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Project: ddgonzal's Sunny Truck | Subject: Project: ddgonzal's Sunny Truck by ddgonzal on 2008/6/23 6:45:18
[With all the recent talk about a "Projects" forum, let's try some "projects" in the Announcements forum, which is rarely used in any case.]
Two days ago on Friday, I bought a Sunny Truck down in LA. As far as we know there are currently five of these in the USA: - two south america-built LHD - three Japan-built LHD They are becoming less rare every day
My quest for a Sunny Truck began almost five years ago, about the day after I bought my 2-dr sedan (Aug 2003).
I considered getting a ute from Japan or Australia, or even Costa Rica. The latter is probably a good way for Americans to buy. As we found out, the 1200 "camionetas" (little trucks) were built in a Nissan factory in Ecuador for some time. The price in Costa Rica is average but shipping is half the price. And if you are so inclined it could be driven up to the States.
Anyways, after these five years of searching, researching, talking and dreaming, one finally came up for sale, out of Los Angeles. This was Jose's red sunny truck from South America.
Jose's truck was reported to me as fair condition for a 35 year old vehicle, which means it had quite a few small dings and you might say could use a new paint. He was asking $6500 on craiglist in May 2008, which apparently did not sell because on eBay, June 2008 the same truck was offered, and the high bid was $2850 "reserve not met".
At this point I called G-speed again. They had shown a nice 1200 Sunny Truck from Japan at the October 2007 JCCS -- America's Japanese Car show.
Previously they had told me "not for sale" as it was a good promotion for their business. But this time when I called they were willing to talk about selling. Within a couple of days we had made an agreement on the phone. I made arrangements to fly from Seattle to LA (distance: 965 miles), and called everyday to check on paperwork and other questions.
So Friday, I flew to LAX airport and took a taxi out to G-speed, which is about 4 miles from the airport. The Sunny Truck was what I expected and everything they told me checked out. It seems they had only driven it on the freeway once (over to Long Beach for the JCCS show) so could not guarantee suitability for a long trip. But me knowing Datsun 1200s, I decided after a short test drive to drive it straight home. After all, it's just up the I-5 interstate freeway from LA to Seattle (albeit 1,000 miles).
Oh, the deal-maker for me was that this one already had a California title and registration (license plates), so paperwork should not be a problem. AND is old enough that I do not need emission testing in WA state.
G-Speed was good to work with, but their main business is selling Japan engines and half-cuts, rather than whole cars, so I had to ask the right questions, and call back the next day to wait for answers from Japan, etc. and know about paperwork and such. The truck was already in California, but G-speed is owned by a Japan company so some of the questions were discussed with Japan.
Yes, it made the 1,000 mile journey up to Seattle without any major problems. Although there were many minor mishaps along the way ...
Here's one along the drive home.
ddgonzal's Sunny Truck at Mount Shasta
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