Dad, what's a back country beater? What will your kiddos remember later in life?

[bozwell13]

We get so caught up in our toys, we forget they actually are just that, toys. So, last year cost a lot, wife and I separated, lost my little brother, lost 70% of my income, lost my dog, lost my best friend of 30+ years and then the IRS dropped in, all on a single Dad with 2 little (8/10 yrs old) girls... wow. Its OK, I cannot be kept down, no matter what. One sacrifice we made was to sell the little Jeep we used for paddle boarding at the lake just up the road, wheeling the mountain behind us etc and my girls have missed it terribly. Another open Jeep is not in the budget, nothing available here anyway, plus it rode like crap, no room for anything etc. I told my girls when I was a kid our rigs were beaters, you built them, got creative, had fun and didn't worry about nice paint, trick wheels etc. My oldest daughter looked at me and said, "well, why don't we build a beater?" I started thinking about kiddo fun and childhood memories "Hmm... you know what honey? that's a great idea." Found a high mile 01 WJ, 4.0, new ball joints, brakes, some dents, etc, added 3" springs, shocks, new Toyos, etc. My daughter's complaint? The doors don't come off, um, okay, challenge accepted. Total beater cost at this point is $2100, less than a decent used mountain bike. Watching my 10yr old daughter drive off road for a week on high mountain trails is the coolest thing ever, am so proud of her, she rocks! When is the last time you had to pull over for a roadside pollywog inspection? This is the stuff you both will remember, this is the good stuff.

 

[nwoods]

Man you are so right. I grew up boondocking at ‘78 4-door Subaru that we welded in a roll cage and racing fuel cell. We removed the doors and quite a lot of the sheet metal. It was the ultimate field car. It looked a bit like something out of a Mad Max movie, but I had some of my favorite moments behind the wheel of that thing. It finally died a noble death lodged about 6’ up in the air, wedged into a stand of trees. Hardest stop of my life. Thank goodness for the 5 point harnesses we had installed!

backstory: headed across a field of hood highgrass, towards a hill we regularly jumped. Hit an anthill, changed vector to a new line we’d never attempted. I looked at my buddy and he looked at me and I pressed harder on the throttle and sent it........ right into a groove of small trees we never noticed previously in our normal launch direction. Ah to be a teenager again!

 

[BritKLR]

Dude......well done! Some of us have lived through some of those very experiences, it sucked. But, got refocused, like you and made a better life. Well done.

As for the beaters....hell ya. Back in high school (circa 1982ish...) had a friend whose dad owned a big old farm and tow yard. When the owners abandoned the cars and before they went to scrap we were authorized to "test" them on the farm, creeks, pastures, etc......The funny part, one of the most toughest and reliable car that we beat the hell out of was this Fiat!



As for my son and I's little beater following crazy life events.....He spent alot of time getting it stuck in the sand (never engaged 4wd....) and running the woods in the Ozarks!

 

[bozwell13]

Nice! Great pics. If that smiling kiddo is driving that samurai then he's driving a stick shift even more awesome! That's the good stuff right there! We forget how magical this stuff is to kids. The first time my daughter drove up in Bonanza Colorado at our property was in an old XJ. When she parked, she turned and looked at me with big eyes and said holy crap Dad I just drove a freaking car a real car! 47 years ago I remember my dad building a sand buggy and to this day I still remember the burning rubber smell as he was carving the back tires with an electric iron thing to make paddles. I remember sitting on his lap going down the beach in Mexico and I kept wanting to drive through the water and he kept steering back to dry sand and I just laughed like a little maniac.

 

[BritKLR]

Nice! Great pics. If that smiling kiddo is driving that samurai then he's driving a stick shift even more awesome! That's the good stuff right there! We forget how magical this stuff is to kids. The first time my daughter drove up in Bonanza Colorado at our property was in an old XJ. When she parked, she turned and looked at me with big eyes and said holy crap Dad I just drove a freaking car a real car! 47 years ago I remember my dad building a sand buggy and to this day I still remember the burning rubber smell as he was carving the back tires with an electric iron thing to make paddles. I remember sitting on his lap going down the beach in Mexico and I kept wanting to drive through the water and he kept steering back to dry sand and I just laughed like a little maniac.

Good job dad! She'll always love those memories!

He's a great kid/man.......we had some great times exploring in that Sammi and a number oops due to his clutch management skills were lacking.....I remember a Ozark Missouri gravel road, hunting cabin, snow and a ditch full of snow...the best of times. He's now 27 living his cool life and the Sammi is retired with me here. Time flies for sure.

