Joe Handley

Started this well before landing in the hospital 5 weeks back and had been waiting on special order beadlock wheels that were assembled to my spec and now other than needing softer springs for better “flex” my Tamiya MF-01x Suzuki Jimny with portal hubs from a GF-01Tr Monster Beetle and now 3.85” tall licensed BFG Krawler tires on the aforementioned wheels. Can’t wait to get the PICC Line out my arm in 2 weeks then take this ridiculous looking little rig out for some drawing! Here’s the unpainted truck on kit tires that are on the NASCAR style wheels HPI used to sell back in 2015 or 2016. This is how it looked when I started to do the portal hubs on it, tires here are 3.30” tall and on 1.55” beadlocks that looked like plain steel wheels. Here it is now, as of tonight, had to go back to the 1.9” rims since the 1.55” wheels wouldn’t clear and you can adjust the offset on these wheels, which are assembled to keep the tires as close to the body as possible. Now if I flipped the hex adapter that allows the wheel to bolt to the vehicle around to what is currently the front side, the tires would probably be completely out side of the body!

No pics, but I’ve seen 2 Mach-E crossovers this weekend, didn’t even realize they were already yet.

Still have my 2012 200 that I bought new and have had it almost 9 years now (just 2-3 weeks away from the anniversary), just short of 113k, still runs and drives good and still more than capable of making those new wider than stock and Z Rated BFGs work for traction?

Used part of my income tax to get new tires for my 200, got a set up the BFG G-Force Comp 2 A/S Plus in 235/50R18 for the car. I ran a couple sets of the original versions of the Comp 2 A/S in the same size but put Firestone Firehawk A/S in the above size on the car in 2018 when I needed tires ASAP due to a puncture and not having time to order another set of the BFGs, plus they were cheaper.....at the time. The updated BFGs were about the same price while the Stones went up $20-$30 a tire, so I went back to BFG this time. I got them through Tire Rack and they have started offering at home/work installation like Safelight does, which only added $100 after the cost of the tires and was less than buying through a store (which seems to source them from Tire Rack as well) and paying more than I paid this company to have them installed. Best part was, I was able to have it done while working (and earning pay) vs sitting in a waiting area on a day off. Dad talked to the installer, got to see the inside of his van, and was impressed with him and his van, which has all new equipment on board including a laser balancer.

Eh, his Dart with a Daytona nose and with would still look better than these abominations.

That, or the polish that will clean the surface rust right off those old plastic and fiberglass body parts??

Well.......despite a recent severe infection as well as not doing much because of Covid restrictions and working from home for almost a year now, I’ve managed to drop 2 pants sizes for blue jeans since Christmas 2019 I had 2 pairs that were comfortable but getting looser before just wearing out, found another pair that turned out to be the next size down a while back and even those were getting to where I need a belt in the last couple weeks (hope I don’t need to shorten that too!) even though those were extremely tight a few years ago. I just tried on a pair I got about the same time that I couldn’t button or zip at the time and never returned, but now not only do both, but I can even sit in them after eating more dinner than I should have too? By the time I get up for my daily antibiotic hospital visit tomorrow morning, they jut may fit perfectly ?

Finally got out of the hospital last night after a week, turns out I was in full blown sepsis and now have to carry an injection pump for the antibiotics to fully kill the MRSA I went in with and will have it until around April 9th. The kick in the teeth, the insurance my employer switched to this season is refusing to pay for it as they don’t consider it the right type of preventative care. Now it’s not like I cheaped out, I’ve maxed out what I can get through work, but unless I can get financial aid to help with this, it’s going to run me about $40k out of pocket on this alone......I have no idea what else they’ll refuse to pay for for the actual hospital stay and ER. The lady I was talking with in the hospital’s billing department was actually kinda angry with this, especially after telling her I was getting the best coverage offered through work right now!

Thank’s Jim, luckily I’m at CDH too.

Thank You Mark!

Well, it’s been another long week, I ended up in the hospital last Thursday with infections similar to what Mom had in the last years of her life andmay not be outta here until this Thursday or Friday, plus something she couldn’t get and I never knew was possible. Two good things have come out of this though outside of a better health outlook, 1st, I’ve discovered I lost more weight(!), and 2nd, I have doctors and nurses, even a phlebotomist that has helped care for her that have been working to patch me back up! The latter has been good news to us since we remember how well they cared for Mom in her stays here, and knowing I’m in good hands.

Ok, wasn’t sure.

Is that a new car, or was that the Plan B car that Daddy Dave ran for a while?

Was Murillo running in that? I haven’t really been watching it much, but had seen he was in the hospital with Covid and just got out a couple weeks ago.

I’d even take the Ultravan, even over the delivery, that van is weirdly cool to me!

Considering how most trucks look, I’m not sure if the trucks from that era are macho enough now.

I’ll be honest Tom, before I scrapped it nearly a year ago, I had a better selection of kits stashed in my Jeep than Michael’s and HL around here.....

That’s because they did an assortment of “conversion” work, including cargo vans into dressed up passenger vans and did similar things to pickups as well........minus the massive window holes in the sides like the vans would get.

That looks a lot like the Michael’s stores here, pre pandemic, haven’t been in any of them......probably at all in 2020 either.

Even in the FWD trim, the 3.6l has a lot more power than the 3.7l in the Liberty or Grand Cherokee or the 3.8l like used in the minivans and early JK Wranglers, that could be some of it, plus the open Jeeps just keep getting bigger and heavier compared to the CJ, YJ, and TJ/LJ Wranglers. I wouldn't be shocked if the clutches were under spec for the abuse the rest of the truck can heap on those items, my 200 had tires on it from the factory that were barely up to the power that the 2.4l put out when back by the 4 speed auto let alone the 3.6l and 6 speed with it's low 1st gear and Dad's Grand Caravan will light up it's front tires from a dig at will. A now former Chrysler mechanic I follow on YouTube and Instagram (open his own garage) had a Promaster with the 3.6l and 6 speed that grenaded a CV joint at the left front wheel that he had to repair when still at the dealership.

They were just conversions, think they combined the back half of the Bronco shell with the 4dr truck cab on a modified chassis.

I don’t know why, but the latter two look more like Econolines that the F-Series and the grill for the last one looks kinda Escort like.

Lol, I was going to say that sounds like solid advice for any German owned brand!

Wow, that was quick, he may have just learned about it himself a few weeks ago.

I’ll be honest, a ‘66-‘67, ‘75-‘78, or the L-Body FWD Chargers would be better looking out of Lego with how squared off all of those are, just not as licensable.