Here's Why The Suzuki Samurai Outsold The Jeep Wrangler 2 to 1 in 1987

[Dakota Slim]

Here's Why The Suzuki Samurai Outsold The Jeep Wrangler 2 to 1 in 1987...

 

[chrisski]

Looks like a great vehicle.  One of the ones I am looking at if I get a motorhome..

[Dakota Slim]

34 minutes ago, chrisski said:

Looks like a great vehicle.  One of the ones I am looking at if I get a motorhome..

Get one that has only lived in the desert if you can. They are out there -- with little or no rust. 

[Bedrock Bob]

They are sweet vehicles. Lots of guys around here love them. 

There is a throttle body injection setup you can cabbage from another vehicle that really makes them run. I know a couple guys that tinker with them and they run pressure carbs or throttle body injection or some such thing.

I think you could turn them upside down and shake them and they would still make good horsepower. They can really kick up the dirt!

As long as you don't try to put a huge tire on one they make fantastic little vehicles. They will go anywhere my FJ-40 will go and then some. 

[clay]

I've got two of the hardtops here. They are for sale.

Rough ride but they will go anywhere except at speed on the freeway. More likely to go end over end than tip on their side so the soft top can be an adventure in a crash. Like Slim says the big thing to watch out for is rust. I has a friend lose the rusty body on his just going down the highway.

[bc5391]

I worked for a toyota/susuki/suburau/Gmc/saab (You get the idea), when they first came out. (Collision shop) I want to tell you those fenders screws, (not bolts) were a bitc* to get out after being in that Florida weather for 6 months.

Edited November 16, 2018 by bc5391

[pnichols]

From the For What It's Worth Department - a Suzuki Samurai holds the world's record for the highest altitude an internal combustion engine powered vehicle has been driven to ... over 21,000 feet somewhere in South America.  I've seen a photo of it parked at that altitude!

By the way, it had huge oversize tires on it to provide very high ground clearance.

Check it out ... I'll try to post a photo of it here:  http://

Edited December 4, 2018 by pnichols

[clay]

Normally aspirated cars, including the Samurai, can not operate at those altitudes. The Samurai pictured used a modified 16 valve motor with a large supercharger. Definitely not stock.

I doubt a normally aspirated Samurai could exceed 14,000 feet. Even then it would be crawling and spitting along at walking speeds as you adjusted that little carb to keep a working mix.

Tough little cars but they can't ignore the laws of physics.

[GotAU?]

I remember seeing an pink rental Samurai with 4 overweight and sunburned European tourists bouncing back and forth inside it looking like bobbleheads take it up a boulder strewn trail with some big bedrock steps on it that got many trucks stuck including my Bronco with no issues. And my wife had a little convoy of those things pass by over deep mud with no problems while she and her coworkers were digging their F150’s our from the quagmire.  And a friend doing a long work stint out near Alice Springs, Australia, says they were days out in the sticks for over a week and a bunch of 4-door Samurai’s buzzed around them with tourists and no gear or extra fuel tanks visible. He said it was as if a mother ship dropped them there out in the middle of the Simpson Desert. Weird but true. Those Samurai’s are really solid and capable little 4x4’s.

[Gilaoro2]

I have a source for a good one , The owner was daily driving it when water poured out off the back of the engine , so he parked it and stated on total restore.    He became disabled and is on oxygen and is hard to deal with or I would have bought it he wants $5000 for it. I haven't talked to him for  awhile  but I would submit an offer in your name if you where interested but he was set on 5 grand  and said it would rot where it set before he would take less not much rust and complete glass. 

 

[Gilaoro2]

There is a super charged one on the FJ forums used as a chase for the BAJA 1000 and other off-road races , Awe-sum performance and that cool sound!

[GotAU?]

39 minutes ago, Gilaoro2 said:

I have a source for a good one , The owner was daily driving it when water poured out off the back of the engine , so he parked it and stated on total restore.    He became disabled and is on oxygen and is hard to deal with or I would have bought it he wants $5000 for it. I haven't talked to him for  awhile  but I would submit an offer in your name if you where interested but he was set on 5 grand  and said it would rot where it set before he would take less not much rust and complete glass. 

 

To bad he won’t budge, he must have seen the going prices for them on Craigslist.  Every good used 4x4 has gone way up in price, some as much or more than new!  I bought a used clean ‘79 VW camper bus in the late 90’s for $2850, and they’re worth as much as $45k now! But I sold it for $6000 just a couple years after I got it.  Ugh, would’ve, could’ve, should’ve…

Edited July 29, 2021 by GotAU?

[Bedrock Bob]

They put some wicked twin turbocharged diesel engines in the Samurai over in SE Asia. The rich folks love them. 

I bet those hotrod rotary diesel engines would really sing in a rig like that. It would perform at any altitude and have an incredible RPM range. 

[WLTDWIZ]

ive had samis for 8 years now & there trail tough

[Gilaoro2]

On 7/31/2021 at 10:17 AM, WLTDWIZ said:

ive had samis for 8 years now & there trail tough

 

[Gilaoro2]

Love the picture, I did it the other way and ended up on top of a creosote bush with no traction. I have had soft tops, hard tops been places others could not go. Presently have a 2010 FJ Cruiser that that will better them in some ways . not in others. Thinking about hardtop station wagon 56 model , good body. I think that a neighbor has for 5K had sudden water leak was a daily driver and he became disabled and on Oxygen. But I have also acquired a 2010 Desert Fox toy hauler that I have completely restored , had too put it in stowage due to wife's illness so can't take on any new projects.

The Sammy is the only vehicle that I have owned that was able to make it to Marrilimo Beach in Baja. The VW bus based dune buggy that we had with us failed and I had to tow it 100 miles back to its transport trailer , behind my Tacoma and Sammy.

Max

[Gilaoro2]

On 7/29/2021 at 12:54 PM, GotAU? said:

To bad he won’t budge, he must have seen the going prices for them on Craigslist.  Every good used 4x4 has gone way up in price, some as much or more than new! "I bought a used clean ‘79 VW camper bus in the late 90’s for $2850, and they’re worth as much as $45k now!" But I sold it for $6000 just a couple years after I got it.  Ugh, would’ve, could’ve, should’ve…

 I can feel the pain on the Busses too ! At one time I had 7 VW's in my fleet , two busses , one the 7 window camper like new , one original German Bug imported by a GI . 2 Supers, two regulars that my Daughters drove to highschool , one off which I put in stowage in the late 70s and sold it in the  late 80s. It  at one time threw a rod and busted the case , I got a used crankshaft , pounded the cracked case back together , JB Welded it and drove it for another few years and traded it for a cabover camper which we took to Alaska and kept for years. My older bus I put an awning over the sliding door so I could fish the local ponds on rainy days  in dry comfort , developed a side cast that cleared the awning poles and had a long handled net.

Miss them all!

Max