You'll have a virtual US monopoly of Patrol parts awesome!

Mr. Will

Give me ambiguity or give me something else.

Ian, I think you should look into getting parts in for other rare vehichles around here... say such as... Daihatsu Rockies? Might help in success of the business...


"TSUNAMI"
1969 Nissan Patrol
Chevy K-10 Springs
FJ-40 Rear Axle
Original driveshaft, slightly modified
Custom shackles
79,000 Original Miles!

Hey dude...good advice! I am limiting myself with Patrols as not that many around and a lot of owners a cheap bastards (no offense). Let's face it unless your name is Jon and you have a 69 with no rear end then it is not cheap, Nissan parts cost more than Pinz parts or even more than my 2001 Chevy HD. Importing stuff from around the globe is not cheap for me to do either. Right now though I am concentrating on the Patrol, in the future after this is up and going I may expand. One thing that I think is really %$&* up is that Nissan does not care about the old 60 series Patrol. In this sense they seem much less in tune to the 4wd market around the world. Toyota for example is on a different level. It really pisses me off and motivates me though to aid the Patrol and try to help keep it alive. I feel that Nissan jacks up the price on parts in an effort to let this rig die. They do not allow us to buy parts from other dealers outside the USA and will not ship parts from Australia, S.America or other locations....this make me even more angry.

Basically I feel this RMP&O thing will be a very slow start. I will have a few faithful buyers but otherwise it will take a year or two before I am selling much. Like I said a lot of owners are cheap (no offense again) unlike TLC or Rover owners Patrol owners generally do not want to spend the cash to do it right. This is one reason there is so few left and even less around in clean stock form. yet, I think it is changing and I hope to have an impact on this. You see Rovers and TLC going for way over $20k but never a Patrol that is 5 times rarer. I mean look at all the listing on ebay lately, clean rigs selling way under $10k and it appears most not selling. One reason I feel is a lack of support and parts, I hope to change this. I also feel in time the value of Patrols will increase. I expect most of my customers for the first few years to be people I sell rigs to both locally and on the net. These being trucks I import and also my own projects. All along I have planned on this being a hobby business so as long as I am not losing a bunch of cash on it I am ok. My prices will be fair as I can make them, yet people have to understand to import body parts from Columbia or H260's from OZ costs a lot of money and time to locate. I can tell you this though...in the last 5 years the internet has increase the popularity of the Patrol by ten fold. People who never seen one or heard of one are now familiar with the old 60 series P-troll. Sooner or later the days of buying these trucks for a few hundred bucks will end. Why? Well there are only so many around, around half of them are being modded and wheeled hard. These will either die or continue to be less and less of a real Patrol. The parts rigs will also sooner or later be gone as there is only so many out there. When that time comes I plan to be here offering what you can not find anywhere else. Anyone who owns a patrol can tell you these trucks are an addiction, you buy one then two and it just snowballs. For me it is a life long love and passion for the truck and so I am going to try to make a difference. Also once importing rigs I feel things will start to boom as I feel truck cab patrols, wagons, MWB, fire trucks, vans and others non-USA rigs will be very popluar. I know for a fact I could sell any one of these models in a heart beat at a nice price. Why? Well they just do not exist here in the USA...and how many people who already own a Patrol wouldn't love to have a truck cab with 3" lift and a sweet stake bed!? If I am wrong and nobody cares about this then I suppose I will fail but my passion will go on and I will still own a ton of rigs adn always have a stock pile of pats around. It is either going to boom or flop...time will tell.

Trust me Jon, I was your age when I got my first Patrol, you are already a Patrol freak and you have not even driven it yet! It is very possably in ten years you are just like me when it comes to Patrols. They make you smile when driving it, you meet many interesting and cool people and once you got you you never go back. Look at Sacto Jon, he has one but I think he just got another. Or my buddy Vern in Montana, he has one but wants 2 or 3 more! It is like crack, it is an addiction! I was out of the Patrol loop for many years but now I am back into it and I love them more than ever. I got a Pinz that is ten times the off road rig of a Patrol but I still nejoy my Patrols as much as I ever did, there is just something about them that is special. Everyone who owns one or has owned one will tell you the same thing, these rigs are super cool and even if you sell yours you will always want another even if you can't have one. Ten years ago you never saw a TLC over $10k or $15k now they are every where way over that price...the reason is exposure and the support the TLC recieves. Also they still sell the TLC in the USA and the newer ones make the old ones more popular. The Pinz for example was not here 10 years ago and it was not until the late 90's they began to come into the USA. Now you have well over a thousand rolling around the country and importers selling them as fast as they can bring them in. Why? Well they are very cool trucks and the internet brings exposure. If Nissan ever gets a clue and brings the Patrol back into the USA market then the old Patrol intrest will boom no doubt. Also Nissan in general is gaining popularity with the X-terra and soon to be available Titan. The Nissan community is growing and I just do not see it getting less poplular. With the net, magizines and TV the TLC and Rover boomed in popularity. Give it time the same thing will happen with the Patrol. Imagine what a rally in Moab with 30 Patrols would do for exposure, few magizines cover the event and booya the snowball effect is happening. It is guys like us and the people on this website that are making this happen so I hope in 5 years I am holding a royal flush in my hand

That is enough of an essay for this evening...feel free to disagree with me or agree but the fact remains these trucks kick ass!

