The car has to go... and an awesome back flip

I drove the red car for the first time since we got back (seriously). Sure, it started first go, but I did turn it over a few weeks ago when I was testing Brett's on-board-diagnostics tool.

The amount of time between drives is perhaps indicative of how little I wanted to drive it. I drove it no more than 1KM and I was already sick of it. It labours around corners, rough as guts and noisy. It wanders all over the road and is really hard work to drive.
Today I fixed one of the mudguards, took out the drawers, installed the rear seat, cleaned out some more cables - it's ready for sale.
In fact, on my way down this morning to go do this work, I got a call, a guy from Yass is coming to have a look at it Sunday afternoon.

We just came from test driving a 2001 Pajero - I think it had the 3.2 petrol motor with 5 speed auto gearbox. It had 256,000 KM which is huge for a vehicle of this kind - and it shows. The gearbox was noisy, brakes were rubbish, 4wd didn't work... the list goes on. But, the whole purpose was to drive one of that model. Oh, and the battery was fail, so we stopped to have a bit of a walk around it (and try get the 4wd to work) and it wouldn't start again. We had to call the salesman to come out with the jump-pack. As a car, it was great. On several occasions both Cassie and I went, woah, we forgot we were driving a 4wd as it just feels like driving a car. The 3.2 petrol motor lacks torque. My current one is a 3.5 Manual, so it's almost like taking a double step backwards in terms of power.  Not everything is about power, but been able to hold highway speeds without your foot flat is a big deal. The auto gearbox was great, makes it great for stop start driving in places where we won't know where we are going!

OK, time for the back flip and the thought process that had us arrive at this idea. As we blogged about in previous posts, there were a few things we would change about our method of travel. We still want the freedom of a car - i.e not towing a trailer/caravan/camper, but we struggle to have enough space in what is essentially a passenger vehicle.

What appealed to our initial design of the bed in the car idea:
Security - We can just take off if we get startled in the night or we are asked to move on without packing up a tent/swag/camper trailer.
Weather - If it's teaming with rain, we can just climb over the seats and go to sleep
Off the ground - again, a weather and bugs consideration
Inconspicuous - doesn't look like we're camping.

Bad points of our design:
Weather/Bugs - If it's raining, although we can sleep, that's all we can do. It's difficult to read/laptop or just sit and talk. The same also applies with bugs - no matter how much repellent you have on, they still annoy the hell out of you. Although the sun has gone down, we usually like to sit up and unwind for a bit. Also can't get anything out of the drawers (food, clothes) if it's raining or if you risk letting bugs in. Cannot prepare a meal in this state.
No Table - seems fairly obvious, but we don't have a table. Makes it difficult to post blog articles sitting in the passenger seat. People would say 'just carry a table'... yeah but where?
Not enough fuel - Can only carry max of 70L + 10L Jerry can
Carrying water is difficult - It's a heavy, manual process every time we want some water we need to tip or syphon it into smaller containers.
No dual batteries - I know it's just a modification, but it's not getting done on this old car.
No privacy - could be fixed with curtains etc, but not a current feature.


We were thinking about how we would re-install our setup into a newer car, but as Cassie noticed, there didn't seem to be anywhere as many bolt holes as our car has.
OK so you might have guessed, the back flip is on our current camper setup. It's OK, but it's not seamless. We saw plenty of 70 series campers setup PERFECTLY on our travels. Most obvious outside features include fly screens and the high roof. The word fly screen just seems so luxurious to us! Fridge, sink, bedding, storage - all integrated perfectly. Water storage, LPG, 240V inverter... the list goes on. As we were having lunch, it dawned on us that we could either buy one setup, or set one up ourselves, but the experience seemed prohibitive. I've been doing some quick research online, and you can get 2007 70 series, all setup as a camper for less than $30K!
OK sure, the budget has blown out a bit, but seen as we'll be bringing it back, lets just consider it 'money tied up'... not a absolute loss.

See this link to see the rest of the photos: Here

As everyone knows, nothing is tougher than a 70 series land cruiser - period. Although my current vehicle has physical 4wd engagement, the newer Pajero's are electronic - there is something comforting about having a lever that does something, not waiting on flashing lights.
These have all of the concerns I've mentioned summed up - including:

50L fresh water, 180L diesel, Split rims, part time 4wd, snorkel, dual batteries, inverter, fly screens, cooker, fridge, beds, storage, v8 turbo diesel.
Even just talking about the topic of the trip, it all seems so much easier now.