Round Up: Old School SUV’s (July 2019)

Here’s a selection of cool, old school SUV’s that I am loving at the moment.

The old SUV’s are having a massive resurgence of late, and prices are getting a little wild. If this is a confusing sentence for your classic car brain to unwrap, let me summarise.

If, like me, you have limited funds but love old cars, you look at everything with an open mindset. Cash strapped car lovers have been doing it for years- so, not a new concept by any means. As prices on the more well-known classics have risen over the years, the average car-lover has needed to cast the net a little wider. When U.S Muscle Cars started getting out of reach, people started jumping on the humble American pick-up – a car once assigned to farm duty. When 911’s reached icon status a few years back, buyers started switching their focus to the more forgotten German sports coupes, such as the BMW 2002 or E9. And when local Ford GT and Holden Monaro prices started creeping out of control, buyers started looking at later cult classics such as the Ford XD-XE ESP and Holden VL Turbo Commodore.

There is currently a similar story unfolding with old SUV’s. The biggest players being the Toyota Landcruiser 60 series, the first-gen Range Rovers, and the Jeep Cherokee. Three SUV’s from three different continents- all filling different voids for different buyers. They are all old, cool-looking rigs, that you can chuck anything in the back of and go anywhere in. But they all have different success stories.

Toyota Landcruiser 60 Series

About a decade ago, companies such as Icon 4×4, The FJ Company and Flex Dream started to pump out stunning recreations and restorations of the humble cruiser- introducing the Mum bus of the 80’s to a whole new audience. These builds were unlike the Sunraysia clad bush bashers we were used too here in Australia, and shone a whole new light on what the Cruiser could be.

Speaking of the bush, they were also un-killable outback- meaning finding a good clean example that hasn’t been pushed to the brink of death or have every panel dented can be hard. This has ultimately pushed prices up, and when good clean examples rear their heads (especially in Turbo Diesel spec), buyers pounce on them.

Here are two nice examples that caught my eye this past week. Not the cheapest, but certainly two of the cleanest:

The above is a 1989 Toyota Landcruiser HJ61 GXL is for sale of Gumtree here for $37.5k. It’s super low kilometres and has the sought after 12ht engine.

Or if bare-bones motoring is more your style, the above 1981 Toyota Landcruiser HJ60RV is for sale on Carsales here for $24k. It is insanely clean.

Range Rover First Gen

The Range Rover’s recent renaissance story is a little more complex, and I think, stems from the fact they are the opposite of the Landcruiser. They rusted (from within – the body panels were mainly Aluminium) and were terribly unreliable (usually classic British wiring related) with many meeting their untimely deaths by way of the crusher. If not that, many had the life pulverised out of them in the bush. Thus resulting in a sense of urgency when a clean example comes up.

That, and they have an aristocratic sense about them- having once been assigned solely to the upper class. This demographic has come crawling back to the humble Rangey, and clean examples can now be seen dotted around Point Piper, Toorak and Sorrento/Portsea on any given day (as if those rich bastards don’t have enough already).

Here is a couple of Range Rovers, both from different ends of the model run:

The above Range Rover 2 Door Classic 1978 is a rare Australian assembled model, and is on Gumtree here for $19.5k

Or, if you’re wishing for a bit more luxury, check out this 1994 Land Rover Range Rover Classic. It’s mint, and features the fuel-injected Rover V8. You can find it on Gumtree here for $25k.

Jeep Cherokee SJ / Wagoneer

As for the Cherokee and Wagoneers, well, its a bit of a mixed bag. You could argue all of the above facts are somewhat true for the American rig as well. But I feel the Cherokees are also catering to another market- buyers who have been pushed out of the F100 and C10 market. These buyers want a big V8 rig, but don’t want to fork out the cash that is now demanded pickups.

I personally love the earlier Wagoneers, but they are few and far between in Australia, however the Cherokees do pop up quite often. Here are two that I would love to own:

The above 1982 Jeep Cherokee is at the high end of the market valuation but is well worth it judging by the condition. You can find it on Gumtree here for $30k.

The above 1979 Jeep Cherokee is priced a little more competitively and still looks to be in great condition. You can find it on Justcars here for just $10k

Whatever the story is, they are all cool. And if you want one, you best jump in quick as prices are already soaring.

If you really want to stand out:

This 1972 “Suffix A” 6wd 2 door Range Rover came flying across my desk this week, forwarded on from a good friend. Not too sure what story is here, or who built it. But if you want to make it yours, check it out on Gumtree here for $30k