I definitely lucked out when I found this one. I saw it up on ebay and actually flew from Los Angeles to Houston to check it out. I recruited a buddy of mine to come with me and we actually drove it all the way back from there. I was incredibly surprised that it made it almost all the way back without a hitch (we had some electrical issues that kept turn signals from working right, and a leaking clutch slave cylinder in El Paso. But, all in all, we made it back safely. I expect that hidden behind that diamond plating I'll find some surprises, but the interior has been completely rhino-lined so who knows. The only bondo on the thing is on the right front fender.

I have rewired the whole thing with a wiring harness from JT Outfitters, and installed a tuffy console and stereo...I have done a few other mechanical repairs, but with a vehicle this old there will be plenty of things to fix in the future.

If anyone knows of a good space to work on my truck in the L.A. area that would be great. It looks like I am going to swap out the suspension sometime in the next year with something that isn't so stiff and maybe I'll get lucky and find some sponsors for some of this work!

I'm even considering my options for making this thing a little more eco-friendly... we'll see what I can come up with because the 11 miles per gallon hits the wallet pretty hard, especially when gas prices in L.A. are hovering around $3.50 a gallon.