Well, like some of you I've only been "cruisin' " for a short period of time. I would certainly love to say that my dad bought the truck back in the day and now it's mine, but I can't. But I can say that I'm going to do my best to pass down Ruby to my Son when he's ready for her.
OK, I've been a cruiser owner for only the past 6 1/2 years. It started out when my wife and I needed a new vehicle, the civic just wasn't going to last us much longer. I went to a friend who is a car dealer and also a Landcruiser owner and started to ask about them. Now me, I was ready to jump into Cruiserdom right away, but it sure took some convincing to get the wife there, "This thing is so loud, and bumpy" etc..... you've all heard it before. But after about a week or so, she realized that the cruiser would last us a long time and we would really get some great use out of it.
That was the first cruiser, a 1983 BJ60 we named 'Bruno'. Bruno was a great truck, lots of power (for a gutless wonder that its) and we quickly got to using it for camping trips, sleeping in, hauling what ever we needed here and there (for everyone else too). A couple of years later we had our first child and Bruno brought her home from the hospital. Bruno was our only vehicle and by now, my wife really liked him (although she never would admit it for a few more years). Yup we were having a great time with Bruno, till his cancer got to bad and we parked him under a tree so we could rob him of his former glory for the new rig if we ever needed.
A couple pics of Bruno
Now he may not have looked that bad, but the rear wheel wells were totally gone, and with a young child, we just didn't want to risk the fumes etc. (besides, I know next to nothing about body work and I didn't have the time to learn either). So parked he was and we went back to the same friend who we first bought Bruno from and started to ask about another cruiser. Well, the friend/car dealer had one in his garage which was "restored" about 6 years prior and had very little road time since than. Well we took a look at it and thought "that's it, we'll get this one" (see the wife really wanted another cruiser and it took no convincing). Little did we know, she was far from restored.
So we picked up 'Ruby' and we were happy (not my daughter though, she cried when we parked Bruno)
Here's what Ruby looked like when we got her.
Right away, I transfered the roof rack over to Ruby and took her out to see what she was like in the bush
Well, of course I took my daughter out with me and the first washboard road we got on I started to hear this clunking noise and though WHAT IS THAT!!!! see, I'm not much of a mechanic, I can change my oil and coolant but that's about it. I had no idea what was making this noise.
I took it back the next day to the guy I got it from and this is what we saw underneath.
Classic eh? Especially up here in BC where we get rain 300+ days of the year (just kidding, it's more like 299 ). So, he "fixed it" with a new piece of angle iron and that was it. A welder friend of mine and I since have fixed the shock mount cross member much better.
Well, that was fine I guess. I still longed for a truck to really wheel in, not just some dirt roads but we just didn't have the $$$ for any mods.
Fast forward a few more years, another kid a new job, a second car and finally a 3rd kid on the way. Well, the car we were using more than Ruby but we knew that it couldn't fit 3 car seats in it so we started to realize that Ruby was going to be the family vehicle, the one that would take us everywhere.
So, new suspension was needed for this next kid right and we got the OME parts from Steve at EBI Cruiser parts and slated in some time with another friend (he bought Bruno off us earlier this year and is working him over) and did the suspension. It took us a day and well what a world of difference.
Before
And after
She rides really nice now, and the new baby will be nice and safe with Ruby as it's (don't know what we're having) Chariot.
Now the list of mods that I want to do is considerably longer than the list that I have done but all in due time right.
The next mod on the list is a turbo (which I have) for the 3B, need some more pepper for the hills around here.
Than the frame is after that. It's pretty rusted and within the next couple years it'll have to be swapped out, maybe a trip down to South America is in order and have Cruiser Guy hook me up
OK, I've been a cruiser owner for only the past 6 1/2 years. It started out when my wife and I needed a new vehicle, the civic just wasn't going to last us much longer. I went to a friend who is a car dealer and also a Landcruiser owner and started to ask about them. Now me, I was ready to jump into Cruiserdom right away, but it sure took some convincing to get the wife there, "This thing is so loud, and bumpy" etc..... you've all heard it before. But after about a week or so, she realized that the cruiser would last us a long time and we would really get some great use out of it.
That was the first cruiser, a 1983 BJ60 we named 'Bruno'. Bruno was a great truck, lots of power (for a gutless wonder that its) and we quickly got to using it for camping trips, sleeping in, hauling what ever we needed here and there (for everyone else too). A couple of years later we had our first child and Bruno brought her home from the hospital. Bruno was our only vehicle and by now, my wife really liked him (although she never would admit it for a few more years). Yup we were having a great time with Bruno, till his cancer got to bad and we parked him under a tree so we could rob him of his former glory for the new rig if we ever needed.
A couple pics of Bruno
Now he may not have looked that bad, but the rear wheel wells were totally gone, and with a young child, we just didn't want to risk the fumes etc. (besides, I know next to nothing about body work and I didn't have the time to learn either). So parked he was and we went back to the same friend who we first bought Bruno from and started to ask about another cruiser. Well, the friend/car dealer had one in his garage which was "restored" about 6 years prior and had very little road time since than. Well we took a look at it and thought "that's it, we'll get this one" (see the wife really wanted another cruiser and it took no convincing). Little did we know, she was far from restored.
So we picked up 'Ruby' and we were happy (not my daughter though, she cried when we parked Bruno)
Here's what Ruby looked like when we got her.
Right away, I transfered the roof rack over to Ruby and took her out to see what she was like in the bush
Well, of course I took my daughter out with me and the first washboard road we got on I started to hear this clunking noise and though WHAT IS THAT!!!! see, I'm not much of a mechanic, I can change my oil and coolant but that's about it. I had no idea what was making this noise.
I took it back the next day to the guy I got it from and this is what we saw underneath.
Classic eh? Especially up here in BC where we get rain 300+ days of the year (just kidding, it's more like 299 ). So, he "fixed it" with a new piece of angle iron and that was it. A welder friend of mine and I since have fixed the shock mount cross member much better.
Well, that was fine I guess. I still longed for a truck to really wheel in, not just some dirt roads but we just didn't have the $$$ for any mods.
Fast forward a few more years, another kid a new job, a second car and finally a 3rd kid on the way. Well, the car we were using more than Ruby but we knew that it couldn't fit 3 car seats in it so we started to realize that Ruby was going to be the family vehicle, the one that would take us everywhere.
So, new suspension was needed for this next kid right and we got the OME parts from Steve at EBI Cruiser parts and slated in some time with another friend (he bought Bruno off us earlier this year and is working him over) and did the suspension. It took us a day and well what a world of difference.
Before
And after
She rides really nice now, and the new baby will be nice and safe with Ruby as it's (don't know what we're having) Chariot.
Now the list of mods that I want to do is considerably longer than the list that I have done but all in due time right.
The next mod on the list is a turbo (which I have) for the 3B, need some more pepper for the hills around here.
Than the frame is after that. It's pretty rusted and within the next couple years it'll have to be swapped out, maybe a trip down to South America is in order and have Cruiser Guy hook me up