So I needed a "shop" to work on shorty. The garage needed to be cleared out anyway, so we all went to work. Rich and I managed to open up the door, which had been sealed years before.

So here's the white trash garage. Junk falling out, a door with no springs, my truck, and my broken thumb.

But in a matter of weeks we had the whole thing cleaned up, organized and functional. Now I can work on stuff right in the driveway.

I took Shorty out to the railroad tracks a few times, just to get an idea of what it could do. There are just a bunch of little hills out there.
Keith brought his camera one time, so I'll try to post a pic of that.
Shorty can climb amazingly well, but the rear end is so light that it hops and looses traction easy.

Kyle and I also took it to the grade ridge road one afternoon. We almost made it up this one steep hill, but the ground was just too soft, and my tires are bald. Some day I will go back to that hill!

We checked the flex in the suspension on some hills. The rear has basically no flex at all. Something has got to be done about that.

Labor day was great, we went to Mexico even though my thumb was broken. I just kept putting hydrogen peroxide on it. What a bummer though, no surfing, no spear fishing, I can't even swim or do any thing active!

So at the end of the week, it was time to drive Shorty back to San Luis Obispo! A slightly scary thought, but fun. Rich drove with me most of the way. Shorty has 35" tires, a welded rear differential (hops, skips and chirps around turns), an exhaust pipe that is chopped right behind the cherry bomb muffler, one window has no glass, one won't roll-up, no blinkers and only one mudflap. It was an adventure.

We put on our Jackets and beanies and hit the road. Our caravan included Kristie's car, Lindsey's car, Jamie's car, and my junk. I filled Shorty up and found that the guage read about half, so i had no idea how much gas I had left or how far I could go. We stopped in Santa Barbara just to be safe, to my delight, Shorty was getting nearly 21 mpg! It makes me want to drive it all the time, until I drive it and realize that I really don't... :)

We made it to SLO, I had to down shift to 3rd on one hill, but was able to maintain 65-70mph most of the way.
It was a nice drive to SB, the weather was great I actually took off the beanie and Jacket and went short sleeves. After SB, it was time for some warmth. Kristie came with me and almost froze to death. But we all made it safely home.

I broke my thumb at work. 8-31-05
This is a picture of it a week later, after I had surgery. They put two pins in it through the first bone, which was split in half.

Needless to say, this slightly hinders my ability to work on my new Toy.

This is Shorty the 85 Toyota Pickup. From 1979-1985 Toyota made 4x4 pickups with solid front axles. In '85 the 22RE (EFI) engine was introduced, so basically an '85 is the best year to have!
This one is particularly nice because it has a rebuilt engine, and its an SR5. Power windows and doors (which don't work), moonroof, SR5 guages, and SR5 seats.

Piece of Junk!
I know, it looks like a piece of junk, but hey, its a great way to learn about cars and have some fun.

So I asked my dad and brother to go take a look at it, since it was in Mission Viejo, and I was in San Luis Obispo. They said it looks like a piece of junk, but it looks like fun.
So they bought it that night 8-30-05.
I got a few dark pictures of it, but never saw it in real life till Labor day.