“I’m just as upset as you are, believe me. Davenport! Get Mr. Griswald’s car back and bring it back here! Now I can get you the wagon, there’s not problem there. The problem is that it might take six weeks. Now, I owe it to myself to tell you that if you’re taking the whole tribe cross-country, the Wagon Queen Family Truckster… You think you hate it now, wait ’til you drive it.” – from Vacation
I’m trying to work through this one. There seems to be a social gap and a marketing gap between the geeks with CAD in Detroit and those of us who love adventure. I few days ago I was reading an outstanding article from Expo and since, been combing some of the older automobile adds. Toyota, Land Rover, and Jeep at one time were focused on getting you to the last frontier in their vehicle.
When recently searching for our new expo rig, I was more often than not at the lack of gusto most rigs had. Even our new Wrangler has its own share of plastic and lack of ability to add commo and nav gear inside the cab. Land Rover looks more like Grocery Rover, and though I like Nissan and Toyota’s XTerra and Tundra, all seem to be more fit for urban adventures than multiple weeks in the back country.
My YJ is fairly easy to repair in the back country even with several points hard to reach- and it is far more difficult than older FJs to do field repairs.
With outdoor recreation on the rise, owners willing to spend on after market upgrades, and the term “expo” becoming more mainstream, one would hope the geeks with the slide rules would give us something that we can easily upgrade and take into the back country.
Adventure IQ 