Build Thread: The story of Anni the 1989 110, made in the 80's reborn in the 2010's

December 24th I back from Iraq for a few weeks.

-I picked up a used front runner roof rack from RDavisinVA out in Norfolk ( I love the rack and table that slides underneath the rack)
- Bought a New tepui Roof top tent
-New master clutch cylinder
-Hydraulic line
-new fluids all around.

Went back to Iraq in late january and stayed overseas until mid-late May, then it my plan of driving out west and hopefully setting up somewhere out there.


Ended up building a ship in a bottle, had to drop the tire pressure a bit for her to roll back out.


New Setup, I liked the tepui tents. I bought it through the tepui representative on expedition portal and talked him into giving me a good discount.


Poser shot in the mountains


Master cylinder had been leaking and finally gave up the ghost


What a mess... I pulled everything, sanded and repainted the pedal box.

In early I came back stateside in May 2017. I had the truck dropped off before I left with Ben at British Precision services Cville, VA. He rebuilt the front swivel ball joints, new rear brakes general tune up. Awesome guy and he did some great work.

The next few weeks I packed and got the truck ready for it's long journey west. Final destination was Seattle, WA. The truck is a rolling project and doesn't have to be perfect to travel the states, plus I don't have to worry about scrapes and dents along the way. I knew its mechanically sound (for the most part) and after working in africa and being around the world, I don't see much of the US as that isolated and thus I don't need to be over prepared for most of it. The two is one and one is none philosophy is important for some place in the states and especially Alaska, but one spare, a cell phone and an eye on fuel and battery is sufficient for 95%.


I hit the road on May 29 and drove I headed out on with my rolling project.

Driving through West Virginia, I hit my first bit of overheating issues that I have been dealing with for the past year on inclines and high speeds. I do believe it's the waterpump and need to replace it.

I spent my first night next to a farmers field somewhere in missouri and then spent a day or so at my relatives place in Kansas city and topeka area. Then I ended up in Denver and drove SW through Salida and Durango area with intent to check out Bears Ears and what all the "hub bub" was about.

Had an amazing night on the western side of Colorado, where we were overlooking the mountains with elk meandering about and coyotes howling into the night and even more curious one checking my campsite and truck. Then the next day we descended into Utah and ended up in Bear's Ears. Bear's Ears is a huge area and it takes forever to get to the ranger station and to some of the main sites in the area. The road to the main ruins is fairly rough road that definitely tested the suspension and ground clearance.

We spent the night camping in Bear's Ears and then the next night outside of Moab where we checked out Arches NP and Dead Horse state park. Then from there we stayed the night near Park City and then north of Salt Lake City, and then drove up to Boise and spent a few days there and in the sawtooth mountains. After that I meandered west into western Oregon and Washington spending a few days checking out the mountains and local sites.

Eventually I arrived in seattle and based out of Ballard for around the next month or so.

The only thing that went terribly wrong on the the trip was a snapped alternator belt in the neighborhoods of seattle.

Western Colorado. Love the Tepui RTT and Front runner pullout table


camping in northern utah


Camping in the sawtooth mountains in Idaho




seattle sunset

From Seattle I traveled up into Canada, visiting places like Tofino and Squamish, BC.
I then headed south into Oregon, visiting some friends and also helping my girlfriend buy a VW Westy in Bend, OR.
From Bend we made our way south into California and the majestic redwoods and stuck to highway 1 all the way down to San Francisco where we dropped our cars off at the port and took a plane to Kona, Hawaii