Still have it... Psyched to actually post up a little update, so here it goes. this also goes out to Gifu who's been bugging me for a little while on what's going on (wasssup gifu!)...
Unfortunately not a whole lot more done. I am pretty sure I won't sell it. I might consider selling just the carcass of the pig (which has been sitting outside for the last year, but is doing just fine with little rust here in Utah) but only because I have a super clean (body-wide) 62 these days. The 55 is down at UglyOinker's place just sitting there. Down underneath
Mount Timpanogos in the Heber Valley..
Considering doing the 4BT and the 80 axles into the 62 as I realized it was the body work and the finish work with the 55 that will take a lot of time. These days I'm I guess about 6 years older from when this thread first started. Well into my 30s with our own real house and lives and a pretty good job down in Salt Lake City now. Frankly/honestly, no longer much of a kid if you ask me (except that we don't have kids now and still having a lot of fun). Loving life, in the best place of my life probably anytime maybe since the glory days in my 20s. Frankly its amazing how much time I had. I wish I'd known (and frankly had the motivation, then I would have finished all of this stuff). But I still have nights and days and am tweaking with cars and bicycles and other junk as much as always. First, I also have a sweet old '83 BMW 800G/S (
the bike that won Paris/Dakar about 4 times from '79 to '84) and a pretty sick KTM 520 dirt bike. Check out
this unreal adventure if anyone is interested in reading about an unreal trip on a moto. The trip changed my life. Also made me completely spoiled, it's hard work but being on a moto is completely different than exploring in a cruiser. You're
in the elements... You're completely free as even a 1-foot wide sheep path can get you to where you need to go. You're also hardcore. No coolers, just you, your stinky ass boots, and your dirt bike that has just systematically taken the most unreal beating you could possibly dish out, and the thing just keeps going and going and going... On this trip, I swear I almost felt like I met God. My body was weak after about day 4 and my arms and body were so sore and I numb and limber almost like I was getting sick. At this point we were cruising on Road 62 (if I remember correctly) outside of Ridgeway, Colorado. We actually passed the house of one of Proffitt's Cruisers customers (the guy from Florida with all the junk/stickers etc all over his FJ40) and the road opened up and was literally one of the most spectacular places I'd ever been.
Here is photo. Wide open high elevation farm land in the middle of nowhere, the sky was big and beautiful. We passed a chick in an old '60s Dodge pickup truck with her dog and a ton of hay in the back. Sort of like that moment at the end of Castaway when Tom Hanks delivers the package, and is at that 4 way intersection and the chick drives by in the old truck. And that's about how I felt. No one else had any idea what the hell we were doing or what we'd been through. And there I am cruising at about 70 on this epic, unreal machine, 250lbs of dirt bike, and just then at that moment, not one but two animals ran out in in front of me in separate instances a minute or two apart. Because I was soft and limber, it would have likely ripped the wheel right out of my hands and killed me. Not one but two animals shortly apart to remind me who's (or what's) in charge. So basically God (or nature, however you want to put it) reminded me he could just take me at any time. It was amazing and made me realize if I died today that I actually could say that I "lived" and made me remember my commitments to others, like my wife, who I love with the bottom of my heart. The trip honestly made me a better man. The trip also reminded me of all of this stuff. Of living in Utah. Of the years wrenching of cruisers. Of this fxxxing FJ55 that I've poured my heart and soul into and though it's just a hulking pile of steel it has me in it. Literally, some of my blood, deep in some of the pores of steel. And some of my friends, the best people in the world, the cruiser people, and people who have changed my life forever... Of course, I don't regret one bit of it...
Other misc updates (if anyone cares) is the constant musical chairs of my cars: My old Volvo. This was basically the car I had in college except that its 10 years later and this time its a 240 hp all wheel drive, '98 V70R turbo wagon that is my commuter now, instead of a 1983 5-speed 245 wagon at 20 years old. This Volvo is a pretty sweet ride and also keeps me to my roots. For all I know I might have mentioned it deep in this thread somewhere but when I did my first clutch on that old '83 Volvo, I knew I could do anything with a car.
Other musical chairs. As of about a week ago there is also a beautiful baby blue, perfectly rusted '74 FJ40 sitting in my front yard that I might maybe polish up one afternoon. Belongs to a friend who moved to Texas. I lost a bet on Game 4 of the Brewers and the result is me having to store this thing. But it is basically mine I suppose. Needs a carb (just running weak) and a battery and maybe a 1/2 way decent exhaust and would be an awesome I guess 5th or 6th vehicle or so...
And then I have that white mini truck with the Mercedes diesel. Hopefully I'll get that running too. "It's close!" But it's also been close for 2 years.. In general I am trying to simplify my life though. I'm sort of a slave (but also in love with) my possessions in some cases, but particularly with cars. I'm feeling good right now but there was a time where just a couple months ago my money and time and energy were being sucked up into particularly all of these cars. So you can only do so much. For example, in the next month I'm going to have to buy at least 12 tires to get some decent rubber under 3 of our vehicles...
This said, my current plan it to probably just keep the 55 body indefinitely. As long as its clean and safe it's likely only getting rarer and cooler and cooler. I guess I'm considering it a longer term project, and working on it to maybe have it ready in 10-15 years or so. Then, once the 62 body is hammered and rusty as 60 bodies seem to get, just pushing the drivetrain into the 55. That's if I get to the 62, but I have a feeling I actually probably will.
Also, our house is on .6 acres so I want to build a shop. Run the white pickup with the mercedes diesel for a year or two, likely sell it, and then tackle the 62. Then just leave the 55 in the shop, do body work and prep as I have the time, and just get it ready to slide in that drivetrain...
So that's it, in a nutshell... hope it helps...
