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Sarge

Goodbye to another old friend

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Sarge

The time finally came - I can't do the heavier mechanical work on things anymore and could no longer stand to watch my beloved Land Cruiser rot into the ground. Mechanically, it was perfect and always ran like a sewing machine, but the body was really starting to suffer from age and the weather here. No garage, no place to store it - so I decided to sell and let someone else take it over. Loaded up as much of the spare parts in it last night that it could carry and handed the keys over to a pretty young fella that promises to care for and restore it - he lacks a lot of mechanical know-how but sure makes up for that in excitement, wow. Almost feel sorry for the truck - he's never owned or driven anything older than himself, not even a garden tractor. It took a while to even teach him how to drive the thing, heavy truck transmission and manual steering isn't for everyone, I was sure nervous the whole time. He didn't understand the old straight six and wanted to rev it to the moon in each gear - uh, wrong idea, kid. Not to mention jerking the shifter quickly when changing or engaging gears - took 30 minutes to drive it into his thick skull this is heavy and very old machinery - not a modern car like the Mitsubishi Eclipse he once had, totally different animal and mentality. Despite the abuse, he did make the 2hr trip home last night without an issue, hope the old girl survives or he's going to learn a hard and very expensive lesson about how you treat such things. Has to come back with a box van to pick up the rest of the parts next weekend, I'm interested to see how things are going.

 

The GSD spent all evening last night mad at me - he knows "his truck" left here with someone else and it's gone.

 

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Sarge

 

 

 

 

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stevasaurus

It doesn't look that bad Sarge.  :orcs-cheers:

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oldredrider

I get it..."Rust never Sleeps". Sorry you had to give it up. :|

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953 nut

I know the feeling. Last year I sold my '46 Lincoln Continental convertible project because it was obvious I would never be able to build it. It was my dream car, but things just didn't work out.

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Pullstart

Sorry to hear the news, Sarge.  You probably did what was best for the truck, but it’s a hard pill to swallow I’m sure.  We’ve had Ole Smokey for 7 years now and I’m glad to see it finally inside for a rest.  It might end up being a Horse roof for the winter while I finish organizing the new shop.

 

 

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clueless

Sometimes letting go is one of the hardest thing you'll ever do, but most of the time it's the best thing to do. A little deep but you get my drift ;).

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formariz

Yeah I fully understand how you feel. I also get attached to all the old stuff I have.Also have a 86 Toyota pickup in some friends shop for a couple of years now waiting for him to fabricate/weld  the frame together. The old girl just broke in half one day. If it wasn't for rust those old Toyotas would be around for ever. I hope that young fella is smart enough to quickly realize what he has in his hands and do the right thing for it.

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jebbear

I'm with you there too Sarge. Sometimes these machines grow on you kind of like a beloved dog, that as much as you would like to, they just won't be around forever. I also hope that the young fellow that gave her a new home, appreciates what he is now responsible for and gives it the respect that it deserves.

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Chris G

I'm sorry to here that ya had to let it go. But as previously stated, sometimes letting go is the hardest but best thing to do. Hopefully the gentlemen who got it will keep in touch with you and maybe ask for advice and keep ya involved some with the restoration.

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Sarge

I'm pretty certain by the looks of him, his hands in particular - he's never touched a screwdriver, let alone tackled a vintage truck. A lot of these younger folks are trolling the Land Cruiser sites and looking at how folks are making restoration projects look easy - but they have no idea how much work is really involved. I pray he doesn't decide to tear into it and then leave it in a pile to be scrapped or sold off later - that happens a lot with these things. With no real experience, tackling the bodywork alone is a huge undertaking, and if not done properly he ends up with something that can't even be re-assembled. The IH8MUD vintage Toyota forum is a huge resource for anything that concerns Toyota trucks - there is nothing on any model truck they made that has not been completely covered, including full-blown restorations. They are also an awesome source for parts - many owner/vendors that have tackled building NLA parts (even really weird stuff, like rubber parts or even a full-blown molded dash pad) and will offer support help to the new members that come aboard - very much the same type of community as we have here, just far bigger. But, the last few years a lot of highly demanding young people have come aboard and don't know how to listen, learn and earn a place - they expect everyone to hold their hand and offer them help without even trying to research the plethora of threads that have been repeatedly covered. Many of the forums are having that problem and it's growing. Not always the case and we've had some that are very young that have more than earned a good reputation as well as given back to the community, but it's not like it used to be. I'm not certain which spectrum this guy is going to fit into - but he sure got off to a bad start when he came here....

