos of the Duty, it is irrelevant first cos of location,
second cos they are mostly bought by bodies who pay no duty at all.
Governments, military, aid agencies, international organisations. All
these
work on a nil taxation basis. We go to Toy Gib cos they are the only
outlet
for such vehicles in Europe/Med area and they have a direct source, so
are
able to supply most specs either from local stock or from stock held by
Toy
worldwide. They can also come with a Gib registration which can be used
for
a finite term without getting local registration in the country of
use.
Personal import to UK. (Bearing in mind that I have a Pajero in UK
originally registered in Japan). My understanding of this is that there
are
2 different standards. The commercial standard which I think is
referred to
so far, but also a personal import standard. So if you can prove that
the
vehicle has been owned by you for a while, then the spec is not
scrutinised
so much. It must pass the MoT of course, but does not have to go
through
the specific procedure of the commercial trade imports. I know of
someone
who bought in Japan, ran it on the road for a day there with an
insurance
ticket in his name, and them imported it on a personal basis even
though it
came on a ship with 500 others. The insurance ticket was all the
evidence
he needed. (I have also read on the DoT website that you need to own
it
for 6 months). The biggest cost of import from a LHD country is
changing
the lights, they will not allow blanks or filters on the lenses of
headlamps. For a personal import I think they will allow non 'e'
numbered
lenses as long as they are the right dimensions etc. and of course you
have
the rear fog lamp. But I think the trade imports all have to have 'e'
numbers on all lenses. By the way, my Paj does not have a speedo
conversion
(just felt tip conversion 'chart' on the screen) and it passes the MoT
every year without comment.
Anyway, I will now go back and crawl under my stone and entertain
myself
reading my emails for lottery winners, cheap viagra, other people's
wives,
changing ATM PIN numbers, and bargain software.
Cheers
Jon
'92 HZJ80 ex UN surplus in Bosnia - where I live in the 'real world'
where
buying a vehicle is just another daily challenge ;o)