 

[Charles R]

For over 25 years I've raced cars and helped others get into racing.
One of the first things I tell people?

"Never underestimate the value of a $500 beater car!"

A beater allows you a level of mental freedom that a daily driver or high dollar vehicle can never offer. In more than one way, as the OP post points out, they are often worth far more than money.

 

[Heading Out]

When my son was about 2 years old, We lived in the Mojave.
I would load him up in an old Nissan 4x4 I had.
He would ask " Where are we going?" and I I would reply "On an adventure!"

We would head out on some two track and when we got to a Y in the road I'd ask "left or right?"
and he'd pick the route.
When it came time to head home I'd tell him "OK get us back." and he would find the way.

Now he's on his own and married, but still remembers those "Adventures" like yesterday.
To this day he has always been the best navigator on road trips I have had, and has a love
of maps and navigation.

Funny thing is another of the memories he has, is helping scrape sound deadener out of an
RX7 race car he helped me build some years later.

I believe the key is involving then in the event and making them a part of it.
They will never remember the time you got 100 mpg hypermiling the Prius,
but will always remember getting to something awesome and being a part
of getting there and finding it.

Charles has it right!
I also believe exploring in a paid for $2K beater is much more fun than with a
$50K rig that still has a thick payment book LOL

 

[bozwell13]

Man you are so right. I grew up boondocking at ‘78 4-door Subaru that we welded in a roll cage and racing fuel cell. We removed the doors and quite a lot of the sheet metal. It was the ultimate field car. It looked a bit like something out of a Mad Max movie, but I had some of my favorite moments behind the wheel of that thing. It finally died a noble death lodged about 6’ up in the air, wedged into a stand of trees. Hardest stop of my life. Thank goodness for the 5 point harnesses we had installed!

backstory: headed across a field of hood highgrass, towards a hill we regularly jumped. Hit an anthill, changed vector to a new line we’d never attempted. I looked at my buddy and he looked at me and I pressed harder on the throttle and sent it........ right into a groove of small trees we never noticed previously in our normal launch direction. Ah to be a teenager again!

For over 25 years I've raced cars and helped others get into racing.
One of the first things I tell people?

"Never underestimate the value of a $500 beater car!"

A beater allows you a level of mental freedom that a daily driver or high dollar vehicle can never offer. In more than one way, as the OP post points out, they are often worth far more than money.

While we were parked at that creek, my oldest asked if it would be okay to sit on the hood. I could not have cared less, absolutely, sit on the hood, knock yourself out. She and her sister sat there for a good hour just chatting girl talk. That moment would never have happened on the hood of my Suburban or the Quigley. There is a lot to be said for a beater and I'm finding more and more fun in this cheap POS 4 wheel drive than I imagined. There was a small hole drilled in the hood, so we drilled another hole and mounted a shovel, problem solved...

 

[bozwell13]

When my son was about 2 years old, We lived in the Mojave.
I would load him up in an old Nissan 4x4 I had.
He would ask " Where are we going?" and I I would reply "On an adventure!"

We would head out on some two track and when we got to a Y in the road I'd ask "left or right?"
and he'd pick the route.
When it came time to head home I'd tell him "OK get us back." and he would find the way.

Now he's on his own and married, but still remembers those "Adventures" like yesterday.
To this day he has always been the best navigator on road trips I have had, and has a love
of maps and navigation.

Funny thing is another of the memories he has, is helping scrape sound deadener out of an
RX7 race car he helped me build some years later.

I believe the key is involving then in the event and making them a part of it.
They will never remember the time you got 100 mpg hypermiling the Prius,
but will always remember getting to something awesome and being a part
of getting there and finding it.

I also believe exploring in a paid for $2K beater is much more fun than with a
$50K rig that still has a thick payment book LOL

Good job dad! She'll always love those memories!

He's a great kid/man.......we had some great times exploring in that Sammi and a number oops due to his clutch management skills were lacking.....I remember a Ozark Missouri gravel road, hunting cabin, snow and a ditch full of snow...the best of times. He's now 27 living his cool life and the Sammi is retired with me here. Time flies for sure.

View attachment 667125

That's awesome you still have that car, those are the modern equivalent of a flat fender Jeep although now antiques in their own right. I totally have Barn envy.

