Killing Mind

Today I took a deposit on my Patrol from a fella in Melbourne. The Patrol is an unregistered, old, clunky, rusty, incomplete car. It has also been my passion, my weekends, my long nights, my camping rig, my personal creation and my proudest possession for over 4 years.

When I bought it for $3300 back in 2003, I had no idea what I was getting myself in for. All I knew was that it was a lot chunkier than my poor old Rocky.

I "quickly" set about adding a bullbar, changing the interior, installing a UHF, adding a 2" body lift in the driveway, and in a move that left me grinning ear from ear, added some 33" MT/Rs.

With the cream paint looking more and more untidy, it was time for a face lift. With 4L of KillRust "Ultra Blue" and some cheap spray gear from SuperCheap, the transformation began.

By this time my driving aspirations had changed a lot, and the current setup would simply not do. It was time for a some body chopping, a home made rear bar, a 2" spring lift, a steel bullbar with brush bars and sliders, and some 35" MT/Rs.

My passion for bigger and better did not falter, and 2006 saw the addition of a 350 cubic inch Chev V8 and a rear ARB air locker.

Then things started to change. I moved out of college, finished uni, bought a real car, and just recently, bought a house. Now the prospect of spending another weekend working on the Patrol, spending all I can manage, building and fixing, improving and tweaking, looks less and less attractive. There's nothing I love more than taking my "rig" out, that I've put my own blood, sweat and tears into, and taking it further than before. But with that passion comes a lot of sacrifice, and it is finally time to shift some priorities.

I hope the new owner can make good use of my work, and build his own toy. I've never met the guy, but I suspect we share some of the same drive.

I'm curious to see how the numbers stack up, so let's take a look:
Patrol: $3300
V8: $900
V8 installation: $400
Tyres: $1650
Barwork: $850
UHF: $350
Lights: $350
Locker: $1100
Gauges: $200
Engine parts: $500
Suspension: $600
Miscellaneous: $1000

Sold for $2800. That puts the value of my entertainment at about $2000/year. I actually think that's pretty fair.

One last thought of interest, is that about 15 months ago I wrote a post for this blog. I didn't post it though, because I was ashamed. I think now's the time to post it:

Yesterday I spent the entire day working on the car. Again. I removed a broken gearbox mount, modified it, combined it with a modified spare one, and bolted it all back together. It's awesome. Holds the gearbox well. I also coated the timing cover with gasket goo, re-did the gasket for the rear differential, topped the fluids up, patched the transmission tunnel up, tidied the interior, cleaned up a bit of wiring, fabbed up a temporary mount for the exhaust and went for a drive.

Oil pissed out of the front of the engine, was dripping out of the rear, the thermos couldn't cool the engine and the idle steadily climbed to 2000 rpm. By the time I arrived home the coolant was boiling, the oil was below the dipstick mark, the engine was running on, the goo and oil had sprayed itself over the front differential, the sump, and most of the front of the engine bay. I'm pretty much over it.

I really can't wait to go four wheel driving again, take it camping, explore the new possibilities with the engine, on-board air and rear locker. You simply can't buy what I've built for myself. But the money and time required to get it to four wheel driving condition again is very difficult to justify. I'm at a bit of a loss.