LUVTruck.com

Hello all, I just registered, wanted to say "hey" and ask advice on a Luv.
First, name's Michael, been a car guy all my life (42 yrs.), grew up wrenching on late '60's/early 70's musclecars, later in life, fell in love with air-cooled VW's.
I have a chance to buy a '76 LUV, and have been sinking all of my money into restoring a 1960 VW Crewcab for the last 5 yrs., so I need the LUV like a hole in the head...but...
I've always dug the Luv's and the Datsun 620's, so here are the details...sorry I have no pics, but based on description, let me know if the price sounds on par.
Truck in an AZ truck, dry as a bone, OG brown paint...1976, 4-spd trans.
No rust, straight as an arrow aside from normal door-dings etc.
all glass is good, interior is good, new brakes/tires etc.
Just passed emissions/inspection with flying colors, runs great etc.
Has been converted at some time to 4X4...owner has no idea when, goes in and out of 4x4 great, no weird noises from the t-case etc.
Owners are trustworthy, known them for a few years.
They want $2,200.00.

All opinions are greatly appreciated, sorry for lack of pics.

My VW has been my passion for a handful of years, but I miss the musclecar days of my youth, and am already envisioning a stroker 383 in the Luv!

u have to smog 76 cars over there?

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77-luv-stock (Selling or Parting out motor blew up)

75-luv mikado-V8 350 soon

I'm not an expert but that seems a bit high.It better be in really,really nice shape.more like 1750$ ??? any body else?

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76 mikado project,mean green

Sounds fair to me...

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If you think no one cares, try missing a couple of payments...



FIAA!

SFPP!

See if you can put some pics on here. Around 2 grand is not too much for a nice LUV. The $1000 and less trucks usually need a lot, so I think it's definitely worth at least a thou. Especially if the truck is unmolested.

Straight body and no rust are worth a lot (including floor boards, rocker panels, bed and frame). If the interior is good including the dash worth a lot more. If the plastic is good and the bumpers are straight it's worth more. And finally the drive train. If all of these are at least in good shape I'd say it's worth it too.

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1980 4x4 - Hunt'n truck 9yrs only seen pavement to the gas station. Gets a little spooked when it sees another vehicle.

A luv without rust? I don't believe it!



From your description I'd say that its worth it. Quick question though, if you're gonna make it go fast, are you planning on ditching the 4x4? Seems like a hassle to me, I'd rather just buy a 2wd truck to make go fast.

Thanks for all of the replies guys, I'll try to get some pics.
It is solid as a rock, been in the AZ desert it's whole life, OG paint which looks great except for the normal sun-baked hood and cab roof.
Dash is a replacement and excellent, etc. etc.

Eventually I do want to hot-rod it, but nothing too crazy, would like to stay the 4X4 route, my daily driver is an '03 Dodge dually 4X4 that I've hopped up a fair amount.

What kinda mileage do you get with that? Is it diesel?

Cummins 5.9 HO diesel.
It has aftermarket cold-air intake setup w/Uni foam filter, 4" MBRP exhaust, AirDog 100 fuel pump/filter setup, and a Smarty computer downloader.
stock I can get 20 on the highway if I'm empty and stay out of it, usually 17ish city.
The Airdog and Smarty (on lower settings) are supposed to improve mileage, but the downloader messes with the computer mileage readout and I don't hand-calculate.

It might be worth it, I think. How is the 4X4 set up now? $x$ LUVs were '79 and up. So, as you said, this '76 has been converted to 4X4. The original $x$ LUVs transfer case was a married transfer case/transmission thing, and they could only bolt up to certain Isuzu/LUV engines. When you go to swap in your 383, you might be swapping the trans. and transfer case also if they are original Isuzu parts. (which is probably better anyway, because of the big power you'll have)


I used to have a '60 Bus. It was originally bought in Germany, driven around there on vacation and then the people had it shipped home. I owned it in the '90's. It had about 89 thou. original miles on it when I got it. The 36hp motor gave up and I built a 1776 for it. Other than that it was all original right down to the paint, that had a few blemishes but was still shiny. I bought it, wanting to customize it, but I just couldn't do it to that one. It was too nice.
I have always wanted a crew cab. I like them.

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OK, I'm over it. Where's the beer?

you know...I'm curious about the 4X4 thing as well...the truck has early front end with quad headlights...how can I tell if it's really a '76 or a 79-up with earlier front clip?

the easiest way would be to look at the tag on the door or pillar or there might be one under hood but if they swapped the whole front clip then i wouldn't trust it.

also you can look here and this might give you some things to look for
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2083

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zyanug
75 luv stepside... Work in progress
76 fleetside 350hp 1968 327cu
"No replacement for displacement!"
___/__l____
[_@l__l__@_]***

wasn't there some obvious interior changes in between those models? some subtle steering wheel and instrment cluster changes are a good way to defer what year it could be. Although there is a link around here somewhere that can decode the VIN #

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Juice

On that thought, is there any reason to be wary of the truck if it is a later truck with earlier front-clip?

Just try to figure out why it was swapped. Look for any signs of it ever being wrecked under the hood.
77 or 78 and up has the three circles dish cluster and older than 77? has the two oval dash cluster.
Does it have wind wings?
If it's is an older truck with a good quality conversion job to 4X4, I'd say go for it.

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OK, I'm over it. Where's the beer?