Off-Roadie

I recently took a trip to my favorite surplus store, and upon leaving found this beast of a sand-rail/dune buggy parked out front. This is clearly a fairly high-dollar off-roader, all the paint and chrome, the high build quality, and the registration (not simple to get for these vehicles) point to a deep wallet or an un-cluttered schedule.

Plug plug plug.

Major suspension at work.

It's only two wheel drive.

All-business two-seater cockpit.

Plenty of lighting.

Fuel cell and cargo area behind the seats.

Exposed controls ahead of the cockpit.

Going Postal!

Saw this trio of postal jeeps parked behind a post office in Corrales. While they weren't dripping with custom panache they're good examples of the iconic American off-roader.

The Jeep was originally developed by the Bantam car company in response to a call from the government for a lightweight scout vehicle. Bantam developed the original prototype but the government licensed the design to Willys and Ford to actually produce (thinking that Bantam was not large enough to build them in the quantities needed). The distinctive stamped grill was actually added by Ford, and kept by the Army for the production vehicles. 

Willys was the only manufacturer to continue building the jeep after the war, and were given the trademark for the name because of that. The brand went through many owners before ending up with Chrysler.

It is commonly believed that the name comes from the Army's original designation of General Purpose or GP vehicle. The original Bantam prototype was called the Bantam Reconnaissance Car or BRC; imagine if the iconic American 4x4 had been called the Brick!

Madrid, NM

We took a day trip around the back of the Sandia Mountains, stopped in Madrid on our way to Santa Fe. Along with beautiful scenery and some small town shopping we saw a few cool cars.

Like this early 60s Chevy Bel Air, looks like the paint is original, and the interior was gorgeous all-white vinyl.

There was also this 80s (I think) Porsche, with a whale-tail spoiler.

And this vintage GMC.

Junk yard finds

We visited the scrap yard of Coronado Wrecking and Salvage, here in Albuquerque. They demolish and haul away buildings (or what-have-you) and many of the materials end up in their salvage yard, which is open to the public six days a week. It's a bit hard to find but once you know the way it's quite easy, simply sign in at their office an explore the yard in your vehicle or on foot. I went with some friends and classmates we were looking for steel tubing, chain, sheet metal, and inspiration. We found most of these things, and more:

Resembles a luggage-tug from the airport. Could this have towed YOUR suitcases?

MASSIVE dump truck, put into proportion by our lovely model, Patrick, from PariahCycle.

Imagine changing this flat by the roadside.

Flaming Jeep

Saw this cool Jeep Wrangler with a flaming paint job on our way to the junkyard the other day.

Like a Rolling Buffet

Saw a vehicle transport on the highway, loaded down with cool wheels. From forward to rear of the trailer we can see a Range Rover, a sweet Ford Bronco, a late-model Camaro, a Porsche (Cayman I believe), and a vanilla Bel-air.