I actually copied my dad, who bought the family's first 4Runner (a 1989.5 4 cyl. 2nd gen. model) in 1992. I got to borrow it enough to the point that I really wanted it. I basically, pried it away from him to use as work truck beginnning in 2001, first using it as telephone contractor/tech installers truck, then as a rural letter carrier's vehicle starting in 2003, which just about ruined the 4Runner. Don't let anyone tell you 87 miles per day, 6 days per week of stop and go rough dirt road driving in 110 degree heat while hauling mail packed to the gills is at all easy on a truck, even a Toyota. I saw the likes of Ford Exploders die off under such conditions within 2 to 3 weeks and their drivers quit the substitute carrier job cause these routes just chewed their vehicles up. Honestly, besides mine, the best vehicles of the station were a 1993 Toyota Corolla wagon and a 1990s Accord, although I never understood how they fit all the mail and parcels in those cars.
So how did i get my current Toyota, a 4 cyl. 1993 Runner in 2003? The 1989.5 Runner started to blow the EFI fuse intermittantly, leaving me stuck (without fuel pump power) on the route and even once while making a left turn at a light in the city. I tried so hard to chase this short down, tightening grounds, isolating EFI components with 7.5 fuses. It came to the point of me running out of time: fixit or get something more reliable or possibly lose my job. So I found and bought my 1993 4runner off of Auto Trader in 2003 from a fire fighter who was selling for his father-in-law from Sierra Vista. Back then it was cherry; even by the standards one has when looking at the fine rust free garage stuff you often seen in AZ. I should mention that I discovered Marlin Crawler and Pirate threads in 2003 when learning more about my Runners online, but little did I know then of what would become of my truck.
Dad and I fire road wheeled it, and camped with it, but not nearly as much as we had done with his 1989.5.
I then moved from AZ to CA in 2005 and brought the 1993. The 1989.5 went to my neighbor's son to tinker with.
Here it is around the time I first got here in CA:
I caught the exploring CA mountains bug, and then it snowballed.
Here she is in 2008 getting prepped for her final voyage on stock suspension and 29" tires (she did already have a turbo trans and a single 4.7 swapped in and some trips to Hollister, South Cow, and Praire:
Here she is later that same week getting chopped like everyone else's:
Then on first trip to Moab in 2009:
A couple more recent ones (a few more mods later):
