This is Paul. Paul just bought the Safari. Paul handed me $3,000 in cash and never even started the car. He'd been ripped off twice in a row, the second time, by a guy who sold him a van without "Cadillac converters." So it wouldn't, couldn't possibly, pass smog. Paul's served hard time twice and now spends all of his time and effort in service of God, in service of others.

I'd listed the car for $4,800 initially, and I'd lowered it to $4,200. When he called -- and there's another story -- I asked him what his budget was and he said $3,800 and, having heard the first tidbits of his story, I told him he could have it for $3,000. But now he's paying me a substantial chunk of the $800 he saved to me, to install an inverter and a simple sleeping deck, procuring a charger and an inverter, blacking out the side windows -- he'll be sleeping in the van -- and other things.

Paul was the only person who called about the Safari. The. Only. Person. And when he first texted me, frankly, I thought he was another scammer, and I asked folks here what you thought. @WilliamsSW , @AestheticsInMotion , @Shop-Teacher all said the guy was likely legit and I should ping him back. I gotta thank you guys.

Paul left me with his $3,500 in cash, never having even started the car, and he's off to DMV to register it. I avoid discussing it here, but I will say that I subscribe, all-in, to a worldwide organized Christian faith, and this was definitely something that, as Paul put it, "had God in the midst," and that we had "found favor." Simply an amazing experience.

@BicycleBuck @HammerheadFistpunch

I posted about this earlier. Wound up giving $7,200 for it. The very first thing we did with it was drive to the airport (SFO) to pick up my mother. The previous owner is going to receive a bill for my $6 toll... Mom said, "This thing is a tank! I'm going to call it Sherman!" Works for me.

Truth is, I've always liked big cars. My grandfather -- our Pappy -- always drove Chrysler New Yorkers and Newports, and his other car was always a big GM pickup. So there's a nostalgia element for me driving this big Chrysler. It's a Grampa SUV and I love that. I love that.

Sherman gets the same gas mileage that the Safari got. Remarkably similar, though I'm sure it could get way less. And the Safari won't drift.

Power delivery is very smooth, and the ride is quiet. The sound system is Alpine-badged, though I'd rate it above typical over all, and not astounding. But definitely adequate. The steering is light and kind of touchy; this was a criticism in the reviews of the Aspen when it was new.

DMV was a breeze today. Hayward, California, DMV is like the worst DMV office in the state, but it was desolate today and my transactions went smoothly: transferring the MEEPZOR plates to Sherman, registering Sherman, and getting new tags for the Safari. Piece of cake.

So Rusty is very happy with Sherman, the new Family Truckster. Let's hope Sherman winds up being a dependable conveyance.

Particular thanks to @Long_Voyager94 for his input. He's my go-to MOPAR guy on this board.

@ttyymmnn
@Shop-Teacher
@sony1492
@Just-Jeepin
@Snuze
@drVanTraveler

I don't have a speedometer yet, so I motor doped using my Wahoo app and made a 16-mile round trip. First time I've had it on the freeway, since the fuel system, up until now, has amounted to a fuel can strapped to the floor in place of the passenger seat. Mrs. Vandura forbade me from driving on the freeway in that configuration. The original fuel tank has been dipped and coated inside and out and has a new sender and new soft lines, as well as a new fuel pump and fuel gauge.

The cooling system is revamped with a renovated original (factory ordered oversized) radiator, water pump, thermostat and hoses. The original externally regulated charging system is upgraded with an internally regulated alternator and the crusty old points-based ignition system is upgraded to HEI.

And instruments, as seen in the YouTube video. This is a preliminary, prototype setup to get me going. There's a GPS speedo, a tach, an oil pressure light, turn signal indicators... Oh, yes: currently, all I have is brake lights.

I think it still needs a degree or two of timing adjustment, but the front pulley has apparently slipped and the original mark does not line up properly with the quadrant, so I have to use a digital timing light that I can adjust to bring the mark to a useful place for reference.

The front suspension, whilst thoroughly greased, still feels like it wants to fall out, and the exhaust, which was a poorly executed Midas sort of affair, is about to rust through, and I am looking forward to having that replaced.

This is my report! Five and a half years since I bought it.

That slide is circa 1974. Our parents divorced and we spent Christmases with Mom each year in the Chicago suburbs. One winter there was a great snowing and our flight home was canceled and Mom just took us back to her home on Castle Street in Sandwich, Illinois, where @Ttyymmnn and I hung out for three days while Mom went back to work. We led the unexamined life and emptied the cupboards and refrigerator. The horn Ttyymmnn's playing in this photo, I believe, belonged to Mom's husband.

My church congregation adopted several local families for Christmas and put out a list where we can volunteer to provide specific things for the families. One of these was a request for LEGO for a girl. So I ordered this:

Banana spice cake, vanilla custard, cream cheese icing and candied pecans.

