Category Archives: Cars & Trucks

2017: Year of the Truck

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The Land Rover Adventure that started on May 1st will spill over into 2018. A few elements of the restoration were not up to Mr. Wolf’s high standards.

“One injector was not sealed correctly, and I think all four were missing the “nozzle washer”. I’ve ordered all new seals, and in the meantime I had a friend drive the injectors over to Diamond Diesel for testing because I was too impatient for shipping. Yep, all four were bad. I’m having them do a fancy rebuild and calibration rather than rolling the dice on some cheap remanufactured units. I am hoping (and hopeful!) that this will resolve the smoking issue.”

The injectors are and the new seals are installed but it turns out they use “an O-ring that is some goofy size” that had to be ordered. In the meantime, Mr. and Mrs. Wolf are headed down to Baja for a couple of weeks of camping so work on the truck resumes in 2017.

It’s been a journey. Almost bought a truck from the Cool & Vintage guys (Portugal); seriously considered Arkonik (UK); and wound up in the capable, Master Mechanic hands of Grayson Wolf.

I’ve been thinking about what I’d tell someone considering purchasing a vintage Land Rover (frame off restoration). They’re expensive, of course, but you can’t be in a hurry. And if you know almost nothing about older vehicles, you need a guide. Someone to keep you from making a very expensive mistake.

If all goes well I expect to meet Mr. Wolf next month and get my hands on the truck. Mr. Wolf is shooting for nothing less than perfection and I think he’ll achieve that.

Land Rover Santana

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Santana Motor S.A. was a Spanish car manufacturer based in Linares, Spain. The company originally manufactured agricultural equipment but decided to expand beyond its original products line and entered into talks with the Rover car company in 1956 in an attempt to get a licensing agreement to build Land Rover Series models in their factory. An agreement was reached in 1956 and production began in 1958 it was licensed to build Land Rover models. (Wikipedia)

The guys at Lucra Cars replaced the original Land Rover Santana badge on my truck with a custom badge that — incorrectly — identifies my truck as a Defender model. Not a big deal but I’ve been looking for an original badge and found one with the help of Paul Misencik at Autology Motors. That this matters to me (even a little) suggests I’m becoming a Land Rover guy.

Land Rover Zen

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Mr. Wolf has had the truck for less than a week but has already logged 200 km and spotted (and fixed?) a problem with the brakes. It was a little chilly in the Bay Area today so he had the heater on.

“How cold does it get in your area in the winter? The heater in the truck is working properly, and it is keeping me toasty in the oh-so-cold 40 degree California winter, but a blowtorch it is not. The defrost function is especially wimpy, but I think of my Westfalia: the defroster in the Westy doesn’t even have a blower motor, it just sort of wafts vaguely warm air in the general direction of the windshield, and you know what? It kind of works! Would it be acceptable if you were a punctual business man on an icy morning, and you needed your windshield defrosted RIGHT NOW? Absolutely not. But if you’re living life at Westfalia/Series Rover pace… Yeah, sure, it’ll do.”

“So… How hearty do you feel? Do you want to stick with the stock heater, don gloves and a hat, squeegee in hand for the drive to the coffee shop, or have you gone soft on me?”

Mr. Wolf said he could replace my heater with a better after-market heater for about $1,000 and I was considering it until he questioned my manhood. I’m sticking with heater we got.

I’ve struggled to explain the appeal this old (1979) Land Rover has for me, given that I’ve only driven one once, for about 5 minutes. Mr. Wolf clearly understands the zen-like pull I feel but cannot articulate.

“I love fast cars, but slow ones are good for the soul sometimes. Driving the Rover is like driving my Volkswagen Westfalia: you will get there when you get there, you have time to look at the scenery and the sky, lots of waves, smiles, and thumbs up, and you never get stuck behind that slow asshole when you are in a hurry because you are that slow asshole! It is relaxing in a way.”

YES! I am that slow asshole. Exactly!

