The Car Shopping Round 134 - Conquering the Klondike
Somewhere outside Dawson City Yukon, 1982
Bill is quite the recluse, living in a house he built a little ways outside of town on a large forested property. Having retired from the logging industry at a young age once he saved up enough to buy some land, he makes a modest living from hunting and trapping. While he may not have much he has what matters most to him: peace and quiet.
Bill currently drives a 1962 Dominion Labrador 4x4 with almost half a million miles that he bought used a decade earlier and itās served him well though has been requiring more maintenance over the last several years. Once a week he loads up his old truck and drives into town to sell the weekās meat and furs and buy the supplies he needs, and thatās pretty well the extent of his interactions. Other than that, heāll take a longer trip when needing something that isnāt readily available in Dawson City or to go hunting. That said, the truck also does plenty of work on the property, be it to drive down closer to the further traps or doing anything from pulling stumps to hauling firewood.
On a sunny and warm August day, Bill loads up his truck for his weekly trip into town finds that the beat up old Dominion Labrador is not starting again. The recent repairs to the distributor just arenāt keeping as well as heād like and itās one of the many problems his old truck has had as of late. To think heās already had it for ten years. With another quick repair to the distributor, Bill is off again to see Annie down at the general store. Sheās one of the few people he gets along with and where he takes care of any phone calls he needs to make, having no phone of his own.
Once down at the store and with the sale of the meat along with the purchase of a few groceries, Annie tells him he missed a call from his brother Ray two days earlier. With a sigh, Bill finishes loading up his truck and returns into the store to call his brother. They never really did along well and they havenāt talked since their motherās funeral in Whitehorse a decade earlier, so he knows it has to be something important.
What he learns in the short phone call is that his old uncle Tom in Anchorage has passed, that the funeral is in two days, and that Bill and Ray were his last relatives and are getting an inheritance.
This will turn into an interesting week for Bill.
Billās plan is to visit the barber, pack his one suit, then make the day-long drive to Anchorage for some rare socialising with the funeral. Following this will be meetings with attorneys and bankers to get everything organised with the inheritance and finally head back home. He figures this should be done within the week, including the drive to and from Anchorage.
Fast forward to a few days laterā¦
Bill is finally just about done with his business in Anchorage, including having spent part of his $18,000 inheritance on a new freezer and a few supplies to help with his trapping and hunting. Once again the distributor went and thatās when Bill decided he should really replace the old Dominion while he was in āthe big cityā with all its dealerships. This is after all the same circumstances that got him to buy a used truck in Whitehorse a decade ago. This time, heās got enough for a new. With that, he heads back to the motel and looks through the magazine rack in the rental office until he finds what he needs: a January 1982 issue of āTruckā magazine outlining all the models available on the market for the year. Hopefully Anchorage is a big enough city to have at least most of them available.
Bill heads back into his room with the magazine and considers what he needs from a new vehicle. Heās not entirely set on another pickup truck, a utility wagon could work well for him too, or even a dedicated 4x4 that isnāt too small. Maybe even a spacious 4x4 van. Either way, he expects it to look as capable as it is, and thatās being at least as capable as the Dominion. Hopefully also sturdy enough to be the last vehicle he ever buys. Heās earmarking up to $16,000 of his inheritence for the new truck but is hoping he can get what he needs for a lower price. Heāll be sure to play hard to make sure these big city salesmen donāt try and swindle him.
Requirements
1978-1982 trim year. Not everything gets updated every year and this factors for it.
80 engine ET/70 trim ET
$16,000 budget
91 RON Regular
Catalytic converter mandatory
4x4 required
2 seats minimum
Minimum 2000L of cargo space. For vehicles with a back seat, less cargo is okay if 2000L can be achieved by removing (or folding down) the back seat to carry large loads.
Minimum 1000 kg load capacity
Minimum 500 kg towing capacity. Statās a little janky so a ārealisticā amount is hard to achieve.
Meme/heavy duty bodies banned (Topkek, dump truck, postal van, etc). When in doubt, ask.
Realism is important. Do some research if youāre not familiar with the era.
Important stats
Offroad
Utility
Reliability
Drivability
Service costs
Comfort
Cargo volume
Price
Fuel economy
Styling
Deadline
Submissions will open at 8 PM EST March 3rd 2021 and close at 8 PM EST March 9th 2021
Rules are subject to change until submissions open.
