Among all the classic car listings online, there are occasionally errant parts that weren’t correctly listed in the parts pages. Most of it is pretty ordinary stuff – bumpers from late model cars, take-off wheel sets and the like – but occasionally something interesting shows up. One example of that is this 1964 Pontiac GTO Tri-Power intake for sale for $1200 in Flowers Branch, GA.
The team at RustyButTrusty (okay, it’s a team of one, plus the fiance) has just returned from Peru, and we thought it would be interesting to share some of the vehicles still in daily use, some even earning their keep as taxis. A couple of interesting things I noticed:
Anyway, let’s move on to some of the snaps I did get:
Typical street scene in Arequipa. This was worse than usual since there was a strike around the Plaza de Armas, so all the streets a block off of the plaza were closed. You can see most of the taxis here are Daewoo Ticos – if you do a Google search for those, one of the first results will explain why I refused to ride in a Tico taxi. Other cars put into taxi duty included Toyota Proboxes & Corollas, compact Nissan wagons, Nissan Micras, a Geo Metro, a Renault 5, various old American boats, and pretty much anything else with 4 seats.
Welcome to Rusty But Trusty! My goal is to show how I keep up my car hobby, even in times like this when our economy is uncertain. Before I was laid off from my job in the online office of a certain infamous S&L that recently failed, I’d built a mini-fleet of wacky cars on which I’ve been learning a lot, and while not always in the prettiest cosmetic shape, are fun to drive. When I was laid off, I was faced with the question of how to keep the hobby going, keep my cars running, and still save most of my money for the critical stuff… because the people that want your money aren’t going away anytime soon.
With that in mind, I’m going to describe repairs I do to my cars that can be done at a reasonable cost. These might also be small, cheap things that you’d ordinarily put off because they’re not as sexy as, say, a set of big brakes. I’d also like to feature cars that I think would make great budget toys, and possibly even reliable drivers, while not being as appliance-like as, erm, my best beloved’s Corolla. Lastly, I believe in using my old cars on rallies, road trips, and for anything else that’s more fun in an old car, so I’ll document some of those trips.
With that in mind, let’s get started!
Rusty But Trusty 