Post by dustymojave on Mar 4, 2012 18:05:39 GMT -5
This is my Daily Driver. It's a 58 Bug which was my 1st car to drive...in 1971.
My dad's friend bought the Bug new in November 1957 for a pharmacy delivery car. I actually remember him showing it to my family that day that he bought it. I was only 2 years old, but for some reason the memory stuck. Maybe because the car has been around me ever since then. Then dad did all of the maintenance until he bought it in '63 with about 30,000 miles on it. When I got it to drive it had 365,000 miles on it. I converted it to a Baja for dad in the mid '70s so he would have one to go offroading with me. I had bought a '65 and built a Baja out of it when I turned 18.
Here's the '65 at the 9,900' summit of the Sherman Jeep Trail in the Sierras.
geargrinders4wdclub.org/sherman.php
In 1979 the '58 looked like this:
Yeah, that's me at the wheel.
The '58 now has over 800,000 miles on it. It has been offroad all over California, Nevada, Arizona and Baja. It has been up to about 10,000' crossing over the Sierras on jeep trails where the hardcore Jeep guys say it's awful hard to make it with a 4wd and that no 2wd could possibly make it(see the pic of the '65 above). It has pre-run offroad race courses in all of the states listed above. Last night it was parked in the "fast lane" of the 405 freeway of the San Fernando Valley. (Nothing wrong with the Baja, but a bunch of cars up ahead were difficult to tell what they had been before they met each other.)
It has a 1776 engine with dual Kadron Solex carbs. I converted it to IRS (4-joint rear axles) in the last rebuild. The Centerline wheels are 15 x 3.5" fronts with Yokohama 7.00 x 15 tires and the rear 15 x 7s have 30 x 9.50 A/T Nexen tires. Front shock mounts are tubular with 8" shocks. Travel is 10-1/4". The dual rear 8" shocks mount to the roll cage and are sealed to the body with neoprene rubber. Travel is 9".
The 1st photo was taken less than 150' from my front door. It gets driven offroad in the Mojave Desert virtually every day.
My 18 year old son Warren works Tech Inspection with me at the MORE offroad races.
www.moreracing.net/
So the car goes to offroad races often.
Warren is also a codriver in the reigning and repeat Champion 5-1600 Baja Bug.
They are leading the points in the 2012 series.
My dad's friend bought the Bug new in November 1957 for a pharmacy delivery car. I actually remember him showing it to my family that day that he bought it. I was only 2 years old, but for some reason the memory stuck. Maybe because the car has been around me ever since then. Then dad did all of the maintenance until he bought it in '63 with about 30,000 miles on it. When I got it to drive it had 365,000 miles on it. I converted it to a Baja for dad in the mid '70s so he would have one to go offroading with me. I had bought a '65 and built a Baja out of it when I turned 18.
Here's the '65 at the 9,900' summit of the Sherman Jeep Trail in the Sierras.
geargrinders4wdclub.org/sherman.php
In 1979 the '58 looked like this:
Yeah, that's me at the wheel.
The '58 now has over 800,000 miles on it. It has been offroad all over California, Nevada, Arizona and Baja. It has been up to about 10,000' crossing over the Sierras on jeep trails where the hardcore Jeep guys say it's awful hard to make it with a 4wd and that no 2wd could possibly make it(see the pic of the '65 above). It has pre-run offroad race courses in all of the states listed above. Last night it was parked in the "fast lane" of the 405 freeway of the San Fernando Valley. (Nothing wrong with the Baja, but a bunch of cars up ahead were difficult to tell what they had been before they met each other.)
It has a 1776 engine with dual Kadron Solex carbs. I converted it to IRS (4-joint rear axles) in the last rebuild. The Centerline wheels are 15 x 3.5" fronts with Yokohama 7.00 x 15 tires and the rear 15 x 7s have 30 x 9.50 A/T Nexen tires. Front shock mounts are tubular with 8" shocks. Travel is 10-1/4". The dual rear 8" shocks mount to the roll cage and are sealed to the body with neoprene rubber. Travel is 9".
The 1st photo was taken less than 150' from my front door. It gets driven offroad in the Mojave Desert virtually every day.
My 18 year old son Warren works Tech Inspection with me at the MORE offroad races.
www.moreracing.net/
So the car goes to offroad races often.
Warren is also a codriver in the reigning and repeat Champion 5-1600 Baja Bug.
They are leading the points in the 2012 series.