Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Vehicles that are reliable and you can work on?

The "Jeep" thread got me thinking about what vehicles are reliable and something that a guy with decent mechanical skills can still work on and keep running.
I'm thinking maybe late 80's K5 Blazers with 305 or 350 engines would be good candidates.
Maybe '95-'99 Dodge Rams with the 360 engine?
Late 60's Chevrolets?

What's y'all's candidates?

Dodge ? What are you smoking?

1948 Willis Jeep.

I miss my 77 Chevy truck with 3 speed and inline 6. Was very easy to work on and you could actually see and reach every bolt on it.

4.0L jeeps

95 toyota tacoma 4cyl.5spd about as simple as you can get..mb

My 1978 Toyota Land Cruiser that I just sold. Probably should have upped the asking, but I was fine with 1978 purchase price.

My 03 Corolla with a manual is surprisingly easy to work on but even better is that I don't have to mess with it very often.

I’m too old to work on a vehicle

1980-1995 F150 with the 4.9L inline 6 was pretty easy to work on and very reliable.

Just about anything pre catalytic converter...all your looking for is to be free from ECM motherboards.
A friend of mine, an avid prepper, who owns an automotive repair shop, did a frame up pickup build...looking to escape computers. IH 3/4 T frame and running gear,steering and suspension cab and wiring loom, an ex GI GMC 270 truck engine with stellite seats and hard guides, a 5spd Clark OD trans, ceramic forklift clutch, a frame mounted independent 2 sp transfer case, 4 wheel discs from Summit racing. The beast cannot be killed, he has plowed with it, pulled stumps, plowed snow...and drives it to town 2 or 3 days a week. He put a Fish carb on it and gets an honest 17mpg on the road. Zero problems.

2nd Gen 1994-2002 Dodge/Ram 2500 with 5.9L Cummins. The engine keeps on running and everything else is easy enough to repair with a little mechanical savvy.

In my late 50's & working sporadically. Thought of a new vehicle that might carry me to the end. Mentioned that to a friend & he said, you probably own it. Well, maybe so. An 86 square body Chevy 4x4 short bed in decent shape.
But, the truck was savable & serviceable even 10-12 ears later, but I wasn't. Lots of hurdles for a 70 year old, getting in, out, the cab or bed. I soul searched for a year, & bailed.

Long story short, still older vehicles that are dependable & can be worked on by a normal mechanic. But will you be able? If not, finding a reliable mechanic that can & will be reasonable is the hurdle.

1957 chevy and 1964 falcon......thats all folks

Because so many of these old vehicles can go 200k+ with just normal maintenance. 🤣🤣

I like old toys but they were far from being as reliable as anything made in the last 20sh years. Especially once they hit 100k.

Dad had a red Dodge Steet van with those exact wheels. Thinking '78.

I'd take anything with a carb, little to no emissions and little to no electronic engine controls.

EMP proof

🤙🤙🤙

Or resistant if that’s possible

1980’s Dodge 318. You’ll get lot’s of practice working on it.

1990’s jeep inline 6, 4.0 lt are bombproof.