Caribou

[Geoff]

The Jaguar project has overwhelmed my meager finances ---

http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/cadillac/caribou/1787166.html

[Otto Skorzeny]

I can't believe it, Geoff.  I couldn't do that.

[Fins]

The wife wins over all of it. 

But you can only have so many cars to drive, unless you have unlimited funds.

[Otto Skorzeny]

At least now you have an excuse not to remodel the house.  You have nothing to haul supplies in!

So Big Red is now your daily driver!  Good deal.

[Fins]

Yeah, thinking about it, aside of the PT, I don't recall a daily driver there.

[Otto Skorzeny]

He has a PT Loser?  That must be the wife's.  Should sell that thing and keep the Caribou.  Of course you couldn't finance the Jag project for very long with the proceeds from the sale of a PT.  (better than a Chevy HHR, though)

[Geoff]

I bought this in November of 2013 for $1100 to use as a beater.  '93 Ford Ranger 'Splash" 4 WD, 4.0 V-6, automatic and just about every option you could get on a Ranger --- AC (nice and cold but leaking heater core which is now replaced), P. Windows (didn't work), P. Door Locks ( pass. side didn't work), P. Mirrors (didn't work), electric 4 wheel drive selector (still doesn't work, I don't need it), cruise control (doesn't work but it will one day) --- and an engine miss (P.O. said it was just a spark plug --- it wasn't).  Don't think the Ranger ever saw the inside of a garage, the roof was rusty, as was the hood --- got that fixed, see pics, but the interior was quite nice.  

The engine miss turned out to be a bad injector which required some disassembly just to get to it and while there I painted the rusty valve covers and replaced the leaky valve cover gaskets.  Power windows now work (bad switch), P. door locks now work (replaced the bad actuator with a universal one I had lying around), P. Mirrors now work (bad switch), heater core is replaced.  Front end alignment and 2 new tires and it is a decent but TERRIBLE riding little truck.  

Oh yeah, lifted the bed off to replace the gas tank sending unit and the oddball rubber fill hose that was leaking.  Much easier to lift up the bed than it would have been to drop the gas tank.  Also did a do-it-yourslef spray-in bedliner.    

So, I do have something to run around town in but I used the Caribou for longer distances and clean clothes riding, guess I'll have to borrow the Jaguar now (if it ever gets done).
 

Yes, the PT is Jan's car, it will probably go to our oldest grandaughter when the Jag is done.

[Otto Skorzeny]

Those Rangers are good trucks.  Plastic exterior bed on the Splash, right?  Good job on it, too.

Fins used to own the Mazda version.

[Geoff]

   Also had to replace the starter solenoid.  You'll see in the interior shot below a screwdriver in the cup holder, that was how I started it until I replaced the solenoid.

Pic. #1 The interior

Pic. #2  How I got it home from Melbourne, FL  

Plastic fenders, steel bed. 

[Geoff]

How I got the Jaguar home from Connecticut too, here getting ready to leave upstate New York after picking up the Jag.
Double  

[Russ]

You can keep the memories.  There is always more cars to discover.

[Otto Skorzeny]

You can keep the memories.  There is always more cars to discover.

Ya, but he won't have anything to tow them home with.

[Geoff]

  
I can get a Class III hitch for the Ranger --- whaddaya think?   

[Otto Skorzeny]

If you start collecting Austin Healy Sprites and Crosleys, no problem!

[Fins]

I won't badmouth my little Mazda version. 200K on the clock when I sold it and it's still going. It had all the options of the Splash and that 4.0 pulled good. I put a full pallet of sod in that bed and drove it 30 miles home. Touching the frame when you ran over a line in the road, but it pulled that 1 ton with no worries.

I've put 1.5 tons in the back of the F150 and it didn't even take the arc out of the springs. Although on both loads, I did spread out the weight through the entire bed area.