A Couple Of Old Off-road Warriors

[Butch]

The 51 year old VW Baja Bug I've had, and modified for the last 6 years... The 36 year old Suzuki Samurai, I bought about a month ago... It is bone stock except for the rims and paint... The Samurai will go any place the Baja will, but at a much slower pace... A 1.3 liter engine, and short suspension travel, won't allow for any speed off-road... Both fun cars in the desert, but at a different pace....

Butch

[hbernstein]

Ah, the Suzuki Samurai.

 A horrible on-road death trap, yet capable of almost anything off-road. I think that they all rusted away to dust thirty or more years ago anywhere east of the Mississippi. 

[Butch]

Well, maybe not a "death trap", but certainly not civilized... And they are rust prone... Kind of a interesting video, if you can get past all of the schmaltz and adds, on the life and death of the Samurai in the USA...

Butch

[NOT A TA]

Cool Sammy Butch! You should put a pic of it in this thread

 

[JohnAndSancho]

I borrowed a Samurai when I lived in Minnesota. It didn't have a hard top..... Man that was cold. 

[Silas_Sancona]

Don't hate them.. ( reserve distinct dislike for Ford / GM stuff.. ), but also experienced the Sami's road handling weakness while on the way home from an all night party years ago. Last time i tried to catch a nap on the way home while someone else was driving too ..or didn't drive myself. Haha.

 

[Butch]

19 hours ago, NOT A TA said:

Cool Sammy Butch! You should put a pic of it in this thread

 

I will... Thanks...

 

18 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I borrowed a Samurai when I lived in Minnesota. It didn't have a hard top..... Man that was cold. 

They have a great heater.. If it is working.... Most are convertibles... Mine is a "tin top"...

18 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Don't hate them.. ( reserve distinct dislike for Ford / GM stuff.. ), but also experienced the Sami's road handling weakness while on the way home from an all night party years ago. Last time i tried to catch a nap on the way home while someone else was driving too ..or didn't drive myself. Haha.

 

Yea, They don't lend themselves to all night party drive homes.... And they definitely are no sports car...

Butch

[JohnAndSancho]

On 2/25/2022 at 9:43 AM, Butch said:

 

 

They have a great heater.. If it is working.... Most are convertibles... Mine is a "tin top"...

Butch

The one I was driving was plugged with sunflower seeds. To quote my favorite baseball analyst, it was "suboptimal"  

 

Forget the fact that before that, the furthest north I had ever been was Memphis. 

[Butch]

A lot of the heaters got plugged with gunk.. The fresh air intake is just in front of he windshield...With no real grill guard, they fill up with leaves pretty easily, and require occasional cleaning... Some owners put a screen under the intake grill or a small guard over it, to keep it clean...

Butch