There’s no doubt that old rigs keep you on your toes, but we wouldn’t have it any other way
LIVING WITH
Y
ou have two types of
4WDers out there in
my opinion. Those that
drive new 4WDs and
those that drive old
4WDs. Sometimes, you might be
lucky or brave enough to have
one of each, like me. For the
most part, when you’re driving
your new 4WD you get in, turn
key, the vehicle starts and you
drive to where you want to go.
The end. When it comes to old
vehicles, I’ve found that you
never quite know what’s going to
happen and it really can keep
your 4WD experience exciting if
you’re a glass half full kind of
person.
I drive my 79 Series around
as a daily driver in between a
lot of our adventures and there
isn’t too much exciting stuff
that happens with that vehicle. I
get in and always arrive at my
destination drama free. The
problem is when I am behind
the wheel of this vehicle for 3
or 4 weeks at a time without
driving Sooty the 80 Series, I
forget the idiosyncrasies and
habits of old Sooty.
Just the other day I parked
up the 79 Series and jumped
back into Sooty to get it ready
for a month in the Cape.
Mechanically, she is running
very well and all the major
maintenance has been done so
she is Top End ready, however I
forgot the little traits that she
has that tend to keep me on my
toes when I’m driving the 80
around. In my experience an
old 4WD will always have a few
little things that you haven’t yet
fixed that you just get used to
when driving and tend to put up
with. I like to think of these
things as personality traits and
it keeps the overall driving
experience interesting.So, I get in the 80 after
driving the 79 exclusively for
the last month and coming
down the first little hill not far
from the workshop under load I
feel a clunk and have no drive.
For a split second I panic and
then quickly remember that the
transfer will sometimes jump
into neutral when coasting
down a hill. No biggie, I push
the stubby leaver back up and
into gear and drive on. Yep,
must remember to fix that at
some stage as it’s been like
that for the last 12 months or
more. I still haven’t fixed it by
the way.
I’m starting to settle in to
driving the big 80 again and
think, ‘I wonder what the time
is’, so I peer over to the clockon my dash and realise it’s not
working. Ok, that’s a new one
but I’m not really surprised as
I had the dash apart recently.
Oh, look at that, the stereo and
cig socket don’t seem to be
working as well. Not a big
deal, my fuel light has just
come on and I need diesel
anyway, so I pull into a servo
and use this stop to quickly
pull apart the dash and see if I
have left something
unplugged. Turns out a fuse
has let go and I really should
have looked at that first. I
finish fueling up and go to start
Sooty and she just clicks and
doesn’t turn over. Bugger, is it
a starter motor? Then I
remember that one of my
battery terminals was loose on
the last trip, that now seems
like a lifetime ago. I pop the
bonnet and find the loose
connection. After tighteningthat up Sooty fires at the first
bump of the key, all the while
people are coming and going
from the fuel station shaking
their heads and trying not to
make eye contact. I leave the
servo with a big puff of diesel
smoke and drive the rest of the
way home. Yep, that’s a typical
trip in an old 4WD and I
wouldn’t have it any other way.
I pull up outside my shed with
a grin from ear to ear and
remember how much I love
this rig.
In comparison, new 4WDs
are boring. They get you to
where you need to go and you
never have any cool stories to
tell when you get there.OLD^ RIGS
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WORDS BY SHAUN WHALE