I wasn’t sure how many people cared about the Phoenix project. I found out that at least one did.
Frank Ornelas of Phoenix, Arizona, sent this via our website:
“I just read how the Phoenix project was discarded for what I think were bogus reasons. I decided to read this magazine because I wanted to learn about this project. The least Blumer could have done is to let the buyer show how he completed the project… Another bit of advice is to use more and better pictures in the tech projects. This magazine and its cousins spend a lot of space on show-off pictures. What is the value of a picture towing a failed project?”
Frank provided a phone number, so I gave him a call, and gave him a little more background information as to why the Phoenix project came to an end before the truck got back on the trail.
I figure that same information bears repeating here.
I tried not to make too big a deal of it, but I was working on the Phoenix in a driveway, not a shop. It wasn’t just any driveway, either. It was my parents’ driveway. I would love to own a home someday, but that’s going to be a day in the future. In the mean time, I’m using my parents’ driveway.
Someone took a dim view of the Phoenix and complained to the city about the Phoenix. The city responded by sending the threat of a citation unless the Phoenix was removed from public view by a certain date. I got the Phoenix back on its wheels and stashed in a generous neighbor’s side yard. Now the city had been satisfied, but the Phoenix was in a place where I couldn’t do the heavy work on it that it needed. Yes, this was a losing situation. It was also a hassle.
I can’t prove it, but I suspect that a local realtor was behind the complaints to the city. This same realtor has the guts to send cheerful newsletters and custom note pads to my parents, all the while complaining to the city about the vehicle project in the driveway.
With the Phoenix sitting out of sight, it gave me a little time to think about my whole situation.
I had two major vehicle projects underway. The other project is Project TrailRunner in Off-Road Magazine. Project TrialRunner is a Ford Ranger that’s going to be a desert truck. TrialRunner will have a full roll cage, a linked rear suspension, and long-travel 4x4 I-beams up front. I’m doing the fabrication myself, and it’s a major time commitment. Project TrialRunner is at least as big a project as the Phoenix project. I didn’t have time or energy for both, so I had to choose.
Project TrailRunner is further along, so I decided to see it through. That meant the Phoenix had to go.
A little more information about the Phoenix seems appropriate to share. Read on.
The Phoenix was my daily driver, and I owned it from ’96 through ’08. It had been through four transmissions and three engines. One engine replacement is a hassle. One transmission replacement is a hassle. Four of one and three of another add up to a nightmare.
The nightmare started at the word "go," way back in 1996. When first purchased, all the smog equipment had been disconnected, so I had to swap everything from the intake manifold to the wiring to the instrument cluster to the exhaust system to make it pass smog. This was a gigantic time drain and a colossal headache. The smog-legal header I purchased did not have an Executive Order approval plaque welded on, and so I had to go back to the header manufacturer to get a letter of approval to show to the smog station. More hassle.
By the time 2008 rolled around, I was done with the 22R engine, so an engine swap was in the works. This meant fabricating engine mounts and sorting out wiring harnesses. It also meant dealing with the California Air Resources Board referee. More hassle, and more expense.
The final blow was the truck itself. The ’81 cab is tiny inside. I’m on the short side at 5 feet 6 inches, and the truck feels cramped to me. I can only imagine how it must feel to people of average-to-tall height. I do not have a tow rig or a trailer, so the Phoenix would have to be driven to every trail and back home after completing the trail. Driving big distances in a cramped truck wasn’t a savory thought. Even though I’d driven it for years every day, I had since driven vehicles that were much more comfortable inside. Going back to the tiny ’81 cab didn’t sound like much fun. The Phoenix had to go.
The news isn’t all bleak The silver lining is that the Phoenix was sold to a really cool guy. Jeff Simpson is busy combining the Phoenix with an ’83 Toyota 4x4 longbed, and the drivetrain from a ’90 Chevy Astrovan.
Jeff’s first moves were to add a bobbed ’83 long bed to the ’81 Phoenix chassis, extend the wheelbase to 110 inches, swap in an ’86-’95 rear axle housing, swap in some longer rear leaf springs, and give the truck a fresh coat of paint. I have included a few photos of Jeff’s progress here, and I intend to do a follow-up story of the completed truck once it’s back in running condition.
I’ve learned a few things about doing vehicle projects.
The first is that it’s best to only take on one major vehicle project at a time. You only have so many hours in a day, and so much energy to devote to a project. If you’re working on multiple lightweight projects, then that’s probably OK. If you’re working on multiple heavyweight major projects, you’re susceptible to getting overwhelmed and burned out. Be honest about how much you can really take on.
The next is that any time you disable a vehicle to do a project, it becomes a major project. Think about it. If you pull an engine, or cut off the front suspension, you’ve got a lot of work to do, and you’ve taken away the capacity to move the vehicle under its own power. If you don’t have a garage or a shop to work in, this can become a major issue.
The next word of wisdom for the day is that any project that takes a long time is at risk for being abandoned. The longer a vehicle is down, the foggier the memory becomes of actually having driven the thing. It gets easier to let the project go.
The final thought is that when it comes to long-term projects, stubbornness is a virtue. It takes major determination to keep a major vehicle project alive. I’m just stubborn enough to keep working on Project TrialRunner.
The Phoenix may have changed hands, but it’s not gone, and it’s not forgotten.