New Addition to Hooptyrides Fleet! 1978 Kawasaki KD 100 M! SOLD!

Like Steve McQueen! What an awesome hill climber.

The alleged history from the prior owners, "We had it rebuilt and then it just rotted in the garage!" Nothing to be proud of, but there it is. Inaction.

This little motorcycle would be a super pit bike, great for camping, an excellent ghost town explorer and a life saving contingency plan for when you break down in your four wheeler. All in one $175 motorcycle! It might run!

The gas hose has shrunk from the petcock to the engine. The choke operates, the fuel shut-off pet cock seems to work, the gas tank looks a little rusty dusty inside, the seat is for all intents and purposes gone. It seems to be very complete and I have the pink slip! Tires definitely need to be replaced, but boy is the chrome going to shine up nice. Price these Kawasakis on ebay and you will see that this one is practically free.

100cc's of pure chewing satisfaction! 100cc's to the ends of the earth and back! 100cc's and you can change your life.

Rambler Not Purchased!

The lowly Honda in its natural habitat. Hooptyrides readers will be stunned to learn I did not buy the Rambler station wagon seen in the background. The prior owners were selling all the toys of their previously vibrant life. The Honda, Kawasaki, the boat, this terrifically awful and unrelentingly nerdy Rambler and the sand rail in the garage. Naturally, I asked if they happened to have any wheels for the sand rail, as I had visions of Hallibrand spindle mounts, but they had already been snatched by the nephew.

When I was a young man in junior high school, a Honda 250 SX ATC three-wheeler like this was the absolute zenith of desire. Now, for a few dollars and some elbow grease, you can be the complete person you have always wanted to be. Check out the excellent 3wheeler.org for the full gorey details and especially check out the scanned manual for this very motorbike.

Newest Hooptyride! 1985 Honda 250 SX! $SOLD!

SOLD! And it might run! The previous owners said that it had run 6 months ago, but I don't believe them. The gas tank is rusty and gas drips out. Not great, admittedly, but there are at least two replacement gas tanks on ebay right now.

Electric start!
Reverse!
Needs tires!
Needs battery!
I don't have key but have already bypassed!
PINK SLIP!
Good compression! Looks sharp!
Needs fenders and incidentals!
Seems very original!

I am selling cheap as I have a few other projects going. I cleaned it up and it could use another couple hours of cleaning. Ideally, brittle fenders and seat should be replaced. This is going to require the same nursing back to health that the Puch required. It didn't take much to get the Puch back on the road - just addressing the fuel system.

Holy Hillclimbers!

When I was assembling my front yard, I wanted a gradual rolling hill to suggest my house was over a mountain range and insulated from the street. With a mere shovel I constructed this ridiculous bump in the lawn and nearly every time I walk by my own house, I laugh at it's complete lack of consequence. That was until I pushed these two mean machines into place.

Back when I was a kid, I remember Steve arguing with Ron that his friendship was not sincere. That maybe, Ron was really just interested in Steve's Honda ATC and, perhaps, only kept up appearances to be able to ride around until the streetlights came on. There are certainly worse reasons to pretend to like somebody. For $225, you can stop being a liar and tell them what you really think.

Perhaps you have been tempted to get an old car or even one of the magnificent Hooptyrides featured here. And nobody could blame you as it is the one true path. The joys of mechanics and the cajoling of engines back to life is life's truest pleasure. To be able to coax an engine back to a coughing, sputtering, backfiring machine is truly exciting. When it happens at 2 AM, it is nearly ecstatic and forces you to sit down with a scotch and giggle endlessly. Yes, I will make a bulk purchase discount available to true optimists.

New Addition to Hooptyrides Fleet!

Not the first automobile that I have purchased at a garage sale though probably the most ambitious.

The area rug on the roof is not included in the sale, the inclusion of the blue tarp is questionable, but the 1930/31 Model A pickup truck cab cradling cart is included.

This purchase immediately preceeded Coop's purchase of a not dissimilar pile of vintage tin. I would call his Phaeton a bucket of bolts, but we actually had to buy bolts to get it to its current near road-ready state. Besides our passion for automobiles, Coop and I share an uncommon (and wallet emptying) optimism.

To Coop's credit, his new purchase is ensconced in his shop while mine is still spread over a 6750 square foot Desert Tortoise Preserve/tract home. If you were to map each Model A/T component that I purchased on the parcel map, it would look an awful lot like a nighttime sky star map. Clusters here and there, but nearly completely fucking random. I wouldn't be surprised if there are parts in the toilet tank.

1965 Ford Country Squire Archeology

Attention has been turned to the interior of the Country Squire but do not assume that the exterior, running gear, or even the Country Squire ice chest have been completed or neglected. When you have literally one thousand projects, you need to chip away at the edges every day.

With every used car purchase, the buyer should mentally note that the true purchasing price is actually about $1.50 CHEAPER than the agreed upon price. This is due to the inevitable change that you will find under the seats that is DIRECTLY applied against purchase price. I am even counting that Scope coupon as the Country Squire costs continue to ascend with no clear end in sight. Too bad I can't redeem those Blue Chip Stamps. Happy to see the comb, though. Always nice to have another comb.

Masked like a bandit! For the skeptics that think the 1965 Ford Country Squire is not completely badass, please consider this - the turn signals are behind the grill. So that settles that.

The paint has been wet sanded, the 'wood' trim has been removed, the stainless polished, the bumpers worked over, the wood sides roughed up, a couple coats of primer applied, door handles removed, some unused ex-trim holes were welded shut and the 1965 Ford Country Squire wagon is ready for Jose Lopez to paint it cooler than shit.

Sure, you can buy replacement 3M vinyl siding, but why do that when you know a retired ex-Sign and Scenery Painting Union member that has worked on everything from Tokyo Disneyland to the Bette Midler film 'Bitches'? Later, we realized I misunderstood and he had worked on a film called 'Beaches.'

Station wagon tailgates tend to collect all sorts of material though I was not expecting a mulch pile. This has been cleaned and the mulch has been moved to the garden.