My favourite things....

["Jason and Maria Colavecchia" <jasoncolavecchia@domain.elided>]

Although my 79 Scout II is pretty much rebuilt , I really miss my 78 with
the bad Grey primer paint and lots of rust.  I rebuilt the bodymounts and
inside panels, so there were no holes and she was as solid as a rock. 
After putting really gnarly front and rear tube bumpers onto it (with
massive front towhooks and a bullbar up past the front hood), noone (and I
mean NOONE) ever tried anything funny with me on the road.  When I redid
the exhaust on the 345, I decided to go with nice little short pipes and
glasspacks going straight out the side just in front of the rear wheels,
and MAN, even my wife noticed when I was coming home from work ( she's
deaf).

Monster that it was, I finally met fate with it and broadsided a telephone
pole after a 16 year old driver with a carfull of drunken friends cut me
off at an intersection..I missed them after maddeningly wrenching the
steering wheel in all sorts of directions, but my inertia was too great and
it was simply too wet out for me to have total control...
Although I was able to drive it home (I wasn't hurt a bit...thanks to the
handy dandy rollbar that prevented the roof from caving in on top of me)
she was hurt pretty bad.  I ended up trading it plus a few bucks for the 79
and, although I have put alot of love and affection (not to mention new
parts, etc.) into her, I still miss the feral ugliness of my first Scout. 
One of these days....

Yes, the old choke cable is definitely the answer for those wanting to make
the Scout even less desireable for theft.  Few people in the "business"
seem to understand the principle, let alone know how to start them.  I have
augmented my anti-theft arrangement by purposely leaving the Automatic
shift linkage loose so you have to "find" the gears. She won't start in
Park, either, after a deft little modification...only Neutral lets you turn
it over now.  I am also planning to place a hidden fuel shutoff valve
somewhere to further piss off any would-be joyriders....

One final tip....I've heard many Scouters complain about poor steering
characteristics (on the highway..this is NEVER a problem off road) like
wandering and such...I find these to be even bigger deterrents than the
previous stuff..Noone I know would dare drive my machine after a single
try.   Although I keep my steering components 100 percent all the time for
safety, those heavy springs and the old Live Axle up front keep things
mighty lively...I almost envy you guys out there with the Manual steering
boxes (not that I would instantly trade my power stuff for it...its just so
COOL...)