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Crappy Old Vehicles Bob Has Owned
I like wrenchin', and I've twiddled with my share of clunky old cars. Here's
the history behind all the grease.
For a superior product, check out Dave's
Vehicle Page.
He actually still has all those things in his yard.
Bucephalus
1983 Subaru GL Wagon 1.8l 300,000+ miles
First car - drove it for years, but the lack of AC and power
encouraged me to sell it, to spudboy - after years of spud off-roading,
returned to me
and sold again - last I heard it had been rolled, but every once in a while
I think I see it around Socorro...
Bucephalus heading home after a snowboarding mission
Yoda
1980 Toyota Corolla SR5 1.8l 280,000+ miles
Second car - bought from ex-girlfriend for $500 - put over
100,000 miles on it, drove to GA, CA, drove every weekend
to Farmington NM, a 550-mile round trip. Absorbed incredible
amounts of off-road abuse. Fast, reliable, efficient, good AC, but not
too comfy. Sold for $300 with the engine still in great
shape, but I had to drop in a junkyard 3rd-member at some point.
Yoda enjoys one of many outback safaris, this time to the ghost town
of Riley, NM
George
1994 Geo Prizm LSi (Toyota Corolla) 1.6l 130,000 miles
I had wanted another Corolla since I stupidly sold Yoda (see above).
This car had been worked over by an SUV. I picked it up for super
cheap, but it took dozens of hours to fix. To it's credit, the driver
was completely unhurt. It didn't cost much to fix, either. And,
it usually gets 38MPG! Yeah, I like George.
George as I bought him
Partway through the hammer and crowbar work, some new sheet metal
George, all fixed and happy! No, I'm not going to paint him.
SLUG
1977 Toyota Landcruiser FJ40 250,000+ miles
SLUG: SLow and UGly. Bought with a thrown rod. Found a freshly
rebuilt engine from a railroad train smashed Cruiser in Arkansas (The
driver was drunk, and didn't survive). Took the whole thing apart:
Tranny, T-case, axles, everything. Years later the beast lives again.
the SLUG freshly resurrected. Note the lack of windscreen, and
the snow on M Mountain. Yes, it was cold!
The SLUG near the middle of nowhere
The train-wrecked 2F (4.2l) engine from Arkansas
The Arkansas engine now in the SLUG
The Xfer case housing had a crack. Fixed, rebuilt, and installed.
My old mountain bike
1991 Specialized RockHopper Sport, thousands of miles and highly customized
No vehicle list would be complete without mentioning my only mode
of transportation as a college student. I beat the crap out of this
poor bike. I no longer own it, but it's still alive here in Socorro.
I pedaled this bike from sea level to the top of Mauna
Kea, Hawaii. 13,800 feet up. I was young and stupid then. The W. M. Keck
Observatory in the background.
Bubbles the Tow Monkey
1963 Ford F100 292 V8 130,000 miles
First pickup - bought from Jesus Acosta - used to be Winrock
Center Mall utility/trash truck. Towed huge tonnage
from the other side of Texas, etc. This truck is still running great,
it lives in Lemitar, NM.
Bubbles tows the 1960 4x4 back to the ranchero
Cruiser2
1965 Toyota Landcruiser FJ40 32,000 miles
parts truck - I bought it already dismantled. Towed it from the other
side of Texas in the middle of the summer - it's awful rusted out -
took off good parts for the SLUG and sold primitive engine to LC
enthusiast - Ogre got the running gear to put under his 280Z.
Before I got it, the '65 FJ40 had been dismantled. Before and After.
Rescue of the '65 Cruiser from Texas, spudboy assists.
Dave took the old F engine to Missouri. It now lives in a Cruiser
in Grants, NM.
Ford2
1960 Ford F100 4x4 292 V8 84,000 miles
threw a rod, free truck. Was going to fix but was having too
much fun with the Cruiser. Given to Ryan who bought a new
engine for it. Ryan then sold it to my little brother, and
the new engine ended up in...
Ford3
1961 Ford F350 flatbed dually 292 V8 92,000 miles
My little brother had too many projects, so I ended up with this
monster. The original 292 had been run dry of oil, and blew up. My
little brother had dropped in a new 292, but didn't have it running
yet. I finished putting it together and got it mobile. Had to re-create
the electrical system as previous fires and hotwiring attempts had left it
a mess. Didn't have much use for such a big truck so sold it.
It's still working on a ranch near Magdalena.
1961 Ford F350 Flatbed Dually
Goro
1987 Subaru GL Hatchback 4x4 1.8l 83,000 miles
Slightly less reliable than Yoda at first but I managed to
fix everything. 4x4 low range is nice + kick ass air conditioning.
See my advertisement for Goro.
This car was sold and now lives in Magdalena.
Front to back: Goro, SLUG, and F350
Goro out at Box, trying to hide
I took the EA81 engine out to swap the tranny and replace the seals
Worm
1985 Mazda GLC-lx 160,000+ miles
Mushi and Barb spent hours and $$$ in a skilled and heroic attempt
to resurrect this car. It sat fallow in the yard for
years until I got inspired, bought it, somehow got it running (Mushi
and Barb had actually done most of the work already),
and sold it. Nice car except for stupendously complex
Emissions Controls that are a real pain and make the
car not run unless they are just right.
Iguana
1977 Chevrolet Impala 305 V8 78,000 miles
Temporary car, was just wrenching it for fun. The full name
is "Blasting Across the Alkalai Flats in a Jet-Powered
Monkey-Navigated Iguana of Love". Overpowered and
heavy, a real nice highway car if you can afford the gas.
Subaru3
1983 Subaru GL Wagon 4x4 1.8l 192,000 miles
This car had been rusted out and rolled. Some previous owner had
entertained thoughts of running it in a mudbog competition
and had removed all the windows, doors, headlights, the rear seat, etc.
At the last moment, the fuel pump had second thoughts. Danny bought
it for super cheap and took it apart to see how cars work. Then
he gave the carcass to me and I almost considered running it in the
mudbog but, in the end it got turned into parts for Goro and $6.74
in recycled steel. The front seats now reside in a Jeep Wagoneer.
Updated January 14th, 2003