In 2006 when I first started this website the internet was a slower place to be. Facebook and YouTube was in its infancy. Instagram wasn't even born yet. There was not many places to actually view stuff and waste time online. Those days we had no real smartphones too. So you actually had to go out and do lots of stuff instead of getting totally stuck to the screen all of the time.
I suppose you could say that I am quite lucky. I get to try new things all of the time. Go on driving adventures and so on. I don't only watch other people's motoring adventures on YouTube or read about them in a magazine. I get to do my own stuff. Recently I managed to cop a drive or two of something with eighteen wheels and also a bus or two. I suppose this is what happens when you have a passion for all things on four wheels - you drive something with more than four wheels stuck on it.
I must say that these days driving a truck isn't as tough as it was last time. I remember sitting in truck and buses in the 1980s and 1990s. It was hard work then. Some were smelly old diesels that required the driver to actually manhandle them. Those that are old enough would remember lorry drivers doing the double declutch thingy in order to change gears. It was tough. It was scary as those days, Malaysian trucks have that ridiculous half wooden cabin with wooded flaps for doors. Seatbelts were non-existent and the drivers actually sat on wooden benches with a modified steel framed, rubber strung recliner stuck on it for comfort.
It must have been hell for them driving at a time when there were no highways. And scary too. No manual steering. No automatic gearboxes and a diesel engine that belched out smoke but hardly any power. They were also required to fix their trucks on the road if it suddenly broke down. So many of these truck drivers were also mechanics out of necessity. So technically, me driving a eighteen wheeler with a ten ton load of water out back could be considered as a walk in a park compared to walking through a minefield.
This brought back some memories actually. Something that was actually more scary to drive than a Prime Mover.
Sometime in 2010 or thereabouts I drove something called a The M151 Truck, Utility, l/4-Ton, 4×4. The M151 was the successor to the Korean War M38 and M38A1 Willys jeep Light Utility Vehicles. Commonly referred to as a "jeep" or "quarter-ton", it was produced from 1959 through 1982. This one could have been produced in the 1970s (as it was made by AMC) and served with the Philippines Army before it was sent over as a gift to one of our Military Chiefs back in the 1980s.
The M151 was powered by a 4 cylinder 2.3liter engine that made around 74hp /174Nm torque which was transfered to the wheels via its four speed gearbox / two and four wheel drive with Hi-Low transfer gears. So you may wonder how scary can a 74hp jeep be. Actually quite scary. Do read on.
Firstly, it was Left Hand Drive. Left hand drive is not something we are used to here as we drive on the other and more 'correct' side of the road - right hand drive. So changing gears in something based on a WWII Jeep isn't as easy as 1,2,3,4. Military vehicles are more robust than user friendly. Being LHD meant the right hand changes gears instead of using the left. And you're holding on to a very thin rimmed steering wheel. A thin cushion for comfort with a steel sprung seat under it. And then you had the fuel tank under the driver's seat (pic above) with the battery under the passenger seat. Nice. Especially when you then realise that this is what Wikipedia says about the M151.
Photo:Wikipedia
"Unlike other military transports, such as the WWII and Korean War Jeeps and Dodge and Chevrolet transport trucks, the M151 was never widely released into the civilian market. This was partly because the military claimed that it did not meet Federal highway safety standards for civilian vehicles, and also because of a series of early rollover accidents. While these were often blamed on the independent suspension (which played no small part), they were also due to driver errors, with operators unprepared for the increased performance compared to the Jeeps which it replaced. The swing axle rear suspension design was prone to radical camber changes when subjected to abrupt shifts in lateral loads, resulting in catastrophic oversteer, which often led in turn to a vehicle rollover. Sudden and excessive steering input, as commonly found in a high-speed emergency avoidance maneuvers, was a recipe for disaster, as was heavy braking mid-turn. The vehicle's tendency to loose control was reduced when there was weight in the rear, so drivers would often place an ammunition box filled with sand under the rear seat when no other load was being carried. The box could simply be emptied or abandoned when the extra weight was not needed. Recoilless rifle carrier models were especially prone to rollover accidents due to their stiffer rear springs and were typically subjected to severe speed restrictions any time the gun was not aboard.
The handling issues were eventually resolved by a redesign of the rear suspension, introduced in the M151A2 model. However, due to liability concerns, the U.S. Department of Defense deemed all M151 series vehicles "unsafe for public highway use", limiting their public use. Continuing problems with vehicle roll-overs into the 1980s led the US military to retrofit many M151 series vehicles with the "Roll over protection structure" (ROPS), a roll cage intended to protect both front and rear seat passengers."
In some ways I was lucky this was a M151A2 (recognisable due to the newer larger turn signals on the front fenders. So it wouldn't kill me by suddenly rolling over. But if it did, this was a pre-1980s M151 without any ROPS. And the front windscreen was in the folded over position meaning even less protection. As it was a military M151. It didn't have those things called seatbelts too. So there you have it. No seatbelts. No rollover protection whatsoever. No crash helmet too. Fuel tank under the driver's seat and then the mad part came.
The person who help keep it roadworthy (to a certain extent) decided to fill her up with AvGas. Or Avation gas. this basically meant RON100/130 (lean and rich settings allowable for the fuel) rating and was more kerosene than motor vehicle gas. The carburetor retuned for such fuel and the engine coughed and sputtered continuously due to the very high octane on a rich setting. I think that 2.3liter petrol basically made 100hp and was scary as hell when I drove it slowly to where I was supposed to drive it to. Slowly was hard. The throttle was either on or off. Step on the throttle and it went. Let go and it will sputter and cough like a drunken sailor with bronchitis. Step on the throttle it goes braaaaa braaa braaaa braaa braaaaappppppppppppppppppp. Remember, left hand drive, no seatbelts, no roll cage, fuel tank under your seat. Trying to just follow a Mini for a five minute drive was a mega task of balancing and managing the unfamiliar gear shifts with the right hand, a loose typically 4x4 steering rack and a totally psychotic accelerator pedal. IT WAS BLOODY MARVELOUSLY SCARY.
It may have been a short drive but I never felt so damn alive. Wonder why I didn't write about this experience sooner. Oh yes. It could be because I was busy trying out a heck of a lot of other stuff too! So the moral of this story is... go out there and try new things. It may kill you but if it doesn't. It makes a great story.
