Truck of many colors
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Category Archives: Cars & Trucks
1972 Jeepster Commando
From the shop of Paul Bandelier: “Essentially, every part had to be created or custom fit to work. Virtually no easy bolt-on equipment. The engine is a new crate motor from Cummins called the R2.8. It’s a pretty popular re-power option for a lot of vintage trucks.” Here’s a great video of the Commando on (and off) the road.
1972 Dodge W200
An ex-Forest Service truck. The entire drivetrain is from a 1992 Dodge Cummins donor truck. Thus there was no need to fabricate and engineer every single piece. With some work, all of the ’92 parts fit in the ’72 body and frame. The pride and joy of Paul Bandelier.
Lost gas cap found
This is one of those “I left my phone/coffee/purse/baby on top of my car and drove 10 miles without it falling off” stories.
Couple of months back I forgot to put the gas cap back after filling up the pickup and drove home.
When I discovered it was missing I went back to the convenience store but if anyone found it they hadn’t turned it in. So I purchased a “universal” cap because there was no way to replace the original which had been on the truck since 1977.
Yesterday my neighbor flagged me down and held up a gas cap asking, “Is this yours?” He had been raking gravel from his yard back into the road and discovered my gas cap. It somehow remained balanced on the bed of the truck for five miles of turns and hills and only our steep, bumpy gravel road shook it off.
Powerful forces at work here, friends. I’ll come up with some sort of chain to insure this doesn’t happen again. Minty Fresh is once again perfect.
UPDATE: I replaced earlier image with the one above.
1971 Series IIA Land Rover
Link to this beauty (I assume they were all out of every other color) showed up in comments on another post. Restoration by Classic Car Studios in St. Louis. Figured it deserved a post. But I’d be much more likely to buy this truck before one of the new Land Rovers.
When bumpers really bumped
Several months ago I bought an old (’77) pickup truck. Just for fun and hauling stuff. Like me, it’s a little beat up.
While stopped at an intersection today, waiting for the light to change, I got a little bump from the car behind me. (A Hyundai, I think.) In my mirror I saw the woman making cringing “I’m sorry” signs so I just smiled, waved and drove on. Don’t know if it did any damage to her plastic car (and don’t much care since she wasn’t hurt). It was just a nudge but who knows how much damage it would have done had I been in a ‘nice’ car.
Traction
Bought some sand bags to improve the traction over the rear wheels. To keep them from sliding around I built this little keep-your-sand-bags-from-sliding-around thing.
Land Rover: First six months
In a few days I will have been driving the Land Rover for six months. I’ve grown comfortable sitting up high, bouncing and rattling along, trailed by a faint mist of diesel carbon.
I spend a good bit of time shifting up and down and today I became aware of how I can feel the gears through the shifter, meshing and engaging. All the sounds have now become familiar. My entire body is involved in turning and breaking (both manual). I imagine myself in one of those robot-like loaders Ripley operated in Alien. The machine an extension of my body (or the other way round).
On those rare occasions when I rent a car for a road trip I’m immediately aware of how little the vehicle needs me to get where we’re going. A little pressure on the accelerator, a light touch on the steering wheel. The Rover is a visceral experience. A feint reminder of what a thrill it must have been to drive those early automobiles.
1978 Toyota Land Cruiser HJ-45 Pickup
Only $59,000. Probably a good thing I didn’t see this before I went for the Land Rover.
Mystery Suzuki and old Toyota
Took a little drive in the Land Rover today and that means back roads. Two-lane blacktop. And going slow enough to spot these. Couldn’t tell you the model/year of either. I’ll go back some day during the week and talk to the people working on these. Okay, working on the Toyota Land Cruiser.