A few months ago I made a post about declared insurance value for my built up 4runner, in pretty much factory mint condition.
I had 3 people reach out to me asking if I'd be interested in selling it (for mid-teens). I now understand why. There are people out there that are willing to pay top dollar for mint condition older 4Runners. Look at Bring a Trailer, look at Davis Auto, even Autotrader in SoCal has a few stock 3rd gens listed for 14k. It's crazy.
I'm in SoCal, where there is no rust and about 10 4runners on every block, lol. My neighbor even has one. However, I'd say that 9 out of 10 of them are in bad condition.
If you guys have one in mint condition, keep it that way. I think in 5 years, they're going to be worth something (just like early landcruisers, etc).
I heard somewhere that some of these are being bought and exported out of the US too, so there's some demand there now.
They're reliable, safe, easy to get parts for, etc.