Two new arrivals at Paul’s Home for Vintage Pickups this week. Not really a home since they’ll both be snapped up once Paul has given them a little love. He makes sure they run and are safe to drive but not much more (well, new tires of course). The Brown Bomber is a 1972 Ford F-150 and The Yellow Peril is a 1970 Ford F-250.
You’d have to look long and hard to find someone more knowledgable about exotic vehicles than Grayson Wolf. It was March of 2017 when Grayson started searching for what was to be my Land Rover. We’ve become friends in the the ensuing years and he is easily one of the most interesting people I have ever met. And a really good guy. Which brings us to the Pinzgauer project. I had never heard of a Pinzgauer.
(Wikipedia) “The Pinzgauer is a family of high-mobility all-terrain 4WD (4×4) and 6WD (6×6) military utility vehicles. The vehicle was originally developed in the late 1960s and manufactured by Steyr-Daimler-Puch of Graz, Austria, and was named after the Pinzgauer, an Austrian breed of cattle. They were most recently manufactured at Guildford in Surrey, England by BAE Systems Land & Armaments. It was popular amongst military buyers, and continued in production there throughout the rest of the century.”
As you can see from the photos below, Grayson has converted this one for comfy off-roading.
His next project sounds even more interesting: Designing an off-road obstacle course for a customer.
A big ranch in Tomales Bay. Trying to design something fun, with great views, and some perceived risk (make the truck lean, teeter on three wheels, etc) without any actual risk of rolling or damaging the vehicle. (While I’ve never done one of these) I love all of the individual ingredients – operating heavy equipment, chainsaws, 4×4-ing, design work, and, most importantly, rolling trucks over while off roading – so I feel qualified :)
While my tastes run toward beat-up older vehicles, I was fascinated by this article in The New Yorker. (“The World’s Fastest Cars — and the People Who Drive Them”). The term “hypercar” entered the lexicon in the two-thousands, when other carmakers (began) producing absurdly powerful, and prohibitively expensive, limited-edition models. Most have theoretical top speeds approaching or exceeding 300 m.p.h. And they get there quickly:
(The Rimac Nevera) accelerates faster than any road car ever made: zero to 60 m.p.h. in 1.74 seconds, and zero to a hundred in 3.21 seconds.
Think about that. You’re at a standing stop…you pin the accelerator and… one thousand one, one thousand… and you’re going sixty miles per hour.
What makes a pickup truck a pickup truck? What is the essential element or feature? What makes a pickup different from an SUV with big rear compartment? In all fairness, in this article in The Atlantic (Admit It, the Cybertruck Is Awesome) they use the term Cybertruck to describe the latest from Tesla. If you’re interested in pickup trucks, EV’s or Tesla (I suppose), it’s worth a read. A couple of my favorite nuggets:
“Toyota is working on a simulated stick shift for EVs that will let drivers pretend to manually shift gears, and many EVs spurt out fake engine noises.”
All three of my vehicles have manual stick shift in the floor. I understand the attraction. For me it’s part of the difference between riding the truck and driving the truck. As for fake engine noise? I’m reminded of clipping a playing card in the spokes of my bike wheels. From the same article:
“A fully electric Ford F-150 Lightning is a technological feat that can power a house for up to three days but from a distance, you can’t tell it apart from its gas-powered cousin.”
There are lots of Teslas on the road so maybe the Cybertruck will get some traction . Or it might be another Delorean.
Not sure you can call this camping but would be nice to have when the apocalypse rolls in.
Let’s start with this 1941 Cadillac. Don’t know the story but there must be a good one. Check out the dash and gauges pics below.
Next we have a 1951 Chevrolet 3100.
This morning YouTube served up a 25 minute video of a Series III Land Rover (same as mine) getting fitted with a newer 300 Tdi engine.
My Land Rover had to undergo the same procedure back in 2018 as part of the restoration. I purchased a rebuilt 300 Tdi from Zombie Motors out in Oregon. Photos here, here, here and here. Not cheap. But less expensive than having the engine shoe-horned into my Rover. I feel better about what I paid after watching this video. And in the five years I’ve been driving the Land Rover, it has never failed to start on the first crank. Not once.
When I see ancient vehicles like these I am certain they will never be driven again… and there is someone, somewhere, who could make that happen.
One of the “Bandelier Bandits” showed up today driving highly customized 2001GMC C-6500. A local artisan created one very big pickup truck. I think the price tag on this is $12,500. In case you’re wondering… two-wheel drive. There is nothing practical about his truck. It’s a work of art.
I spent a couple of hours at the Jeep Reunion that took place in Fulton, MO on Friday and Saturday (I’ll share a few photos in a separate post). The highlight for me was the Latimer Family Jeep, a 1946 CJ2A.
The Jeep has been handed down to C. J. Latimer who was at the reunion with his father, step-father and grandmother. It was purchased by C. J.’s great grandfather in 1946 for use on the family farm near Marshall, MO.
A local businessman opened a Willys distributorship just after the war and the Latimer Jeep was the first one sold in Saline County. C. J.’s great grandfather purchased the Jeep for $150 and it arrived in a crate, ready for assembly!
The Latimer Jeep has an extension to the tub that was sold as a dealer accessory for agricultural use. According to family history, Great grandpa Latimer had to sign an affidavit that the Jeep would be used for agriculture. And when it was time to put up hay, the Jeep could be put in low gear and great grandpa Latimer could walk along beside the Jeep loading bales of hay.
C.J’s great-grandfather added a glove compartment but the Jeep is –for the most part– unchanged since it was purchased almost 80 years ago. The only hands that used and worked on the Jeep were C. J’s grandfather and great grandfather.
C. J. plans to get the Jeep drivable but plans no other changes.