This obsession of mine is getting out of hand. Today I bought a 1991 diesel left hand drive pickup with 560K km on the clock. For all that mileage it looks pretty good:
(The leaf springs need attention.)
Looks like the head has never been off it.
And it still has the original owners manual:
...which I will scan and offer up to the forum.
And perhaps most amusingly, it came from the factory without a heater:
This truck has definitely seen 560K km, but the PO(s) seem to have maintained the truck, and the seller spent some effort to pretty the truck up--the paint looks new under the dust and so on. Those decals on the sides are typical here. I don't like them, but I probably will keep them as they are indicative of this region and the history of the truck. My initial thought is to keep the truck stock--I love the OEM split steel wheels--and only add factory options if I can find any.
Circumstances did not allow me to start the truck before I bought it. Tomorrow or the next day will tell me if I bought a pig in a poke or not. (I should add the explanation that a pig in a poke is a thing that is bought without first being properly inspected, and thus of unknown authenticity or quality. The idiom is attested in 1555: I wyll neuer bye the pyg in the poke[.] Thers many a foule pyg in a feyre cloke[.] A "poke" is a bag, so the image is of a concealed item being sold.)
I jumped at this truck because it is the very first left hand drive diesel 70 series I've seen here in the Middle East, and after driving Biscuit, our 1992 Model 77 across America with it's rather tired 22R 4-banger, I really, really wanted to try a 70 series with a diesel under the hood. Not to mention that my younger boy is over the moon with the idea of a diesel 70 series for all those post apocalypse scenarios. But mostly, I just wanted it.
(The leaf springs need attention.)
Looks like the head has never been off it.
And it still has the original owners manual:
...which I will scan and offer up to the forum.
And perhaps most amusingly, it came from the factory without a heater:
This truck has definitely seen 560K km, but the PO(s) seem to have maintained the truck, and the seller spent some effort to pretty the truck up--the paint looks new under the dust and so on. Those decals on the sides are typical here. I don't like them, but I probably will keep them as they are indicative of this region and the history of the truck. My initial thought is to keep the truck stock--I love the OEM split steel wheels--and only add factory options if I can find any.
Circumstances did not allow me to start the truck before I bought it. Tomorrow or the next day will tell me if I bought a pig in a poke or not. (I should add the explanation that a pig in a poke is a thing that is bought without first being properly inspected, and thus of unknown authenticity or quality. The idiom is attested in 1555: I wyll neuer bye the pyg in the poke[.] Thers many a foule pyg in a feyre cloke[.] A "poke" is a bag, so the image is of a concealed item being sold.)
I jumped at this truck because it is the very first left hand drive diesel 70 series I've seen here in the Middle East, and after driving Biscuit, our 1992 Model 77 across America with it's rather tired 22R 4-banger, I really, really wanted to try a 70 series with a diesel under the hood. Not to mention that my younger boy is over the moon with the idea of a diesel 70 series for all those post apocalypse scenarios. But mostly, I just wanted it.