Bye to the last AATREC-FM204…

You may notice a new color scheme on the blog.  If you’re observant, you’ll also notice the header has changed from “Stories of our travels near and far with the AATREC-FM204″ to simply “Stories of our travels near and far.”

Yup, the AATREC-FM204 is gone from the header, AND gone from our lives.  A well-traveled couple saw the last FM204 we built (and delivered to San Diego in 2008)  and became very interested in owning one for themselves.  The choice to sell what was built to be “our camper” was tough at first, but  we knew they’d use the vehicle more than we would.  When we coupled that with their desire to donate medical help around the world, we had peace with our decision to let it go.

For now, I have no idea what to do next.  New emissions laws for diesels make it impossible to fuel new chassis in developing countries, and also make it tough to do the required 4WD conversion.  Time will tell.

So we’re left with the old 1980 Unimog U1300L camper I built in 2002.  It was the project that encouraged me to incorporate, and build the next three AATRECs.  Thus, the old ‘Mog has a special place in my heart.  How special?  Offer me money and see. 

That whole project is online on our personal website if you’re curious.  If you’re not, here’s a photo…

 She’s been in storage for a few years, and needs new batteries due to a charger failure.  Otherwise, she’s well-equipped and ready for local travel within 500 miles.  Unimogs aren’t great highway cruisers, and ours tops out at 55 mph.  Fortunately, WY and CO alone offer tens of thousands of miles of remote dirt roads and numerous camping opportunities.  Our Unimog has a new engine and is in excellent shape, so we can still get out in the wild!  The Unimog chassis is, without a doubt, a formidable off-road machine.  It can carry our shelter to places we’d never have the courage to try!

Seasons Greetings to everyone.  Specifically, Merry Christmas!

Darrin and Anna

This entry was posted on November 29 2009 at 12:11 and is filed under AATREC Construction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.