I like boxy vehicles. I think they're the best body style that you wind up with for form-follow-function philosphy, and as such usually boxy vehicles are pretty useful.
As an example of this, my daily driver (and up to now, weekend BOV as well) has been a 1999 Jeep Cherokee. It's a box. On wheels.
The only issue I have with it, is while it has great off-road capability, I'd like a little bit more, and i'd also like a lot more room for stuff to bring with me.
Bringing More Stuff is obvious. Get a bigger box.
Getting better off-road capability should also be obvious: get more wheels.
Let us combine the two!
Thats better.
Pleased to introduce you to the 1975 Volvo Cross-Country C-304, TGB-13.
It's happy to see you, too.
The Volvo C-304 is a three axle, six-wheel-drive truck, with locking differentials on all 3 portal axles.
What is a portal axle, you say? A portal axle is where the axle shaft sits above the centerline of the wheels, and has geared reduction housings at either ends which drop down for the wheels to bolt to.
What are the advantages to this?
Number one, it makes the axles considerably stronger due to the reduction gearing, Number two:
A whole lotta clearance.
It currently runs about 20 inches of clearance to the differentials.
It is also a cab-forward vehicle, putting the driving position in front of and over the engine. This provides a great deal of space inside, as well as fantastic forwards visibility.
Interior-wise, it's great. You have the driver and passenger cab up front,
with a five-passenger crew area just behind that,
And a cavernous cargo area behind that.
This has a great deal of potential, and i'll be posting tear down/build up updates on this as I go along.
Currently, I've replaced the steering wheel, and was able to test drive it a bit. There's a good amount of smoke, which appears to be an oil/fuel mix, Likely the rings are worn out and the carbs need some love. Other than that, it drove pretty well so far.
