How the Toy Came to Live at my House

The year was 1979 and it was summer time in the Rockies. My now husband but then "live in" were living in Casper, Wyoming. We had a Chevrolet Scottsdale 1/2 ton with 1 ton suspension that we used to pull our travel trailor as we worked around the USA. That truck could use some gas! When we finally got settled in Casper for a while, I found a little used orange Datsun. Back then it was Datsun but today they are called Nissans. The ugly orange Datsun was great on gas; it was just the car I needed for running around the wide open spaces.

One weekend we decided to go camping. This was back in the day before I swore off sleeping in a tent on hard ground in rain storms or waking to icy mornings with no running water and no stove to cook on. Back in the day when waking up and brushing your teeth meant stumbling to the river and tidying yourself up.
Anyway, we loaded up in the Datsun and headed for the Black Hills of South Dakota. Somewhere out of Rapid City, South Dakota, the brakes gave out on the Datsun so we pulled into a dealership there and left the Datsun to be repaired. The dealership gave us a Toyota Landcruiser to drive until the car was repaired. We drove that Toyota all over the Black Hills. We went into Deadwood, South Dakota and eyeballed the 6 houses of ill repute in this small little town, visited Wild Bill Hickok's place of demise and Clamity Janes grave site. Eventually we returned to Rapid City to pick up the Datsun. We didn't leave the Landcruiser there. We drove it home also and have owned it since then. I used to drive it in the Rockies in the winter. The 4 wheel drive would get me through the deep snow to the store and in the summer we could crawl up the mountains off road. The top is fiberglass and removable. Summers in it were fun.

I haven't had it licensed for years. I had to park it in the back yard here because people would stop and knock on the door wanting to know if we wanted to sell it. Hubby was all for selling it. I didn't want too so we've kept it. A few years ago we started working on it. We ordered a neoprene gas tank as the old one was rusted from sitting so much. I had the whole body redone and repainted. The last time we tried to start it, it wouldn't run unless you stood over the carburetor and poured gasoline in it. I had Joe come and get it and it has been at his shop for months. He gets a lot of traffic in that wants to buy it also.
Joe just called me the other day and said it was running. Fuel lines had been cleaned and some replaced but it needed a new carburetor. One is on the way and should be here in a few days and the Toy will be one step closer to road ready.
I'm looking forward to that day.