Lemons Rally Land Cruiser Does Detroit (1 Viewer)

[DeepBarney]

Or why it's bad idea to take an abandoned and long neglected FJ62 on a roughly 3000 mile road trip.

This will be a real time as I can reasonably report in, but I'm currently on a road trip with my brother in an FJ62 I was given on the condition I do something cool with it and never mention it to the previous owner again (well and we had to go get it from his buddies shop where it had been been left to decay for the last decade and change). I've got a build thread here: Working On My Willy (A Terrible Build Thread) - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/working-on-my-willy-a-terrible-build-thread.1311765/
chronicling the resurrection of this ungrateful heap.

Now for those unaware, a Lemons Rally is a road trip with scavenger hunt/navigational challenge elements in which participants are encouraged to undertake the event in the most hoopty vehicles they dare. The rally in question kicks off in Detroit and will finish in Cleveland by way of Kalamazoo and Columbus. We live in Kansas. Almost 1000 miles from the starting point we have to be at on Friday 7am sharp. I've driven this truck less than half that initial distance since we got it running a few months ago, being too busy fixing all the crap that keep breaking upon fixing something else or catching it up on long deferred maintenance, to take it on a proper shake down drive/day trip.

We're currently 517 miles into the journey and no major hiccups to report. Fingers crossed and Kiichiro Toyoda willing it stays that way.

Where we started:

Where we've made it so far:

 

[DeepBarney]

While my brother was taking a turn at the wheel I glued up a hood ornament/trip mascot.

He's stuffed with magnets. These ones aren't. They're just to hand out to other rally goers.

We're in Michigan now, about 3hrs out from our destination. While far from efficient it's religiously gotten 14mpg bombing down the interstate at 75mph with the windows down. I honestly expected worse.

 

[DeepBarney]

Well we made it to Detroit. Currently camped out next to Lake Erie, about 30min South of where we need to go tomorrow. Been an exhausting day flogging this thing down the interstate trying to keep it in its lane. And if I spot an unattended park bench I'm nabbing it and chucking the stock seats.

 

[DeepBarney]

Day 1 of the rally is in the bag, and other than waking up on a deflated air mattress, no problems to report. Here's some photo highlights:

 

[DeepBarney]

 

[DeepBarney]

Despite the low likelihood, in my esteem, this POS made it to the rally, through the rally, and all the way back home. God I hate it, and now since it's proven itself I'm going to have to put some more work and effort into it per the DeepBarney Beater-car Bylaws.

It's racked up over 3400 fairly unkind miles since we left. Part of me wants to watch it burn, but we had a deal and now I must fix some s***. The chandelier stays though.