I’m very close to adding a new project car into the Hooniverse garage. Ever since I’ve sold the Civic, I’ve been looking for something to fool around with at least until The Wombat is ready to roll.
I’ve got two choices on my plate this week, and I’m interested in both. One is close to what I’ve been looking for while the other is a total monkey wrench. I’m going to share them both with you, and I’d love to hear your thoughts.


Now, for those of you who listen to the podcast, you know that I’ve been on the hunt for an old pickup truck. My plan was to find a 65-66 F100, but I am open to other trucks from the era and earlier. That’s how I came across this 1961 Chevrolet Apache.
It’s got a V8 and a four-speed manual gearbox. The interior needs lots of love, but it’s comfortable in there. The exterior is ready for paint, clearly, but it might be fine to run it as is.
When I turned the key, the truck fired right up from a cold start. Going down the road, the carb was coughing a bit under throttle load but relaxed and ran fine when it warmed up. There’s a Low gear that isn’t needed unless I’m pulling stumps, and every other gear was easy to find.
The brakes work, the clutch felt great, and steering was… well, steering would eventually need to be addressed but I’m not going to hit the track with this. (Yet… at least.)
I can walk away with this truck for $2,800.

Or… I can spend just a tick more and get the monkey wrench. This is a 1969 Mercedes-Benz 250 that looks damn good in its black paint. The interior is in great shape as well. I’m a sucker for an old Benz, especially when it still has its painted hubcaps.
Our man Jason Connor took it for a test drive over the weekend and reported that the following:



So… I have a dilemma, albeit a good one. Hopefully I get it all sorted this week, and hopefully both vehicles are available once I make up my mind.
What say you, dear reader?
[Lead image source: Alden Jewel/Flickr under Creative Common Attribution License 2.0]