This vehicle is reserved for my "outings" (it costs me about $175 to fill the tank!). My wife's car is the around town vehicle. The Tonneau Tent was my first MYOG project.

Edited by skopeo on 03/26/2012 18:20:04 MDT.

White 1998 single cab, 5 speed stick shift, 4 cylinder Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.

Takes me to work and to the trail heads. Averages about 25 mpg city and 27 mpg highway. I stick it in 5th gear OD as much as possible. ;-)

It's paid for and according to internet estimates it's worth about $475.00 smackers. It has 175K miles on it and it purrs like a kitten. I've owned it from new. It is priceless to me.

I don't really think it is even broken in yet! LOL

Party On,

Newton

Totally dig the Tonneau Tent!!!

wow nick, that's gotta be the cleanest bank of carbs i've ever seen. are you doing anything to the motor, performance wise?

If I didn't know better, i'd say you know your way around a garage. almost like a mechanic or something.

looking forward to seeing that bad boy all buttoned up.

Ben,

I was an auto mechanic for 20 years. That was before the Politically Correct term became "Technician."

I am going to leave everything stock, except for the Vetter Fairing and saddle bags. Actually it is a complete restore with about 90% of the parts Honda "new old stock." Took me 5 years to find all the parts, because the 1977 & 1978 models were the last two years for the SOHC engine. Everything changed in 1979. Most of the parts from 1969 - 1976 are the same... and much cheaper :(

Toyota Yaris, three door.

With the fold flat back seats this little car has a huge amount of interior room for gear.

It's taken me all over MN, Glacier, and Yellowstone.

I'm 6'2", 255 pounds and two of me can easily ride comfortably in the front bucket seats.

Add to the package it's low price ($13K for the manual transmission) and it's 32 mpg in town, 40mpg innerstate and I love my little car.

"Chris, I think I might have told you that my ideal trail vehicle is a (not Grand) Cherokee with a diesel swap. Your Jeep looks great, but I'd hesitate to leave a new vehicle like that at the trail head for a week."

That's awesome, I gotta see it one of these days. It's gonna be at a trailhead 2 weeks this summer. I'm more worried a bear is going to mess with it.

Replaced the front shocks today, and I still need to replace the rear, sigh.

Brompton folding bike, gets me from my door to the train/coach/carpool/flight and I've hidden it in undergrowth or inside my tent or left it in guesthouse, etc, been doing that 9 years. I try to keep everything I own to 100L as a bike has limited load-carrying. I'm not doing too good at that at the moment, I'm buying more than I'm selling but if I focus I can get it back down to 100L, just own the 1 best thing of all I own and sell the rest.

What it does tend to produce is a need to buddy-up with others and give them gas $, or I fix their computer problems (what I do for work), so they get some $ reduction and I've had some good conversations over the years being a car-less hobo.

Here's me moving last time I moved house.

This is me moving countries, all the above bagged to check-in


You can't get the same freedom as a SUV, but you can get a different type of freedom.


So I can't live without a car but I can live without owning a car.

Edited by nigelhealy on 04/01/2012 01:05:46 MDT.

Check those fuel hoses people. They don't last forever. Or, Don't drop that joint.

The day after the extended warranty ended.

Another 4Runner. Mine's a 99 (tallest stock 4Runner made) limited with AWD and 4WD. This is after 3 Subaru Foresters. Gas mileage isn't as good as the Suby (even the turbo) but the utility and comfort are far better.

nm

Edited by ouzel on 04/01/2012 17:45:30 MDT.

Ouch...years ago Dicentra lost her VW bus to a car-bbq on I-5. It was pretty spectacular.....

nick, yeah i knew you were a mechanic...

pre-79 is he best. too bad it wasn't a year earlier, but yeah. nice rebuild. i've got a sporty, 86, first year of the evo, that's getting a frame rebuild right now, then comes the motor work. If I had any pics I'd share them with you, but alas, the guy doing the frame is pretty low tech and a darn good welder.

I drive a Tahoe, gas guzzler but hauls a lot of stuff comfortably.

When we car camp I wanted simplicity so I came up with a system that works really good.

I have a double size mattress that fits PERFECTLY in the back of the Tahoe. I put that in first, make up the bed with sheets and appropriate blankets. Then I slide a folding card table under the mattress. From there I pack up our gear, coolers, etc in plastic tubs and put them on top of the mattress along with folding chairs and a tailgating canopy deal. When we pull into a place to camp we back up to the view, fire pit, whatever, open the rear hatch, pull out the coolers, gear bins, chairs and tailgating tent. Set up the tail gating tent over the rear of the Tahoe, put up chairs and card table with coolers underneath and our bed is right there made up, ready to go. For ventilation I made these magnetic screen deals. I cut screen to fit my rear windows and sandwiched the edges in magnetic strips. I roll the back windows down and put these over them so air flow comes in without the bugs.

Really love this whole system, works great, very minimal cost or fuss. About 10 minutes after you back in you are sitting in your camp chair relaxing.

When I had my 2000 Explorer I did similar. A futon mattress fitted in it. Called it my metal tent. I slept in the back with my oldest son many, many times when he was little and we were trail head car camping in remote areas. As a woman I felt safer doing that and it was warmer, more comfy and took no time to set up!!

Preferred mode of travel. Love this rig! Custom MTB long tail built by my good friend Rick Hunter in Bonny Dune, CA.

Had some sunshine, week started off cold but ended nice and warm. I'll have to throw everything back on in the next day or so, expecting rain by midweek. Can't stop grinning with the doors/top off.

Edited by TRAUMAhead on 04/09/2012 02:07:58 MDT.

That Jeep is crying to be dirty, go beat it up would ya?