It’s not quite ready to drive yet, but I can pretend to drive this former four-wheel-steer Bantam. Someday I will drive a running one!
On Monday we drove down to Boise where we met up with Josh to see his prized four-wheel-steer Bantam BRC-40, which appears to have been converted to two-wheel-steer by the military. According to Josh, the four wheel-steer-jeeps were horrendous to drive, so they weren’t used that way for long. He’s in the process of gathering the parts he needs to do a full restoration on it.
Two interesting tidbits about the four wheel steer Bantams. In the first photo, the inner sides of the wheel wells were beaten with hammers to accommodate the four-wheel-steer mechanisms.
One way to identify a four-wheel-steer is by shocks mounted inside and in back of the springs like the ones shown below.
Josh has a few other jeeps around as well. I got so busy talking with him that I forgot to photograph the others. Meanwhile, my photographer got chilly, so she returned to the jeep. Zollie accompanied us on our trip, so Ann posed him in front of this jeep.
After spending Monday night in Boise, we drove down to Salt Lake on Tuesday. We picked up the boys and went to eat some delicious food at the Mahider Ethiopian restaurant. Below is the huge plate of food we ordered. To eat, you tear some of the spongy, fermented bread called Injera from the edges of the plate and scoop up food with it.
On Wednesday we went to Kimball Junction to see the Topeka Hiway Mower for sale here. After that we returned to Salt Lake City and took Colter to a movie (Karson was busy with college). Unfortunately, by Wednesday afternoon snow was predicted on the Blue Mountains in Oregon, so we decided to head back Thursday night.
It was a short visit to Utah, but a good one.
