Interesting Aruba Rigs

[Brody]

Here are some shots of some rigs that we saw on Aruba. The red Yota pickup is a diesel HiLux. The Land Cruiser is cool, with a SOA, body lift, old Denman Ground Hawgs and a great island scheme paint job. I don't know what model of LC it is. The Batumba I got pictures of, but the one I posted is from their site. This rig has 6x steering, 46" MT Baja Claws, and three 2 1/2 ton Rockwell axles...a little bit of overkill for the wheeling on the island, but fun all the same....I also got some pictures of a DAF, but the ones that I posted were from a DAF website. The DAF truck was huge...The Camo Unimog was better...

The picture of the bamboo bed, something that is rather unique to island rig mods, was on the back of a chopped Model T or A.

[Brody]

It should also be noted that the company that has the Batumba rig advertises 'Land Rover Jeep Tours' which I thought was interesting. They aren't the only company on the island that had 'Land Rover Jeeps' either....

BTW, I thought that I would find out who built the Batumba. It was a company that was/is out out Oklahoma called USA6x6. Turns out that they are a bunch of scammers who take your money and don't ship your stuff. There are a major amount of posts to that effect all over the internet, including a long thread on pirate4x4. They are supposed to be bankrupt now, but this information (ie: don't do any business with them) is posted FYI. They were/are supposed to be a big supplier of Rockwell parts and conversion stuff. Anyway...beware of them.

And more:

[Brody]

And some DAF pictures. The DAF rig we saw was called Mr Sensitive and was running nature tours. I had never seen one before. The springs were composed of 11 1/2"x 4" wide leaf packs and the diffs were huge! I found out that the company, DAF, is a Dutch company and the rigs are heavily used by NATO forces. DAF was the company that started the Dakar Rally in 1980 and won it in 82, 85 and 87. (dates might be wrong)

[Tye]

Thanks for posting the rigs, did you give them some tech. advice on how to better mod them thing.

I am sure glad them sharks didnt get ya' .....guess there on a meat diet. :jiggy"

[Brody]

We rented a Toyota Yaris that got us to almost every place that the 4x4 rigs went. Funny pulling up alongside of one of the big tour rigs with the tour group climbing down off the big 4x4 after their 'off road' experience, and then seeing us in the tiny Yaris, having just completed the same harrowing 4x4 journey....

There was one hill that we didn't go down in the Yris, mainly cause we didn't think we could get back up it. There was also one place on the island we didn't go to and probably would've needed a real 4x to get to...either that or walk a bit...

Had fun, no sharks and the vacation was way too short....Some more pics to follow....

[Chris]

Nice pics Pete, local trucks are cool but I hope some of the sand & water are coming to warm us up a bit. ;)

[4Runninfun]

welcome back pete, definitely some cool rigs. i know those looks, i got them often in the subaru :D

[Funrover]

Welcome back! Those are some cool rigs.

[Brody]

Well, glad to be back in many ways, too. I found out yesterday that I will be job hunting as of Friday PM, which is no surprise and also that ORS is closing their doors.

Sad too, about the last one as Mike Caskey and his whole crew were certainly 'The Good Guys'. Mike put his heart and soul into Off Road Solutions, pioneering many of the Toyota products and conversions that we see all the time now. I have been friends with Mike for a few years now and will really miss him, his ever ready advice and his ever present smile. Mike is one of the few people that I have ever met who, when their name is mentioned, the comment is "Yeah, I know Mike. He is a great guy!" No one I met who knows him ever had anything bad to say about him. Not many of those folks around at all.

Anyway, best wishes to Mike and his family, and all of the rest of the folks at Off Road Solutions. We will miss you, guys!

So back to the grindstone once again..

What is the make of the Land Cruiser in the pictures? I was hoping that one of the LC people would have chimed in with the year, make and model by now...

[Chris]

Sorry to hear it Pete. :(

[SCRubicon]

Nice pics of the rigs Pete! The Batumba? I was wondering what ever happened to that p.o.s. 6x6... USA 6x6 is the same shoddy company responsible for building TIV vehicles for the Storm Chasers on Discovery Channel. All junk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7NxLqPJYTA

[Brody]

We kinda avoid TV so I have never seen or heard of Storm Chasers. Rig actually looked ok as far as being well built, but USA 6x6 sure has a lot of people PO'd at them due to the way they do/did business.
One of the guys posts sounded like my dealings with Hannemann Fiberglass out of California. Dealing with a company that can't even spell customer service and treats you, the customer, like a POS, doesn't get my business or business from any of the people that I know. Too bad some companies are just too stupid to figure that one out....

Thanks for the video link, too. If I was bright enough and coordinated enough and had money enough, rear steer would really be sweet....

[Pathrat]

Hey, welcome back. I saw alot of Toyota minivan boxes and Exploders on my island. Yours sounds like it was more fun. Glad you had a good time.

[Brody]

Don't know if we had a better time or not, just more time off and really good weather. Came back to no job so I am out looking again as of this last Friday. Nothing that I didn't expect going into the vacation, so I am glad we took it when we did...

We saw a lot of the ultra minis on Aruba, plus a large number of Nissans and Rovers. The next vehicles we saw a lot of were Toyota Yaris' and Chevy Sparks . More or less what we saw on St Lucia, too-Nissans, Rovers, then a mix of stuff, heaviest on Toyotas....Almost all the trucks were diesels, too, no matter the make.

[Brody]

Thanks for the information on the 74 Troopie Aruba rig. Here is a nice link to more information on it and 70 series Land Cruisers in general:

http://www.brian894x4.com/LC70.html

[Brody]

Thanks for the information on the 74 Troopie Aruba rig. Here is a nice link to more information on it and 70 series Land Cruisers in general:

http://www.brian894x4.com/LC70.html

And some pictures of the 70 series with design features that I find inspiring, useful and close to the heart. These would totally sort out folks caught throwing trash out of their ATVs or 4x4s and keep people very polite. Just imagine this scenario: we are at the last obstacle on Chinaman's Gulch and Steve is spotting Pathrat through it. Well's loud mouth butthead friend comes over and starts getting sparky with Steve. There is a small break in the conversation, and in this break comes the frightening sound of a 50 cal machine gun being cocked (if you have ever heard it, you wouldn't forget it. Picture the sound of a 12 guage pump xtimes 2 in a dark room...). There is now dead silence as everyone turns to the sound of well oiled gimbals. Loudmouth buttboy suddenly finds himself looking directly down the barrel of a 50 cal...I mean, gee whiz, how much fun could you have anyway.....

The two with cannons looks like a 105 Howitzer and the other ones with two guns look a SAW, FAL, or 60 and a 50 cal. Practical and sensitive....

Speaking of which...Aaron, does that guy who owns the gunshop with the automatic weapons liscense still drive around the Springs with the 50 mounted on his rig? He used to years ago...

[Pathrat]

MWAAAHAAAAHAAA! LOVE IT!

I have said, I don't know how many times, that I would love to have a .50 cal mounted to my roof! Doesn't even have to be a .50, it could be any large automatic weapon.
BTW, has anyone else noticed the lack of driving skills exhibited over the last two weeks? Are people who generally don't drive out doing their Christmas shopping? I am also amazed at the homo sapeins look-a-like's in the parking lots who just walk out in front of my rig...
{hijack off}

[Brody]

Yup...noticed both as a matter of fact. Love the "homo sapiens look a likes".