4x4 Photos

Bird · Nov 8, 2001

Scruffy, I think they were pretty good cars all along, it's just that the early ones didn't "feel" right to me. Hard to explain, but they just felt light and cheap to me; didn't care for the handling, but the later models feel very comfortable. Of course, that's just my personal preference. When the Pontiac Grand Am first came out, I thought that was really a good looking little car. Then one of my daughters bought one, and I had to drive it a couple of times; one of the most uncomfortable cars I ever got into. I wouldn't have bought one at half the price, but she seemed to like it all right. I guess that's why they make so many different ones./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

scruffy · Nov 8, 2001

I test drove a 71, and it was a pure dog. Underpowered, hard to steer, but many years later drove my father in laws, and was amazed, that thing was peppy, easy driving, and an all around decent vehicle! I think it had 90,000 + miles on it then! It was light in the rear, and 'heavy' (comparatively) in the front. Didn't match up to my 76 Capri w/2.8 V6 in it, but not a bad little car. I borrowed that Pinto when I got run off the road in the Capri, and had to do some body (minor) work on it, straighten the macpherson strut towers out, and replace a bent rear axle housing.

Jeff396 · Nov 9, 2001

I don't think anyone is accusing the early Escorts or other 80's small cars of breaking down after 20K miles. I think Birds comment that they felt light and cheap was more the problem. When I'm looking at a car, how long it will run trouble free is very important but there are a lot of other items high on my list also. For instance, a smooth rattle and squeak free ride, interior and exterior fit and finish, the comfort of the interior and the layout of the interior stuff as well as mechanical engineering. IMHO the early Escorts had a harsh ride compared to the Mazda Escorts. Somehow the Japanese were able to put a larger car ride into their compacts. Interiors of our cars in the early 80's tended to look very cheap and plastic. I know all had plastic but the textures we used looked cheap. Fit and finish was bad and in some cases now still is. I've also had the opertunity to perform my own maintenance on a bunch of new Toyota's and their attention to detail is very good. Some examples...Cast aluminum valve covers with a reusable rubber groove gasket as opposed to stamped steel with cork gaskets, Bolt adjusted alternator as opposed to pulling out a crow bar and trying to find somewhere to pry on, Winshield wipers that don't feel or sound like they're gonna slap heck out of themselves, Why just the sound the doors would make when being shut hard was drastically different. I really don't think there is any comparison between the newer and older Escorts. To some people they are just a mode of transportation but to me a car is much much more. I have sold cars for having the slightest noise that can't be found and taken care of. I think that's why I drive trucks now. I don't expect the same thing out of them. A few rattles are normal as is their harsher ride. It's just a way of keeping me sane.

Jeff

Jeff396 · Nov 9, 2001

By the way, my wife recently bought a new car and I would like to share one of the cars we looked at. We looked at a mid life crisis car, it was a Chevy Camaro SS convertible. This car stickered for over 35k and as far as how it drove and was mechanically it seemed to be a pretty nice car. On the down side the door didn't fit properly. The interior fit and finish was so bad that I would have had to partially disassemble the interior to make it right. A lot of the plastic parts used still had that bit of stuff attached where the seams of the molds are. It just looked really bad. To the design problems, I can't believe a car in that price range wouldn;t have an antenna that wouldn't go down. Also, when is GM going to give up this crappy combination turn signal, cruise control stalk. First of all it feels like you're gonna break it off when you pull it and unless you are REALLY familar with the car it's hard to put the cruise on without looking at the lever to figure out what to push. I don't think there's another car maker that hasn't figured out how to put the cruise buttons on the steering wheel. Lastly was the convertable top boot. It was a hard plastic type that came in three pieces. This thing took up the entire trunk which wasn't that big to begin with what with it being a convertable and all. It's like it was an afterthought or something. Of course the final nail was when the salesman was trying to run down my F350 diesel trade telling me that they are prone to overheating....Right! Anyway, we ended up with a Chrysler LHS, a brand I have never purchased before but would make efforts to rent whenever I could. I'm still not sold on their quality with trouble free driving but I think they are at the front in styling and fit and finish. Time will tell.

Jeff

I got the extended warranty just in case!

Bird · Nov 11, 2001

Neil, try this link http://www.portaransas.org/FishBoat.asp. That's where I plan to be Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday, and Thursday morning. We'll launch the boat in the Port Aransas Harbor (everyone down there just refers to it as "the small boat harbor") and do a little fishing along the ship channel. You can see a little map if you go to the home page for the link.

njrqs · Nov 11, 2001

Bird
Nice looking harbour.

I kept clicking on the "Birdwatching" button but didn't see you or your tractor. What am I doing wrong ?????

Cheers

Neil from OZ.

