Monster Truck

The guys at work have started calling it 'The Monster Truck'. A slight exageration.

For the benefit of BiL down under, here's the lowdown on the new vehicle. It's a very dark green Daihatsu Fourtrak 2.8 diesel . First registered Oct 1993. Physically quite small for a 4x4 but can pull 3.5 tons same as a land rover/ range rover/discovery, which means it won't have any trouble with Ruby & Zorya in the box. It's also got 7 (yes seven) seats although the two in the very back are fold down ones and don't have seat belts.

It's basically the same as the big red bus but it hasn't had quite the same amount of work and the insides haven't been destroyed by jack russells. If it is a complete lemon, I can at least give the seats to sheila for hers.

It's done 117k miles and has 12 months MoT and seems to go ok. Nice CD player and good speaker system. Doesn't appreciate going above 50mph. Oh, and I understand that you can take the back off. It looks sound underneath, the body has a bit of surface rust in the usual places but nothing despirate and the engine seems to go OK. It looks fairly straightforward so I might get in there under the bonnet and at least attempt an oil/filter change as I understand it'll need one about every 6k. Oh, and you can get at least two spinning wheels in the back without any difficulty. It is a bit like driving around in a greenhouse cos there's so much window - which is a bit wierd. I've already invested in some rubber mats so Smem doesn't mess up the carpets.

I just need an insane collie dog now to hang out the back and frighten passers-by!