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Durango-nology
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Please check out the all new Durango-nology
section which is all about the first generation Dodge Durango.
I put this together for similar minded owners to serve as a compendium
of information and as a vehicle identification guide.
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Visit the Photo Gallery
The "Photo Gallery"
has some of my favorite pictures of my Durango, our family trips,
and others of interest.
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The 1979 Scout II International was my first truck which I purchased through a friend from Tucson which had a friend in Oracle Arizona, a small town near by the famous Biosphere2, which had it sitting on his farm. You can imagine how the vehicle looked when I saw it the first time, or maybe not. I can tell you that I drove it all the way home to Tucson in second gear, a pickel jar serving as fuel tank, a milk crate as a seat, all windows open, but happy to have it bought for the 400 bucks the farmer sold it to me.
When the time arrived for the Scout to see the road again, I had re-done the complete interior, fixed the engine, rebuild the tranny, added many performance parts, restored the frame & body by removing all rust and making the repairs needed, and finally giving it a new paint job. I made many trips with that vehicle especially in the Arizona Desert.
My wife's Isuzu Trooper II was the second truck I drove. At the time we were still living in Arizona and it met our needs just fine and it really wasn't a bad truck for the things we needed it for, which mainly was transporting a helluva lot of stuff for my wifes business.
The little engine was just not cutting it and the Trooper was running already on engine number two. When that one also started failing, we decided to get rid of the Isuzu instead of fixing it again. This 4x4 Trooper had other issues too, a little bit of wind from the side made you feel like you are in a boat during a huricane. |
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1979 Scout II International
Isuzu Trooper II
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One thing I will always remember is that somehow some sort of oil ended up on the drivers boot everytime we drove it, and to this day I couldn't tell you what it was.
Neither of the trucks are still family members and we had to resort back to on driving a standard street car again, this time we decided for a Pontiac Grand AM for economical reasons.
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We just purchased our very first house in Roswell, New Mexico and money was tight We thought that we didn't really need a big truck living now in the "big" city of Roswell..
This Pontiac was a good car and has served us well for the years we have used it in New Mexico until it developed some funky problems with the BCM (Body Control Module) which rendered the entire instrument panel in the dash absolutely useless. |
The time to look into purchasing a new vehicle arrived anyways with the planned relocation to our new and bigger home in Michigan, because our family has also grown bigger and more room was needed.
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For the upcoming move, I wanted something that was more safe, comfortable on-road but still capable off-road, especially knowing that the Michigan UP winters are brutal. A truck or SUV was the only smart choice for us.
Time went by so fast and our moving date came up very quickly and I could not push a new car purchase out any longer. We needed a truck now! After a long afternoon of car shopping at the local Chevy and Ford dealers I came home with nothing to show for and our moving date was the next day!
So I went out early the next morning to take another close look at the out of my budget Chevy Avalanche I had seen the previous day. As I arrived at the dealer at 8am, everything was closed up and the business sign stated that they wouldn't open up for another hour. Coffee anybody?
I decided to spend the time checking out a Hyundai Dealer down the road just for kicks to bridge the time gap. To my astonishment they already were open for business.A casual dressed sales guy came out in a very relaxed fashion, coffee in hand, and to my surprise not as pushy as the hungry lions from yesterday.
After I had a small chat with the guy he went and showed me what was available on used trucks on the lot, but nothing really got my attention and while checking out the last truck which would fit my bill, I couldn't believe what I almost missed!
A Garage Queen of a Dodge Durango, incredible low milage, perfect body, not a single spot of rust, and all available factory options including the factory V8 5.9l with limited slip differential. It was stunned and almost didn't dare to ask about the selling price, but I did!
I have wanted a Dodge Durango since I had seen it the first time on a TV commercial and later on the street, but at the time of it's release, not really a purchase I could have been able to afford.
OK, I guess the sales guy had it easy with me at this point.
I don't know what gave it away, was it my ah-struck face, the glow in my eyes, or was it...
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Here is my Durango, the way it was when I purchased it.
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Well, I purchased this Dodge Durango and because it had already all the features I could think of or wanted I was quite happy to say the least!
I managed to get from the dealer four brand new tires of my choice for free with the purchase of my new Durango. I choose Goodyear Wranglers MTR's, these have been tires I used to have on my old Scout and I knew they would perform well. My new Durango went to get washed, filling her up with gas, mounting new tires, a full checkup, and a free alignment. After a three hour wait for her, the paperwork was behind me, and I finally hit the road. My wife was standing on the door step when I pulled up in the driveway. Her happy face assured me that she liked the Durango as well.
This truck will be able to carry enough gear for two adults and my son to go on exploratory trips comfortably for a week, maybe even more. It can carry all our gear easily and still be simple enough so that I could park, set up some camping chairs and enjoying a perfect lunch break in the outdoors. The most important thing for right now was that we had a truck and we are able to get onto the road to Michigan!
Our family had finally again a great vehicle and I for myself went back into the 4x4 hobby which also started this website!
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