Bird · Nov 11, 2001

kept clicking on the "Birdwatching" button 

/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gifVery good, Neil./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

I sure don't want to take me tractor down there. The breeze is continually coming in off the sea, and as one fellow said, "It'd rust a brick." Everything down there rusts, so when I go down there, when I get ready to leave, I immediately wash my vehicle thoroughly.

njrqs · Nov 11, 2001

Like over here where something like 90+ % of out population lives within 20km of the ocean or something like that.

We look for "country" vehicles that should be Ok for rust.

Most 4x4's here end up on the beach so they rust good too !!

Much beach 4x4 action over there??

Neil from OZ.

JohnMiller3 · Nov 11, 2001

Bareco Hydraulic Toplink Cat II

Bareco P/N-B8111 CAT 2 (1" DIA) BALL BOTH ENDS
INCLUDES ANTI-CREEP VALVE
ADJUSTMENT RANGE 620mm TO 890mm
CYL BORE DIA 63mm
PISTON ROD DIA 35mm

Neil,
Can you contact Bareco down there and find out the price on this for me...

"You are what you eat, drink, think, say and do..."

JohnMiller3 · Nov 11, 2001

Quick Toplink CatII End

TOP LINK
QUICK HITCH END
B594
CAT 2 CLAW "A" = 50.8mm
1 1/4" R.H. THREAD (UNC)
SUITS BARE-CO B1 TOP LINK AND
FORDJDCHAMBERLAIN 1 1/4" UNC TOP LINKS

Neil, Can you also find the price for this as well...
Thank you.

"You are what you eat, drink, think, say and do..."

scruffy · Nov 11, 2001

Jeff, back when we bought our '94' LHS, a friend of ours had purchased one the year before. He had nothing but problems with the electrical on it, our 94 ? Never had a lick of trouble with it. I guess it boils down to 'On a given Monday' when it was produced, and how bad the hangovers were! /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

njrqs · Nov 11, 2001

John

Now how is this for service

B594 - $90.67+10% tax
B8111 - $384+10% tax

Why do you ask ????????

Neil from OZ.

Jeff396 · Nov 11, 2001

Yeah, as I said earlier I would go out of my way to rent LHS's whenever I could. They can be hard to find. One we rented if San Francisco had a dome light that wouldn't go out. You would have to pull the fuse if it was night time but then the radio wouldn't work either. This is the car we ended up with after the first LHS they gave us had a climate control that wouldn't work. Each car had less than 1000 miles on it. This was back in 1995 on the original body style(which I kinda liked better....seemed roomier). The electrical was my main concern as there are more gadgets than you would think possible. I do hear they have really made strides towards higher quality with the new version. I just love that it's front wheel drive yet the engine doesn't sit under the hood sideways!

Jeff

JohnMiller3 · Nov 11, 2001

Neil,
What took you so long.... /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif

$90. for the end piece.... Wow! Is it dipped in gold and stroked or what? I'm assuming U.S. dollars...

Do they have printed catalogs available? I've been online but haven't seen any pricing.

I just picked up a Cat III quick toplink at a recent auction for $3., but I need Cat II... /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

"You are what you eat, drink, think, say and do..."

njrqs · Nov 11, 2001

John

These are Australian dollars = So roughly halve them to get US dollars.

To get parts price you have to ring a local dealer.

My dealer said he could work something out for you.

Great site that Bareco one. I didn't know they sold all that stuff !

I just ordered myself a ROPS after seeing they made one.

Getting it for $428 incl. tax. The last price I got was around $700.

Cheers !!

Neil from OZ.

Bird · Nov 11, 2001

Yep, Neil, no one wants to buy a used car that came from the coast. There'll be lots of rust. I used to go down there for a week at a time, and thoroughly wash my vehicles the day I left and only had a very minor amount of rust, but after I retired I spent a month down there; in the middle of the island which put me nearly a mile from the beach, and after a month, the hubcaps on the ocean side of the RV were covered with rust.

Much beach 4x4 action over there??

There used to be. From Port Aransas you can drive 12 miles down the beach to the old fish pass (filled in now) and there used to be no restrictions so long as you stayed off the sand dunes. I used to love watching fools drive in the edge of the water spraying it everywhere without realizing what they were doing to their vehicle. And occasionally one would get stuck, then be working frantically to get it out before the next high tide. And if you get back on the beach south of Corpus Christi, it used to be that a ways down the beach they had a sign warning you that it was 4WD only beyond a certain point. However, several years ago, they set out rows of barrels that serve both as trash barrels and the road marker and you're only allowed to drive between those rows of barrels (about halfway between the water and the sand dunes). Of course, I'm talking about the open ocean side of the island; still lots of 4x4 fishermen around the bays, ship channel, etc.

Anonymous Poster · Nov 11, 2001

Neil,

Give your dealer my email address jd5205@nycap.rr.com and have him contact me...

I may be interested in the hydraulic top link. See if you can get a weight on that part... and the best/cheapest shipping method from your way...Postal, UPS?

Thanks Neil...