When I bought Sherman, the '08 Chrysler Aspen there were no steps nor boards. Ingress is not easy with all the ground clearance. I shopped and chose this iBoard kit from Auto Anything dot Com. Free shipping.

Packaging was very proper.

Parts quality struck me has excellent. The boards are aluminum and lightweight. The brackets are stout and nicely powercoated.

Istallation was pretty breezy, but the plastic expansion clips on the trim strip almost all broke, inspite of my care.

The top bolt is received by an iBoard-provided rivnut and iBoard provides a torque specification: "Tighten until additional resistance is felt." (Rusty's translation: use the 3/8ths-drive ratchet.)

Every automobile hobbyist -- and professional -- mechanic's toolbox has a claw hammer, right? @AMGtech @Shop-Teacher

The excessive generous ground clearance -- Sherman is 2WD, but it's exactly the same truck otherwise -- made installation downright fun. And I think they look great. Anything factory-installed I've seen is ugly as sin.

FOR THE WIN

I have to clean out the cabin now.

Before and after. 180-degree water at high pressure and the goobers were astoundingly difficult to excise. 90 minutes of spraying...

My pal Rich does not shy away from a camera.

Some of the goobers...

Machined to my exact specification by @CobraJoe . Message him. Have him machine one for you!

He also machined this five-ball shifter, also to my specification, for Mrs. Vandura's Mazda 3:

Now with improved oxidation.

This is my rusty 1971 GMC Vandura. '71 is the year GM introduced that body style of vanola and went on to produce it for about 24 years. I bought this one from its original owner and about 80,000 miles, five years ago, for $1,800. The van had been special-ordered as a base model, with windows, and new for 1971: disc brakes! Entirely base model otherwise, though I think it's got an oversized radiator because "towing package." 250 inline-six with a three-on-the-tree.

Because reasons, I took Rusty to my friend Rich's equipment yard around Thanksgiving 2019 and there it's sat. Recently, our good friend @Sovande rebuilt Rusty's Monojet carburetor, so my aim is to get it marginally roadworthy this Spring.

Rich and I loaded Rusty up on a heavy equipment trailer and drayed it back to the house behind Rich's 2012 Kenworth T800, which I believe was well up to the task at hand. (560,000 miles on that beast; just broken in, says Rich.)

My pal Rich in his Sterling-based crane truck. Now, that's a burly truck. Thanks again, Rich!

@ranwhenparked said in Stupid Is As Stupid Does:

@Roadkilled Also, he's telling anyone who doesn't like his driving to get out of the left lane, while also reminding everyone that the left lane is for passing - but the first line suggests he actually does camp out on the left himself, because there wouldn't be an annoyed driver behind him otherwise.

Left lane is where he drives in order to grow his readership.

@ttyymmnn said in DATM:

@Noodles

I've gone deep sea fishing out of Oregon Inlet, NC a couple of times. Always caught lots of mahi mahi, and it's fantastic fish. The thing to do is go down to the marina as the boats are coming in. There is almost always more fish caught than the charters want to keep, and after the crew gets their pick, the rest is free for the taking. You just have to pay to have it cleaned, or clean it yourself.

On one trip back in the late 70s, my mom landed a 538 pound blue marlin. She fought it for four hours. It was the mate's first fish over 500 pounds, and the other mates threw him in the water as a rite of passage.

@Rusty-Vandura

In retrospect, seems like a waste of a mighty animal just for sport. I would not take part in something like that today. Also, it was her 38th birthday. There was a photo I took of Jona on that trip that she entered in a photo contest and won a prize with it.

Well, there's your problem!

@Tripper I need to rebuild the front end on Rusty, and then I can buy a couple of tires.

@Roadkilled Yes to all of that Bay Area commentary. We bought here 30 years ago at something like 25% of the current market prices. My commute has been four miles for 20 years and my wife commutes about a mile to the local high school. So our existence here is kind of flukey and I bid a fond adieu to all of the folks who noisily move to Murica and then want to lock the gate once they've gotten there.

@ttyymmnn @DipodomysDeserti

@DipodomysDeserti I live across the Bay from SF and I hate going there and the thought of living there makes cringe. Crowded, expensive, fascist parking enforcement, extreme progressivism and anywhere you try to go you have to deal with congested roads full of hipsters and made more so much of the time by visitors. Awful.

@ash78 Ouch.

@Nicky-Chagrin-Janitor-of-SHIELD said in Austin Drops Out of Top Ten Places to Live:

@Highlander I believe the list does not specify that your living arrangement can't be a cardboard box at the overpass.

Or even a cardboard box in someone's living room.

@flatisflat I would argue that for as progressive as San Francisco believes itself to be, the public transit options are abysmal.

@flatisflat Awful place to live.