Mattlodi
Active member
Wow! That is a Fiat Ritmo (here in Italy, maybe in the US were sold under another name), it was my dad's first car. Never thought it was sold in US too.
Dad, what's a back country beater? What will your kiddos remember later in life?
- Thread starter bozwell13
- Start date
Heading Out
Adventurer
They where sold in the US as the Fiat Strada...
bozwell13
Adventure Dad
Ha Ha. I think the little Fiat has stolen some hearts...such a great pic too
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bozwell13
Adventure Dad
Thats awesome, I like how this has brought back memories. I remember what an amazing feeling it was to drive as a teen, freedom, Im a man, girls and so on lol. My daughter was driving us to and from the lake here where we live with like 1.25 miles on a remote county road at 35mph. She asked, "Dad, could you get in trouble for this?" Oh yeah, in our new world culture, big time Im sure. She's amazing and doing a perfect job but Im sure it would be "child endangerment" or something and on and on. Stuff we did as kids as now illegal and so frowned upon. I used to hunt before high school, shotgun in my landcruiser with an ice chest full of dove in the school parking lot, buck knife on my belt, no one though twice about it, was a non issue... We had just swapped seats so she hadnt put her set belt on yet, before anyone starts in, lol.....Beaters are awesome, I have a rich (poor) history of driving them too. But some things are just better now. I’ve never had anyone put their foot through the floor of my JK, or have to separate an exterior door skin with an axe on the side of the highway because it was flapping so bad it became undriveable, or have the body flex so far in a mud hole that the floor cutout pushed the shifter out of 4 and into neutral…
Some memories are best left in the past…
Some memories are best left in the past…
bozwell13
Adventure Dad
Lol, I've lived out here in the rust free Southwest almost all of my life so have never had any of those issues except the one time I went to New Hampshire to visit a friend. I left to drive his Jeep XJ to town from his cabin and ignored the note that said don't forget the plywood. The first Beaver dam mud puddle I hit look like someone dumped 5 gallons of chocolate pudding right in my lap. At that moment I realized the plywood was meant to be placed into the floorboard before leaving for town, all the pieces fell into place as I turned around to head back for a shower and change of clothes I've done plenty of roadside repairs, lots of bailing wired trucks when I was a kid. Once had a c-clip fall off left side rear axle on the beach in Mexico below the high tide line. The tire wheel and axle shaft went its own way. That was on a 1970 fj40, I slapped it all back together and drove 500 Miles home gritting my teeth and sweating bullets. It came apart again right as I pulled into my driveway. I remember thinking wow, thanks God.
ripper1600
Adventure Seeker
This is awesome. It makes me want to start looking for a beater.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
bozwell13
Adventure Dad
This has turned out to be far more fun than I ever would have expected. People approach us every where we drive it, they love it, laugh and wave when we drive by. I don't know if they're laughing at us or with us, don't care, we're having fun in it. We're very lucky to live in the woods, can access the forest from our driveway so we use it daily. Here's what I've learned in the last few weeks. It has way more room for dogs and coolers than my TJ did, rides far better so way more comfortable, carries paddle boards/boats better, keeps the rain/high country sun off far better than a bikini top did and cost 1/4 of what my last Jeep of the same era did. All that with zero concern about the paint, scratches, dirt, wet kids, dog and gear. The aluminum box on the back rack was smart, keeps that stuff dust free, keeps stuff out of the inside, perfect height for cooking, making sandwiches etc. Now my girls want to start driving it to town, lol, ok, sure, why not...
Shadowboxin20
Member
Not an overland beater story because I’m from the concrete jungle of south Florida but when I was in college I had an accord that was a giant POS. Hole where the radio was supposed to be, broke AC, and smelled like gas cause the two12s that shook your brain when the beat dropped were drilled into the gas tank and it leaked on a full tank of gas.
Had to push that bad boy down the street andpop the clutch to start it every time. Me and my boys did that every day at school in front of everyone when leaving campus. Would rip that thing to shreds on every fieldand parking lot we could find. Ended up in a canal one day doing some really dumb ******** and that was the end. Miss those days
Had to push that bad boy down the street andpop the clutch to start it every time. Me and my boys did that every day at school in front of everyone when leaving campus. Would rip that thing to shreds on every fieldand parking lot we could find. Ended up in a canal one day doing some really dumb ******** and that was the end. Miss those days
bozwell13
Adventure Dad
Update, as winter started to set in we decided to put the doors back on, still super heavy, a second person and a stump to rest them on is key. I had traced around the hinges with a sharpy before removal so putting them back on lined up in the right place was surprisingly easy and very quick, less than an hour. Running with the doors off was fun but extremely dirty, filthy, sucked in thick dust everywhere, EVERYWHERE!!!! I dropped it off at my buddies detail shop, tipped $50 right up front while apologizing profusely, tried not to notice the dirty looks when he saw the inside, lol. Although this was meant to be just a kiddo beater I have driven it to town a few times for fuel and my girls want to be dropped off at school once in a while in it (so they can show the boys that's their Jeep) so I dropped it off today for an alignment, Ill get plates on it on Monday. This has sorta snowballed, would have bought a better rig if I had know it was going to be a keeper, lol, first world problem...
bozwell13
Adventure Dad
I had a 61 FJ40 that the starter failed on (filled with seawater, oops) and I was making about $5 an hour back then. That great big low compression 6 cylinder engine always wanted to run, took very little to get her going. I could push start it myself, it was heavy but popped off and ran with just a little momentum. I would get to my destination and park with 2 tires on the curb or parking stop, come out later, jump in and that drop off the curb was just enough to bump start it. Good times...