Going insane, road trip, buying stoopid stuff, selling my 914 V8 and Dakota to do it... Options

[Malmz]

Going to fly to El Paso Friday morning to pick up a new stoopid toy. Should be heading back to California shortly after noon and probably driving straight through except for a nap and food here and there.

Wish I had time to go Milo-hunting in NM on the way back! You Rennlist guys from about 4 years ago will understand when you see the picture below. If I feel any big bumps I stop and see if one of your 914s is stuck to the diff cover...

So, I'm officially aggressively selling my 914 (it's in the classifieds, but there is a direct web link below) and aggressively selling my Dakota V8 (another link below). As always, I have included too much info and too many detailed pictures.

Gonna probably cut up my XJ jeep and part it out too since it has a severe rod knock.

I've been looking for an Excursion, just not one that is this big. Oh well, it will be fun for a while and will be perpetually "For Sale". I have some room to play considering the price I got it for and how much the modifications are worth. I'll have another 914 not too down the road, it will be nice to only have 4 cars (plus the other rolling motorized large toys) for a while.

914-V8 link
http://www.malmz.com/signatur/914widebody/index.htm

Dakota link
http://www.malmz.com/signatur/Dakota/forsale.htm

Da new beast:

[Malmz]

I flew to El Paso Tx Friday morning. Plane left at 7am, stopped and changed planes in Phoenix, and arrived in El Paso at 11:15 Mountain time (10:15 PST). Guy picked me up from the airport, went to his dealership, signed a couple things and charged a couple things, and got on the road. Left El Paso about 12:00 PST.

Drove straight through. Stopped for 10 minutes for a burger somewhere in New Mexico and a fresh load of diesel just West of Phoenix. Rolled in front of my house at 12:15am. 12 hours, not bad for the size of this beast and how much of a handful it was to drive.

It was a pain to drive due to the tires. The original tires were shot from sitting, so I had the dealer order another set. Instead of 44" Super Swamper TSLs they ordered and installed Super Swamper TSL Boggers. BIG difference in the Bogger name. The Boggers are 100% mud bogging tires. Much bigger and wider then the regular TSLs.

The Boggers grab every little rut on the freeway and pull the rig from side to side. They also rub the fender badly at full lock or going into driveways. They really didn't do me a favor installing these... And they weren't Cheap...

I went to a shop today to get info. I'm going to order some 40" tires on Monday and put the 44s on Ebay. The slightly used value of the Boggers should about equal the new cost of 40s, I hope... Water under the bridge, new learning experience, etc. etc.

The truck is Huge... Oops. I kind of knew that, but the reality doesn't set in until you actually see it. The plan is to go with the 40s is to also do about a 4 to 6" lowering job on the truck to make it somewhat more streetable yet still massive.

Two different people video taped me in New Mexico, several people took still shots. Every kid turned and stared. It's that friggen big. All the guys here say "dude, you have to keep it that high..." Wifie hasn't killed me yet...

Carson (boy #2 at 2 1/2 years old) loves it. He refused to go in Mommy's Expedition today, he had to go in the "Monster Truck".

914 Content: Couple of people are trying to arrange time to come and see my 914 by the end of the month. Might still do an Ebay stint just to move things along faster.

Dakota will probably hit Ebay shortly too. Ebay is still a great exposure tool, and most of my car sales via Ebay happen after the auction closes.

Jeep will get the axe as soon as I have time to do it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sawzall-smiley.gif)

Still need to take a picture of it next to the 914 once I have a chance to move things around a bit. Right now I'm catching up on my Daddy duties.

Yep, this is all very stoopid. Guess that's why I've owned 40-plus cars in my <20 years of driving.

sm