 

[bozwell13]

When my son was about 2 years old, We lived in the Mojave.
I would load him up in an old Nissan 4x4 I had.
He would ask " Where are we going?" and I I would reply "On an adventure!"

We would head out on some two track and when we got to a Y in the road I'd ask "left or right?"
and he'd pick the route.
When it came time to head home I'd tell him "OK get us back." and he would find the way.

Now he's on his own and married, but still remembers those "Adventures" like yesterday.
To this day he has always been the best navigator on road trips I have had, and has a love
of maps and navigation.

Funny thing is another of the memories he has, is helping scrape sound deadener out of an
RX7 race car he helped me build some years later.

I believe the key is involving then in the event and making them a part of it.
They will never remember the time you got 100 mpg hypermiling the Prius,
but will always remember getting to something awesome and being a part
of getting there and finding it.

Charles has it right!
I also believe exploring in a paid for $2K beater is much more fun than with a
$50K rig that still has a thick payment book LOL

I was born and raised in Yuma Arizona for the first 13 years of my life so childhood desert adventures really hit home. It is stuff like that that shapes them as an adult and later as a parent. Some of the stuff my kids think is the most fun cost almost nothing, that's the beauty of being a kid. I think I need to call my dad and thank him for some of the adventure like camping on the beach in Mexico, stuff like that.

 

[Deleted member 9101]

While I never would have spent thousands on something like that if I was in your shoes.... You are definitely recouping the investment with priceless memories.

 

[nwoods]

My son is 23 now, has a Lexus GS70 on 35's and Baja flared fenders. It's a beast. I joined him and "his crew" on a trail run not long ago, as one of his friends was scraping through a rock section, my son was quick to quote something I had taught him long ago. "No worries" he said, "Those are cheap noises. Keep going!" LOL. In these new $50k rigs, there are no cheap noises.

 

[bozwell13]

While I never would have spent thousands on something like that if I was in your shoes.... You are definitely recouping the investment with priceless memories.

My shoes? Not sure I understand that comment. Nowhere does it say I am destitute or near homeless. Thousands? $2K is not a lot of money and around here (Durango) that car would bring $3,500 just as a 4wd toy in like one day. Maybe I'm misunderstanding something but so far I'm really enjoying everyone's beater stories

 

[billiebob]

Absolutely, the less expensive it is, the more money to adventure with.
The more beat up it is the more relaxing it is to drive like a beater.
The less technology involved, the easier it is to just enjoy.

Get off the "ego, keep up with, polish and buff it".
Just get loaded and go.

And climb on the roof for that priceless photo.
It only needs to be mechanically reliable.

We can all learn from your.... misfortune..... altho sounds like it might be good luck.

 

[vintageracer]

May 2012 a friend on mine called me to see if I would buy his two door 2001 Toyota Echo with 85K miles for $3,000 as he needed the money. He purchased it wrecked, fixed it, was going to drive it and life got in the way. I went to look at the car and drove it. What's not to like? Ugly as a man's butt, all one color, 5 speed, gits 40+ MPG and it is actually roomy inside with chilly wind (A/C). At that time gas was $4.00+/gallon. Looking at the car I said to myself I can sell this car in a minute for $4,000 right now due to the high price of gas. I bought the car!

I drove the car for a week around town enjoying the 40 MPG. At the time my daily got 15 MPG. Started thinking (that's dangerous) if I only git 30 MPG with the Echo I will reduce my fuel cost per month in HALF from $300/month to $150 month. Divide that $150/month gas savings into the $3,000 I originally paid for the car and this Toyota Echo will be a FREE CAR in 20 months due to the savings in gas cost alone. Sign me up! Licensed and titled the Echo to me.

A month later in June 2012 I go through a hail storm in the Echo on I40 in Nashville. $1,700 worth of hail damage. Took the insurance check and went on. Now I only have $1,300 in the Echo!! Yippi!!!

I drove the Echo as my daily driver for the next 6+ years adding another 100,000+ miles on the car. Never locked the car once during my ownership. Who would steal a car that UGLY! Wife absolutely HATED "THE PILL"! That's what she called it.

A great deal on a Dodge Diesel truck came up so I decided it's time to sell "The Pill". Sold the Pill in the Fall of 2018 to the first looker for $2,900. Lost a $100.00 over six years versus what I originally paid for the Pill and added 100K+ miles to the car. Not bad at all! Only expenses were 2 sets of tires, one set of brakes, oil changes and a variable valve timing solenoid ($50.00).

Yes sir ya gotta LUV THEM BEATERS!!!