I Can't Even Tell You How Excited I Am

I’m sitting at Chili’s in Santa Clara and I’ve spent the last two hours down a rabbit hole about a vehicle I have never laid eyes on in person.

Pinzgauer. Swiss Army truck. 1970s. Portal axles, flex that makes a Land Rover look timid, air-cooled engine in the middle. Built like it was designed by someone who actually thought about what “off-road” means rather than just adding a skid plate and calling it done.

I talked to a guy in Walnut Creek who imports these. He knows California registration, he ships through Oxnard, and he could probably have something for me within a few weeks. He’s working on a 1972. I could easily spend $9,500 on a vehicle I’ve never even seen in person — and I’m pretty close to doing exactly that.

I offered to build the guy a website in exchange for a discount. Whether that works out or not, I’m going.

“PINZ ME” for a vanity plate — I rejected that as being really really silly about this. GDWNALD is my other idea. Property of Gondwanaland Civil Defense Force. That one I’m keeping.

I can’t even tell you — whoever the fuck “you” are, since this is a private journal — how excited I am about this. Almost enough to make me put up with the Telenomics bullshit.

I’m also thinking I could be a Southern California Pinzgauer dealer. If I could sell about 20 a year at $1,000 margin each, it’d pay for the space. Which is either genius or the beer talking.

I’ve also been thinking about towing a water trailer to Burning Man.

Anyway. The Walnut Creek deal closes in January.