Buyer Beware
Saturday, June 13th, 20091981 Toyota SR5? for sale on Ebay
Anyone that knows me at all knows that I have always wanted to find a nice original two-tone SR5. After several years here it is. Or is it? This truck is currently for sale on Ebay listed as follows:
| Original one owner Toyota 4×4 SR5 Pickup. Still has the original paint!! Has a very rare factory red and white paint scheme with orange and yellow stripes. Only 144,000 miles. Runs and drives great! Engine is smooth and quiet with no knocks or ticks. No known mechanical problems. Body is in great condition for its age. Comes with factory air conditioning and heat. Manual 4 speed still shifts like new |
Seems like a great deal right? The trouble started with a quick review of the VIN:
JT4RN48D9B0025179
Whoa! How is it that a two-tone SR5 original truck has a VIN code of a truck that is a Deluxe Long Box? After all it is a one owner truck right? Well no. Out of frustration I decided to order a Carfax report. Oddly, the truck has been titled 3 times. First record of registration was in 1996 in New Mexico with 118K miles. How did this happen? Someone suggested to me today that the truck might have been imported from outside the US. Therefore the second owner bought it in 1996. The next record showed a title issued in 1999 in California. This makes sense as the pics show the truck with California plates on it. However the current seller is located in Oklahoma. So it would seem as if the seller purchased the truck from the third owner, making him the fourth owner. However the current seller doesn’t claim to be an owner as he bought it from the original owner, but didn’t put the truck in his name cause he wanted to sell it. Isn’t that illegal?
So I can only guess that one of two things has happened. A) One of the owners took all of the SR5 items from another truck and updated a Deluxe model. Factory SR5 items include: tach/speedo with trip meter, oil/volt gauge pod, woodgrain dash panel, bucket seats, 3 spoke steering wheel, SR5 decal on tailgate, oh and two-tone paint. Seems like alot of work. I am leaning toward plan B) take tags and title from a Deluxe truck and add them to the SR5 truck in order to hide the vehicle history or sell a stolen vehicle. Isn’t that illegal?
A 4 speed transmission? Not on an SR5 truck. Finally, the seller has repeatedly listed this truck has having factory air conditioning. Take a look at the pictures. Anyone that knows anything about original Toyota trucks can see that it does not have air conditioning. How can it be that a one owner truck could be misrepresented like that?
It saddens me greatly that a Toyota like this has fallen into the hands of someone that is less than forthright. It seems to be bringing top dollar though. I hope the money is worth it.
