Saturday, Jun 21, 2014 at 12:36
What annoys me about all the RHD conversions, is they still have LHD hangovers, such as the gearshift and indicator levers on the wrong sides, and wipers that don't clear to the edge of the windscreen.
I guess if you have bulk money to play with and the desire for the American dream, then a few tens of thousands is neither here nor there, and nor is LHD hangovers.
Nephew has a Chevy with the Cummins diesel and Allison automatic.
He paid $170,000 for it and spent another $20,000 on acessories and loves it - but I think they pretty over-rated, and certainly over-priced.
He pulls something like $2M a year profit out of his business, so it's all just pin-money to him. Just traded his 47' Randell for a 53 footer, because he needed to improve his standing amongst the multi-millionaire set, I guess. [:-)
After owning a 4WD F100 many years ago (bought it new and it cost me twice as much as a new Statesman), I can tell you, anything with "F-series" on it, is the greatest rip-off of all time.
A capable enough 4WD, but thirsty and expensive to run - and I had to spend thousands on installling aftermarket power steering as it only came with manual steering that ensured you couldn't keep it in a straight line for any more than 50 metres.
The factory finish on all Fords is spoilt by Ford scrimping everywhere they can. The mounting brackets for the radius rods on the F100 were installed with holes punched through the brackets, along with holes punched in the chassis - then bolts smaller than the hole diameter were installed.
With 80,000 kms of work on gravel roads, the mounting brackets came loose due to the poor bolt fit, and they then started to move back and forth on the chassis.
To say that looseness made handling interesting, was an understatement!
All in all, the Japs build better vehicles than the Americans, because the Japs are just plain fussy when it comes to fit and finish and performance of the end product.
When you see Jap trains running to within seconds of their timetable constantly, you get an inkling of how anal they are about perfection.
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