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Damn. SWG already sold the tracker. Bummer. Autopians should get first dibs! I would have jumped at that so fast!
I couldn’t believe how fast it happened.
I barely even got the thing up and running when I put up a half-assed ad with bad pictures just to gauge the response and temperature of the room; it was sold 4 hrs later.
Dude drove 5hrs round-trip with a brand new 5th wheel goose-neck diesel Sierra and literally threw the money at me.
“You know hard it is to find these in green?!” -that dude
Autopian 1st dibs is a great idea, as long as I can convince DT to let me post each rescue to the site, which might be a little dicey. I’ll pray on it though.
Cheers and thanks for the comment!
Yeah those things in decent shape are super hard to come by, especially with a manual. I’m up in Hampton Virginia, so probably at least 5 hours round trip and would’ve jumped at it had I seen it. You could post in the discord, members party room if boss man won’t let you post every rescue. I’m just close enough that it’s always going to be tempting haha
That’s actually a great idea! I’m totally going to start doing that. Maybe the “General Chat” section instead of Members Party” though. Thanks a ton!
The only reason I suggested the members room was it could be used as an extra perk for paying members but either way I like it and hopefully you get something else awesome like that tracker soon!
Man, really have been keeping my eye out for these. Three have popped up for sale in the last year or so. If I didn’t have too many cars already … Bought the wrong AC compressor for my 4Runner a while back. Turns out it was for the second gen … and Kia Sportage!
Yeah, I really really miss the old Vermont loophole. So many motorcycles and scooters are now worthless parts bikes without it.
Another crapcan I didn’t know I needed! Small and light gets a lot of places off road, especially dodging trees and slinging mud in the off roading areas by me.
Let’s hear it for “Gossin Motors Backyard Rescue, Son!”
My man!
I’ve always loved those first-gen Sportages. Kia was brand new to the American market, but they saw the way things were going and hopped on the “cute-ute” bandwagon before Ford, Chrysler, or GM could release their competition.
It’s not that the camera is horrible, it’s that there’s so much radiation there it’s degrading the camera.
In fact these pictures were taken by a ROV that died shortly after.
/s
The first gen Sportages are probably the most unknown yet capable off roader. One mod you’ll want to do is replace the awful air controlled locking hubs in favor of manual lockers if that hasn’t been done already.
For whichever one of you buys it: please install Mazda Bongo badging as soon as possible, even if it’s not 100% accurate/correct/sensible. Thank you!
These are apparently for a ’92 but look like a great deal:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/276155145906
Shoot, I figured it was a Kia Elan at first, but then I saw “basically worthless.”
There were surprisingly a number of these convertible Sportages (what is the plural of Sportage anyway?) roaming around my area back in the day. They were cheap fun. I miss this segment.
When those Sportages were new I was living in Houston, and those things were notoriously leak prone during the heavy rainstorms the region is known for.
Waterproof the dash with silicone, install neoprene seat covers, drill drains in floorboards: done:
(except…. Now every time you go through a puddle, your feet are soaked. Eh, seemed a solid plan as a 17yo 😉 )
The problem is that in Houston nothing ever dries out. One would think with 95 degF days year round they would, but then the perpetual 95% humidity prevented it. Those cars got wet inside and stayed wet inside until the mold took hold.
In the southeastern parts of Texas, everything eventually succumbs to the mold, the ants, or the alligators. You have to keep moving, and do whatever you can to keep stuff ventilated. But it’s doable.
My decade in Houston taught me that while it is doable, few people expended that effort for cheap cars – especially relative crap boxes that Kias were back in the 90s.