My new (to me) 86.5. Anyone know its history?
 

As some of you may recall my 85 was T-boned on 9/28, so I've been looking for a replacement for the last couple months. Last night I brought home an 86.5 that I found on autotrader at a local GMC Buick deal of all places. Unfortunately the car has been scrubbed of all its previously, so I'm hoping someone here may recognize it and can help me regain so me of its story. From best I can tell it was originally an Ohio car that was transferred to Austin, TX at the beginning of 2013, where it stayed until being traded in at the GMC dealer. Somewhere along the way it had quite a bit of work put into it, as the steering wheel, dash,door panels and center console have all been recovered, as well as a full carpet kit seems to have been installed. .I can only imagine that it had to have been owned by someone who would have been familiar with Rennlist or at least this community as it has a set of Hans' Project Nine speakers in it. The front bumper cover was obviously replaced as it hasn't been trimmed for the S brake ducts, and corresponds i assume with the accident report from 94.

In general the car seems fairly presentable, but there will be plenty of (hopefully small) issues to sort through. right side marker lights, HVAC vac pods, rear hatch release...and some questionable maintenance, like the fact that they just cut the original plug wires off where the extended out from under the intake and just draped the new set around the outside instead of routing them through all the factory mounting brackets.

As mandatory, here are a few pic's. The firsts is my wife and I after stopping for dinner with some friend,but the others are from the for sale ad.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...d1807cb778.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...7b81ffad4a.jpg

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...9251b7a160.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...0dfaf3d112.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...6ef89e4416.jpg

Looks nice! Congrats!

You obviously have a thing for silver cars? :-) I think its a good color for German cars. I would rather have a silverish/light grey than red myself actually. But it is what it is.

I missed the thread about your other car's fate. Was this other silver one just in the neighborhood, or did you have to travel to get it? Where is it from?

By your tag name, I take it you have an FJ? I am slowly looking around for one. Anyway, wish you all the best with the replacement shark!

Congrats and beautiful car.
Could it have had a Champagne or Rob Budd treatment? The steering wheel stitching seems like a Champagne product.

That looks very familiar. Shoot me the VIN, I may have been the one to do this work a while back.

Nice pickup Simon! Glad you were able to find another close by! Hopefully with all that work someone on here can give you some history.

Quick come back!! Looks nice too. Interesting the connection with Land Cruisers too, I own two 40's a 62 and an Lx450. I always see LC's and 928's on BAT... Nate?

Sean, there is no way in hell that you would just cut off the spark plug wires where they go under the intake and just route the new ones outside the intake. No way.:)

Simon, Congratulations on your new car. It looks great. Can't wait to see it in person.

Way to go Simon

Nice find. I agree with Hoi - looks like a Champagne interior, which means somebody loved it and likely took pretty good care of it too. Hopefully the wheels from your prior car are still good - they look great and will look great on your new car too, if you make the swap.

Congrats Simon. Looks good and you'll have any issues sorted quickly.

I have three customers in Austin with 86.5 auto cars.
I will ask them if they have sold one lately.

Thanks for the follow up guys. I'll try to keep you updated as I learn more about this car, and as I work my way through the systems.

I established my user name back before I had a 928, when my daily driver was, as you could guess, a 1976 Toyota FJ55 Landcruiser. Ive subsequently just kept it as my user ID on all the forums I've joined since i know it isn't directly relevant to the forums I'm on these days, but its also interesting to see how so many recognize it and their involvement in the old Landcruiser scene.

Champagne was one of my initial thoughts as well, but I have emailed Paul including a few pictures of the interior of this car and he graciously replied, but denied that this was an interior that he had done.

I guess Rob Bud will be the next stop for info, plus I need to follow up with him on another project anyway.

So I still in the hunt for information.

I haven't had much of an opportunity to work on it yet,it will probably have to wait till after the holidays before I can give it much time, but I'm excited to finally get into it.

Hi Simon,

Glad to hear that you got a great car. It looks really nice and I bet you have learned more about its past by now.

Any update photos and comments as to how the insurance worked out?

Regards,

Dave