Cars

This is my latest car. It's a 1995 Honda Civic VX Hatchback. I wanted a small econo-box to beat around in and save wear and tear on my Dodge Ram, and wound up getting this car for only $800 with a blown head gasket (along with some other minor problems). The car's a trooper and fun to drive, and I anticipate it having paid for itself with money saved on gas within 2 years of purchase.

Click on the button to see more about the Hatch.

This was my first car. A 1982 Mustang GL - nothing special when I bought, in fact I was convinced that 'GL' stood for 'Grandma Luxury' package. It had 14" wire-wheel hubcaps mounted on Western Auto white-walls, and the stock AM/FM radio mounted in the simulated woodgrain trimmed dashboard. The car was transformed into something pretty cool in the short time I owned it... kind of a weird habit of mine.

Click on the button to see more about the Mustang.

I picked up the Jeep from the Auto Skills Development Center at Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas, in March 1995 while my wife was stationed in Korea. I was afraid when I called her and told her that I had ditched my Blazer and bought a Jeep, that she would be upset. But quite to the contrary, she was almost ecstatic, since she really hated my Blazer - another story.

Click on the button to see more about the Jeep.

Here's my daily driver. This is the 1997 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 I bought online. I love it and can't imagine how I got by driving the Nissan all that time. I can't believe how much nicer it is driving something that I actually fit in.

This is the last truck I'll ever own - I'm gonna drive the wheels off this sucker. And when that happens, I'll put it all back together and drive it some more.

Click on the button to see more about the Ram.

This was my daily driver til I got the Ram: 1985 Nissan King Cab 4x4. Some would say I didn't learn my lesson with my first Nissan, another 1985 4x4 (Check the Nissan page for the story), but actually I did. Unfortunately, I got to learn a new lesson about a year after I bought it - how to rebuild an engine.

Click on the button to see more about the King Cab.

I bought this truck after giving up on trying to fix the First Nissan - sometime around August 1994. My pal Dave and I decided to check it out. Once we popped the hood and discovered the Edelbrock'd 350 and then fired it up - I was hooked. Never mind that it had a major lean, the brakes didn't work for crap, or that the entire front end of the driveline and air conditioning system were in the bed of the truck - I had to have it. Of course, my wife was not happy in the least about this whole deal.

Click on the button to see more about the Blazer.

1985 Nissan 4x4. This is where it all began for me - my first 4x4. I learned a lot from working on this truck. The big confidence building was installing the 3" body lift properly - without instructions. I had lost them somewhere before installation. Oh well, it worked out for 2.5 years. Still miss that truck.

Click on the button to see more about the Nissan.

The Cars of Mister 4x4
Not all things are created equal...

Home Hatch Blog

I've always loved cars, even as a child I could pretty much identify what kind of a car was driving by with nothing more than it's headlights or taillights in the dark to go on. I know - I actually did lead a pretty sheltered life, growing up in Utah after all. My love for cars extended into my hobbies as well, as I would spend countless hours drawing them, building models, or just reading about them from books or magazines. I was definitely a car guy from the start, as one of my first memories from childhood had something to do with the neighbor's '69 Firebird and my thinking it was a cool car (which it was, of course).

This page is an experiment in blending my 'Car Stuff' and 'Off Road Stuff' pages, so changes will be happening without notice until I get it exactly how I want it. But for now it's just a collection of the vehicles I've actually owned (or at least claim to have had ownership in), on-road AND off-road. Enjoy.