Part one of an ongoing series of indeterminate length. Stay tuned.
My whole driving-aged life, I’ve driven cars that were relatively reliable, and had never owned a ‘project car’. My first car was a Toyota Celica. I spend a lot of time on Craigslist, and I’ve never seen one of my generation being sold for parts or ran-when-parked. Never. It never gave me any problems, period. It forgave me when, at the tender age of 16, I installed two subwoofers that shook the frame, and angel-eye headlights that always flickered, regardless of the setting. Its incredibly skinny tires never burst when I pushed the limits of its handling, or learned to do hand-brake drifts one Spring Break night. But it didn’t have a whole lot of character. I still have a picture of it somewhere that I used to sell it about eight months after I bought it.
4Walker
I gradually experimented with less and less reliable cars; someone else’s beat SRT4 with nearly 150,000 miles, some high-mileage Mazdaspeeds, and a IS300 with a rolled-back odometer. But I had never had a car fail to start, or die on me in a moment of need. Actually, that’s not strictly true. That IS300 blew its tired 2JZ somewhere in between Houston and Austin and that was where we parted ways. But I didn’t see that coming, so it didn’t really count. Maybe that was part of the reason that I decided to spend a rash $2400 on a 1987 Toyota 4Runner that was more of a 4Walker two days after graduating from college.
Age is but a number
My new project car (which I was determined to treat as a daily driver) had almost 250,000 miles – higher than any Camry ever owned by my family – on its body and drivetrain, leaked a metric ton of oil, and made awful sounds if driven above 55 miles per hour. It had some awful rattle-can paint on the bumper, grill, wheels, and (!) parts of the interior, which was an overwhelming shade of red. It was blessed with a ton of gross adhesive on the rocker panels leftover from god-knows-what. I also quickly learned, after going through a gas station car wash and getting recycled water on my face, that it was not water-tight. These were all problems I’d never even secondarily experienced. I guess I was a glutton for punishment. Or even a just glutton in general, for having two cars at the same time. But I was in love.
Oops.
Naturally, after I’d shelled about $700 to a well-reviewed Craigslist Mechanic to fix miscellaneous leaks, it stopped running. In the middle of my errands. A whopping 12 days after I’d purchased it. Shit. So I had it towed to the most reputable classic Toyota shop in town, and they determined that the timing chain had snapped. So far, having a project car was a lot less fun than expected, and my expectations were low.
AJ is a long-time resident of Austin, Texas with a highly generalist love of all things automotive and obscure. Quietly trying to follow his dreams, he hasn't quit his day job yet but eventually hopes to write about, and help people buy and sell obscure cars full time. He is a corgi enthusiast, a self-proclaimed ATSUV expert, and the 4Runner he's sitting on only runs about a third of the time.
March 23, 2017 1:14 pm
Love the 4Runner! I got my ’88 in late August or early September with 243k miles, for the purpose of a winter vehicle (ohio). It quickly became my daily driver long before winter started and just recently turned over 253k miles. I can’t wait to fully utilize all it’s capabilities this summer, as I was only able to take the top off once before it got too cold. I’ve never driven a vehicle that has gotten so many waves, smiles, second looks, or started as many conversations at gas stations before. Keep up the good work, and more pictures!
March 31, 2017 9:16 pm
Thanks so much for this response! I actually have really similar mileage on mine right now and it is continuously impressing me. I really appreciate the comment. I’ve got part two coming soon; stay tuned! Fixing up the cosmetics before the top comes off for the hot, Texas summer.