On the road!
- Thread starter Mark Wein
- Start date
mongooz
.
So the other day I ran over to Home Depot and saw this,
Couldn't find what I wanted so I went to Menard's and saw this,
the truck needs "moonies"......a friend in high school had that same Mach I. imagine 16/17 year olds running around in 428 Cobra Jets today.
mongooz
.
The mother of all Ghias,
kinda reminds me of the movie "King of the Mountain"
OGG
Master of the Meh
Every Friday from April-September my town has "Cruisin' Grand", where they turn Grand Ave into an 8 block long classic car show with live bands and food etc...
Every week there's hundreds of cars, most of which are diehard regulars. I haven't gone in a while, so I just took two of my kids and walked around. Here's some highlights:
P.S.
The VERY GREEN Chevy truck belongs to my old childhood neighbor Jim Stonesifer, who did a frame-off resto on it in his 70s. He still lives in the house next door to my childhood home. Amazing guy, can build or fix anything. In the early-mid 1970s he built a Model A Hotrod from scratch in his garage. It took him a few years to complete it, but every once in a while, after making some progress, he would take us neighborhood kids for rides in it. I remember the first time, I was 7 or 8. The fiberglass tub had no paint, no opening doors, no seats, no dash... but the 427 up front was good to go, so he threw some foam pads in it and took me around the block. No roof, no seatbelts, hardly anything to hold on to... OMG it was AWESOME!
Sent from Crab Nebulae via reverse engineered alien technology
Every week there's hundreds of cars, most of which are diehard regulars. I haven't gone in a while, so I just took two of my kids and walked around. Here's some highlights:
P.S.
The VERY GREEN Chevy truck belongs to my old childhood neighbor Jim Stonesifer, who did a frame-off resto on it in his 70s. He still lives in the house next door to my childhood home. Amazing guy, can build or fix anything. In the early-mid 1970s he built a Model A Hotrod from scratch in his garage. It took him a few years to complete it, but every once in a while, after making some progress, he would take us neighborhood kids for rides in it. I remember the first time, I was 7 or 8. The fiberglass tub had no paint, no opening doors, no seats, no dash... but the 427 up front was good to go, so he threw some foam pads in it and took me around the block. No roof, no seatbelts, hardly anything to hold on to... OMG it was AWESOME!
Sent from Crab Nebulae via reverse engineered alien technology
Knox in Box
Rustbelt refugee.
Haven't seem one of these in a while.
mongooz
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like since the 80's. they tried to sell those in the US, but it just didn't catch on.
Knox in Box
Rustbelt refugee.
Yeah, I remember they tried to start it under the brand name Merkur badged as the XR4ti and it never caught on, they're not as rare over here, more so in the states. It has been a long time since I've seen one anyways.
OGG
Master of the Meh
I had a customer at one of shops that had an XR4Ti that he cherished like a precious heirloom. He would ONLY deal with me, and on any given day, I could be at any of 23 locations... or none at all.
No matter, he had my cell number and would call me to arrange dropping it off at my personal shop. Didn't care what it cost. Didn't care how long it took. Dude was super cool, funny as Hell, and a freaking GIANT. I'm 6'4" and BIG, and this dude intimidated the shit out of me despite probably being in his mid 50s at the time (mid 2,000s) and I was in my mid 30s.
He was an FBI agent, that also loved acting, and moonlighted doing TV commercials. I would crack up every time I saw him show up in a commercial for a local furniture store or dental office... if they only knew...
Anyway, I remember having to scour the globe to find a new radiator for that car. The original could not be saved with a rod and repair. There were ZERO to be found in the Americas. Finally tracked one down in fucking Denmark of all places and paid an absurd amount for both the part itself, and to get it stateside. Took several weeks. Guy paid it without flinching.
I don't fully "get it" with that car, but as a quirky car lover, I get it.
I'm sure he still has it. I haven't seen his or any others in 10 years.
Sent from Crab Nebulae via reverse engineered alien technology
mongooz
.
i had a '95 ford that i had forever, but loved it. anyway it needed wheel bearings on the right front, and me an my mechanic decided to do both front bearings, since if one was gone, the other would be soon. i got the last right bearing kit in the usa, had to get it from california, and there were two left kits in atlanta, and i got one of them.
i had to wait until saturday to taken the car in, and all week long my mechanic was getting stupid offers for the pair from all over the country. they were offering 3 and 4 times what they were worth.
when the parts supply runs out for a model.....the scramble gets crazy.
mongooz
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what is that car? info? looks cool.
and the truck must have been the inspiration for the disney movie
VoidTerraFirma
Live to wine
I had a girlfriend that had an X-90 back in the day. Stick and t-tops...it was a hoot!
OGG
Master of the Meh
Apparently so. I've talked to the guy a few times, and from what he tells me there are upwards of twenty of those things running in a pack on their club outings. He says many of them are highly modified, serious off-roaders... hmm.
Car lovers come in all shapes and sizes. To each their own. It's often the most odd and quirky cars that attract the fiercest enthusiasts.
I was always a bit fascinated and perplexed by these things. It took big balls for Suzuki to put that thing on the market, especially after all the (mostly undeserved and overblown) hysteria surrounding the Samurai.
The Samurai was a fantastic little beast that could get into and out of places a CJ never could. It's biggest "real" problem was being woefully underpowered. Any vehicle with a high profile and a short wheelbase is a rollover waiting to happen. Everyone knew and understood this WELL before the Samurai hit the streets. I'd much rather drive one of those than an old CJ5 with a sloppy recirculating ball steering gear that left the factory with 4-5" of play in the steering wheel, wandered down the road like Mr. Magoo on barbiturates, and would flip over at a stop light due to a gentle breeze. Anybody who has driven a 70s-80s CJ5 KNOWS what I'm talking about. Maneuvering a parking lot was a white knuckle ride.
Anyway, I liked all those oddball jeeptruckcarsuv things that used to pop up. I really wanted an Isuzu Amigo. That thing was just cool.