 

The whole thing was a bad deal to begin with - I loved that truck and wanted it to go to someone that would love it as I did, but he's the worst example of those who should never own a vintage vehicle, let alone work on it. Yeah, he had the money - sure. But not really a worthy buyer - especially with his tactic of how he showed up to take it home. He literally had someone drop him off at the end of the driveway from a 2-1/2hr drive - and leave. It was a real WTF? moment for me, I nearly threw his butt off the property at that second for doing that. It was like a forced sale and I'm pretty certain he knew this old man wasn't too keen on him getting his pride and joy once we met. I also suspect the money wasn't his, but more like his parents or whatever - these things aren't cheap and I was asking a pretty steep price due to all the NOS and spare parts included, some of which are no longer available and worth a small fortune. It got to the point of being sick of the tire kickers, the ones that showed up and thought it was valued far too high for what they were looking at and so many that wanted to lowball the price on it to part it out - that's enough to boil my blood. I nearly took a piece of steel to one knucklehead that laughed at the price for it - his exact words were - "it's just a Jeep, after all?". He was told to leave before needing an ambulance. I did have several that didn't blink at the cost - they knew what it was, how rare they are to find in driveable condition and what the parts value is worth, but they just couldn't afford it. I would have rather accepted half to let someone like that have it - someone that truly appreciated what the thing is, not some idiot looking for something that is just "cool". I know I'm going to regret it, and will probably catch a lot of flak from the senior members on the MUD forum for selling it to this guy - but, hey, they had their chance since the thing has been for sale for 8 months now. Just time to wash my hands of it - thanks for letting me vent somewhere that he won't see versus the Cruiser forum. I just hope he proves me wrong...

 

Sarge

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JERSEYHAWG /  Glenn

Sarge, yes sir. I would be sorry to see it go to. But there comes a time. I have been in your shoes and know the feeling well.

 

Glenn

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pfrederi

Maybe you should refer the kid to this school

 

 

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Lee1977

I hate you had to part with it, don't think I could have. I started back in June on my 80 Toyota 4 wheel drive truck. got it running and most of it painted before I ran out of good weather. I bought it new drove it until

1994. It only has 149 000 miles on it as my neighbor say's "It's almost new." 

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Sarge

Got some texts from him yesterday - he did get it insured and fully registered. The current plan is to come back this next weekend and pick up the rest of the parts. Just for fun, I did ask what he does for a living - got a pretty interesting surprise...

He's an artist, more like an Art director and works in TV and other things. Maytag commercials of recent times - he's worked on those and many more. Hmmm, well - at least he has a decent income. I knew when we met he was a bit "off", like most of us in our own way. But, the guy had no scars, no callouses nor any real wear on his hands - so I know it's not someone that is "mechanical". Says he's sick of sitting behind a desk 24/7, wants to get out and hunt, fish and enjoys vintage 4x4's. Wow, ok...good with me. Seems to have a ton of drive, so who knows? He has bitten off a huge project and as I had explained to him - these trucks seem so simple, yet are so complicated due to being built by the Japanese. Turns out, he dove into his Mitsubishi quite a lot and knows things about JIS fasteners and such (read up on them, not a Philips !!!), which was a good sign. I pound that point out to anyone that picks up a screwdriver, JIS fasteners are different, especially on the older equipment as the angles on the heads are much different. I showed him my much-loved Vessel and KTC drivers - he actually understood them and why they are necessary. That gives me quite a lot of hope, we'll see over time if he follows through.

 

I'm starting to hunt for a second vehicle for work - since the Cruiser is gone my nice pickup is really going to take a beating from the job sites I work on. It won't necessarily have to be nice, just a good truck that can take a beating and be very reliable. Can't afford a Toyota at this time - even half in the grave they are priced way too high used. Looking at Dodge Dakota models around 2000-2002 as those were pretty bulletproof and simple enough. I'd prefer something with better fuel mileage numbers but until you get into the newer vehicles it's just not going to happen and I'm good with that. On the best days the Cruiser could hit 16-18mpg on state highways, but using the Interstate at 70mph, uh - more like 10 at best. The Dakota is rated around 16-18 averages, so that's fine. Just trying to find one that hasn't been totally abused by a youngster is going to be tough, but I'm sure something will come up. Sure feels weird going outside and not seeing that old faithful truck sitting out there, even my wife is a bit sad about it which surprised me. Necessity has a way of changing your life, sometimes its just better in the long run.

 

Sarge

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