All Good Things

I never thought it would happen, certainly not after the first time I never thought it would happen, but when a seed is planted it has to grow into something. One evening last week, I simply thought to myself that perhaps it was time to move the Beast on, and start a new adventure. Or even just something different.

Love Hate Relationship

My 1994 Toyota 4Runner has been a long running Love Hate Affair, starting in early 2019 with a Bought Unseen arrival of a very rusty Truck on the back of a Flatbed from further north in the Country, and an instant love the moment it rolled off. It was a Marty McFly at the open door to his Double Garage moment, quite incredulous at the fact of owning a V6 4Runner with a Manual Gearbox. They are rare, not Hens Teeth rare, but certainly hard to come by and the first I had seen advertised for sale during the years that I had been softly looking for one.

Retrospection

It has been expensive, it has been emotional, it has been exhausting at times, but not to the extremes I have known before and always with a renewed sense of optimism and joy once that time had passed. Toyota Parts Prices play a substantial role in that recovery from despair and opened my eyes to what Parts should cost; everything is made from the same base metal, plastic or rubber and Toyota prices reflect this. Didn’t stop me from overspending of course, but at least I got more Bang for my Buck.

Learning Curve

What I have learned from owning the 4Runner I have done with Greasy Hands and a Sweaty Smile, and I am so thankful for that. Not having the fear that whatever I touched I’d break and that it would be expensive to undo. It also gave me confidence to tackle more DIY based restoration; repairing, painting, dyeing and flocking. All of which I second guessed with a Porsche – “What if the Porsche Massive laughed at or mocked my efforts”. And let’s not forget painting Body of the 4Runner, that was on another level for me as far as learning goes. That experience will be savoured for some time, even if the fumes may have polluted some of the memories.

Pinteresting

I will admit that I had started to get a little tired of chasing perfection with the 4Runner, that while knowing that perfection would never be attainable. Looking at mint condition 4Runner on Social Photo Platform Pinterest, with Side Decals, Alloy Wheels, Perfect Paint [!] and Weekend Trips to Yosemite deluding me; it’s an easy delusion to never want to be woken from.

I still have a List of Work to be done, but to what I end I think I lost focus on. The closest I have been to the end is now, after the recent round of work done at MK Auto which made the 4Runner a dependable stable platform to drive to Wales and back without a worry, or Air Conditioning. If this is as close as it has felt, perhaps this is as close as it will get without a lot more effort and time that, if I am honest, I think I’d rather put into something else. House, Lifestyle, Travel. But with something interesting on the Driveway to come home to. And I’m certainly in no hurry to get into something else that requires dedicated attention; sometimes a Rest is better than a Change.

Love The Beast

I love the Beast, I do, I think I mentioned before that of all the cars I have owned [so far], it is the 4Runner that gives .. that gave me the most joy. It is fun to drive, it is fun to see people’s reaction to it, it is fun to look back at it parked among homogenised transportation surrounding it. I can still look back on it, but in my mind, and I’ll always smile.