In article <fc4a7o$g02$1@bent.twistedbits.net>, jon@dakota-truck.net writes:
>
>
>
>
>
> sneezer@gmail.com wrote:
> [...]
> > I hate to see it go, it had potential and was a convertible. Unfortunately
I
> > will not have the time or money to see it to the end, and the recent
discovery
> > on the tranny pretty much nailed the coffin shut.
>
>
> I might be off base here, I tend to get kinda weird when it comes
> to cars, but wouldn't it have been better to just sell the thing as a
> Dakota Convertible project? I mean, after you strip all those parts
> off, they're just plain ol' Dakota parts, with the exception of the
> handful of convertible specific pieces. It also greatly devalues the
> remainder of the truck - why would somebody want to start with a
> completely stripped chassis and have to hunt down a mess of parts when
> they could have purchased a complete truck? Your anaolgy of putting a
> nail in the coffin is a good one; it may have had a chance to come
> back to life before, but (barring some extrordinary circumstances)
> stripping it down like this has guaranteed that it's only future now
> is as scrap metal.
>
> I know that the convertibles aren't particularly valuable yet, and
> actually, every one that dissapears like this will make mine worth
> just a little bit more, but still, its sad to see a vehicle come to
> such an end, especially a rare one. Sorry if any of the above sounds
> harsh, I don't mean to come across that way, its your truck and you
> are welcome to do whatever you want with it, the above were just my
> immediate thoughts when I read your message. I guess the root of my
> feelings are that after all of the careless scrapping and crushing
> that has gone on over the decades, its just somewhat disheartening to
> see that we have not yet learned from our past mistakes.
>
> --
> -Jon-
>
> .- Jon Steiger -- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com -.
> | '96 Kolb Firefly, '96 Suzuki Intruder, Miscellaneous Mopars |
> `-------------------------------- http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
Believe me I would love to have it go to someone else. However - I have too
many broken vehicles and it is just a matter of time before the city gets on me
for them. When I bought this project I had high hopes for it and at first
glance it looked like I could get it running without too much effort. Closer
inspection revealed more work than I had thought as I learned more about truck
and what would and would not work. Of course that meant more money but I was
confident I could spend $100 here or there for small items and slowly get it
back on the road. Unfortunately I don't have that kind of spare cash these
days. Besides - I sold stuff to locals who needed to replace rusted out body
panels, etc. And it is almost impossible to find some of the hardware for the
top, and the latches will wear out. I would rather sell some parts to other
convertible owners so that theirs can be made whole or kept on the road. Same
goes for the quarter windows on the doors - it is pretty hard and expensive to
get that glass since there is so little demand. Weatherstrip is another
problem. If one truck gives up its life to prevent 2-3 from heading to the
crusher, that is a fair tradeoff IMO. It would be different if I just had it
towed to a yard as is without selling or removing items that could benefit
other trucks - at least the hard to find stuff. Of course, that is my opinion.
If I had the money I would figure something out. Unfortunately the reality of
my financial situation these days won't let that happen for quite some time,
and I can't have it sitting by the house for another couple months, and in all
liklihood it will be much longer. As a result I am content in knowing that at
least other trucks will benefit from its demise.
Kevin
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Oct 02 2007 - 15:23:18 EDT