As you know if you have been following our social media handles, I recently picked up another Second Gen Toyota 4Runner 4×4. I know what your thinking, what the hell? What happened to the racecar? What does a 4×4 have to do with the Motorsports culture and Motolyric?
Well in my early years of car loving and everything racing, I stumbled upon a 76 Chevy Blazer 4×4 after selling my 92 Porsche C2 964 back in the late 90’s, and with it came another world of joy and fun. It was a 3/4 Ton K5 with Dana 60’s and a Carbed 454 Big Block, through the course of ownership, I updated the front, and interior with all 89 Chevy Suburban components. It was something out of the norm for me as I was use to fast, and low cars at the time. But I created a new love for 4 Wheeling and really enjoyed my time owning such a gas hog. Lol. Fast forward 3 years in and I also picked up a First Gen 4Runner 4×4 which I didn’t hold on for more than a month, because I picked it up for $500 and an old friend kept bugging me, and bugging me to buy it. Well $4500 later I sold it to him which netted me $4000 net profit from my original purchase without doing anything. As timed passed, I found a 2nd gen 89 4Runner down the street from my house and picked that up for $700 with issues and problems all over. The hell with it, it was 4×4 and at the time, my friends had their own rigs and I just wanted to play and have another fun truck. It leaked, it made noises, and overheated. Problems after problems it still held it’s weight with even a back and forth trip on 2 separate occasions, Mammoth in the snow, and Pismo beach in the summer. I really enjoyed this truck, and her name was Lela Starr after an actress. She had the cheapest tires known to mankind that I forgot the name, it didn’t have much but I realize how much potential she had when I took her wheeling out in the same trails and insane locations my friends whom had newer and more capable rigs. Not a single piece of modifications, but since I didn’t care much about her, I just fed her to the wolves of the outdoors, and one trail day after another she never failed me.
But eventually like all good things, they come to an end and I got fired from my current job at the time as a Honda Service Writer, so I posted her up for sale and someone walked away with a trusty Toyota 4×4 for $250! Yup, I know I’m still in awe of that moment till today, but it has it’s good reasons as 6 years later after seeing friends and others post their trips, and rigs of 4 wheeling and having a great time, I couldn’t hold it any longer and really wanted to get back out there again, so with the help of another good long time friend Aaron of Tarmac Garage we found “Lindsay” on CL and I fell in love with her on first sight. Something that I’ve learned not to do from my 16 plus years of Car Business experience. lol. Fuck it! So she blew a Power steering pump during the test drive, and had rusted out bumpers, and rock sliders, holes in the roof, and more crap to deal with after taking her home. I started working on her and just really getting back into the game of making a car your own again, this moment felt so good to wrench and get down with your shit. After hours and days and weeks, I came to a cleaner and better rig for what I can afford for now. She still needs more TLC and of course all the wants I can only imagine of getting for her, but I need to train my mind to be content and not go full blown with her just yet. After all, I intended to get this rig for some camping, wheeling, and just having a cool machine that’s mine again. Since my daily serves nothing but A to B, and the race car is not running, this really filled a gap and put a smile back on my face.
Just in time for the “King of The Hammers” race in Landers, it was the perfect transition of bringing “Lindsay” out and see what she was all about. With already a Blazeland Long Travel Front Kit, Bilstein 5100 Fronts, Old Man Emu Rears, OME Rear Lift Springs, OME Stabilizers, and OME Torsion Bars for the suspension. Trailgear Front and Back Bumpers, and Rock Sliders (welded in) for tough protection. Topping off with an ARB Snorkel and Falken 33 Wildpeaks and I gave her a go from driving out there in 3 hours to crawling around the land for 4 more hours. She climbed her first hill without issues, descended well and even mashed through some whoops. Loose sand, gravel, dirt and all types of terrain she held her own without a hiccup. Totally proud of her and fell in love with her reliability.
So what does this all mean? Well for now, she will make a good character machine and 4 wheeling rig to please my wants of the outdoors and wheeling adventures. She is not a replacement for the race car, or a substitute. As with most people in the industry, owning and driving more than one car is a habit we all eventually acquire. I have my daily, my race car, and now my off roading machine, all I’m missing is a Car Hauling Truck and a trailer.. Lol.. For now at least. -Rommel Estrada #nomadstatus