64 L60 Patrol
*project in the works*

64 KL60 Patrol "Hogan"
-67 145 HP engine
-Koenig stock PTO winch
-7.50x16 Michelin XZL's
-Rancho 5000's

66 KL60 Patrol "Admiral Togo"
-40K original miles
-245-75R15 Cooper Discoverers on stock 15" split rims & caps

Dude...forgive me if I don't read all of that Too long hehe

Diahatsu Rocky is the same thing as a short Isuzu trooper, isn't it?

Mr. Will

Give me ambiguity or give me something else.

Diahatsu was a division or at least partly owned by Toyota. It was a stand alone model. They also made little golfball cars similar to Metros, only more golfball like.

Ian, it's the importing and legalization of these trucks is where you'll be successful if you can pull it off. You gotta stick with models 25 years and older - same with the guys importing Pinzgauers, and in many states they have to pass emissions - something the Pinz guys struggle with down here in AZ (air cooled engines run dirty). There's probably not enough of a market to do parts alone. Am not trying to discourage you, but am just being realistic. I commend you for being the guy who will bring these classics the exposure and support they deserve, and we're behind you here at N4W.


1998 Frontier 4x4, 2002 Xterra 4x4, 1983 280ZXT, and a ratty old Sentra
Remember, Grow the Nissan Community and stand up for ORV user rights!
Card Carrying M.E.S.A Member (Modified Easterly SWANKy Associates)

What Im getting at here with the Daihatsu Rocky is... it was not known of 5 years ago, yet suddenly, somehow, people started noticing them! Beleive it or not, but the stinking things have been around in the same form since the early 90's. Companies have just started selling aftermarket parts for them!

Anyways... just to clear up the confusion...

Oh yeah, and Ian... yep, Im cheap... I just basically want a vehichle I can trust and get parts for. Like say if I break a drive axle while going down the highway, I dont want it to get towed away because it has sat on the side of the highway so long just waiting for the part to come in. I want the part that day or the day after!!

Thats my goal...


"TSUNAMI"
1969 Nissan Patrol
Chevy K-10 Springs
FJ-40 Rear Axle
Original driveshaft, slightly modified
Custom shackles
79,000 Original Miles!

You know Suzuki and Diahustu have been making a small 4x4 since the 60's too. Many more of them in Australia though...

Yea, soz for the long post..I took some medication while typing! Yet, I do agree with you DR that the most cash to make is in importing. Yet, making cash off it is not my #1 goal or priority. Also I got 2 rigs that are being parted out and about $8k in parts I am sitting on that most are new from Nissan. So I do think moving parts will work out to some aspect. I get emails all the time for rear brake cylinders and things like turn signals. Right now I have to sell the stuff at high price so not much is selling. Yet, I do hope to be able to get parts from Columbia in quanities and regularly enough to sell these things much cheaper than now. Selling trucks is part of it also, such as my 64 KL60. I improve the rig to my style and liking then sell it. I have a 66 KL60 that is next, soon a 63 KL60 and my ragtop is under resto now. Prolly keep the ragtop though

64 L60 Patrol
*project in the works*

64 KL60 Patrol "Hogan"
-67 145 HP engine
-Koenig stock PTO winch
-7.50x16 Michelin XZL's
-Rancho 5000's

66 KL60 Patrol "Admiral Togo"
-40K original miles
-245-75R15 Cooper Discoverers on stock 15" split rims & caps

And Jon...not saying you are cheap more that you have a nack for getting it done much cheaper than guys like myself. When I say "cheap" I am speaking in general terms. From my experience a lot of Patrol owners do not want or do not have the cash to spend on doing one of these trucks up right. To modify slightly, clean up and restore to original using mostly Nissan parts cost guys like me at least $10k. More in the $15k+ range as most rigs need a lot of work to be made as new again. Hence one of the reasons people are still converting. Rover owners spend $15k or even an easy $20k restoring their trucks and may take 2-5 years to do it. This is a big reason they sell for so much plus you have two different types of groups into these rigs. Same thing with the FJ40's...it costs cash to restore them, a lot of it and work too. The types of people into these TLC's generally are not the same ones into Rovers or Patrols.

64 L60 Patrol
*project in the works*

64 KL60 Patrol "Hogan"
-67 145 HP engine
-Koenig stock PTO winch
-7.50x16 Michelin XZL's
-Rancho 5000's

66 KL60 Patrol "Admiral Togo"
-40K original miles
-245-75R15 Cooper Discoverers on stock 15" split rims & caps

Its cool, Ian... Its all in good fun!


"TSUNAMI"
1969 Nissan Patrol
Chevy K-10 Springs
FJ-40 Rear Axle
Original driveshaft, slightly modified
Custom shackles
79,000 Original Miles!