UPDATE: “Transmission very good, clutch needs adjustment. Engine running good but still hard to start when cold and very smoky. Both could just be it needing lots of break in miles, diesels tend to take a while to break in.”

Meacum Auto Auction

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This was my first auto auction so I didn’t know what to expect. I really enjoyed looking at all of the cars but was surprised by how entertaining I found the bidding. It was a hell of a production, carried live on one of the NBC cable channels (and online, of course). This video runs less than 2 minutes. Here are some stills.

Land Rover back in Bay Area

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We’ve entered the penultimate phase of The Great Land Rover Project. The final phase being me driving it back and forth to the coffee shop every day. The restoration phase (parts 1 and 2) are done and now Mr. Wolf drives the truck until he’s found and fixed all those little things that show up after a frame-off restoration. While this is underway I plan to go out to SF for a weekend to finally meet Mr. Wolf and discuss care and feeding. Then its one final trip from the Left Coast to Hooterville. To be continued.

The truck as performance art

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It’s been a few weeks since I got my first look at what I’ve started thinking of as “the Eldon truck.” It’s sitting outside the garage of a local mechanic who one day hopes to find the time to bring it back to life. In a bizarre example of cosmic coincidence, it’s the same year (’79) and model (Series III) as my Land Rover. While I’ve yet to get my hands on my truck, I have been allowed to poke around inside the Eldon truck.

The the owner of the truck (now deceased) reportedly bought it new in 1979 and wasn’t bashful about “enhancing” it over the years, the flyswatter and fan being to of my favorite mods.

As a general rule I tend to be clutter-averse. I like things tidy. But sitting in the driver’s seat of this old truck, it’s hard not to get a sense of performance art. There’s a Rube Goldberg Machine quality to all his little tweaks.

In the photo above, note the Mystery Knob. I don’t think this was merely decorative. It had some purpose but the old man took that with him when he went.

My truck will arrive in pristine condition. Seems unlikely I’ll live long enough to give it the character of this beauty. I’ll do my best.

More photos of the Eldon Rover

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A couple of weeks back I posted about an old Land Rover (spotted by one of my coffee shop buds) wasting away in Eldon, MO, a small town about 30 miles southwest of Jefferson City. Since then another coffee shop pal purchased the the truck and it’s now sitting in the garage of another coffee shop friend who has the task of bringing the truck back to life.

She needs some work but that’s a good thing. This is the exact year and model as my truck, right down to the 2.25 litre diesel engine. As pal #3 (a talented mechanic) works his magic, I’m hoping to watch (quietly) from a corner of the garage. (I assume I’ll have to pay for the privilege)

There has also been some question as to whether my truck would fit through my garage door. I kept hearing different measurements from the guys in San Diego. This is important because we don’t want a diesel engine sitting outside during mid-Missouri winters. I now know it will pass easily into my garage (84 in clearance).

My truck scheduled to be transported from SoCal to NoCal this week.

Self-Driving Trucks

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“Since early October, autonomous trucks built and operated by the startup Embark have been hauling Frigidaire refrigerators 650 miles along the I-10 freeway, from a warehouse in El Paso, Texas, to a distribution center in Palm Springs, California.”

“For now, the Embark milk runs are designed to test logistics as well as the safety of the technology. On each trip, a human driver working for Ryder (a major trucking company and Embark’s partner on this venture) heads over to the Frigidaire lot in El Paso, picks up a load of refrigerators, hauls them to the rest stop right off the highway, and unhitches the trailer. Then, a driver working for Embark hooks that trailer up to the robotruck, cruises onto the interstate, pops it into autonomous mode, and lets it do its thing. The truck mostly sticks to the right lane and always follows the speed limit. Once in Palm Springs, the human pulls off the highway, unhitches the trailer, and passes the load to another Ryder driver, who takes it the last few miles to Frigidaire’s SoCal distribution center.”

WIRED