Meet Jill

Jill, of course, is the name of my sweet little 1988 Mazda B2200 that has undergone an amazing transformation. I bought her from Riley and his mom as the summer approached. I needed an efficient, dependable truck, with a camper to sleep in.

Jill only had about 87,000 miles on her and has been in the family since being acquired from the old couple that bought her initially. In other words, 1000 miles per year.

Riley and his buddy replaced the timing chain, points, plugs, filters and I went up to Washington and picked her up early summer. As I traveled around those first few weeks I was able to debug her remaining issues and the drive train and catalytic converter were fixed here in the valley by my local boys. New tires and belts were acquired on the road.

The camper shell was transformed when I first got Jill back here to the valley. Steph and I bought some thin wood to offset the ribs in the camper bed and then layered foam and blankets on top. Shelves were built and two plastic containers with three drawers each were installed. These things hold every thing I need!

Every window in the camper was blacked out with contact vinyl and security bolts were installed to lock it down when I climb in for the night. We also took off the tailgate ribs and replaced them with custom created pads.

This is an extended cab with two fold down seats which made all the difference as I was able to put my food storage, ice chest, and electronics back there, including an AC inverter to charge up my stuff. I also strung up a cord to hang up my wardrobe.

The best thing was the big water jug I bought, and filled with our fresh well water on every trip. I could pull it up on the tailgate and fill my drink or brush my teeth!

Update: I’ve implemented a Post Link feature to this collection of photos from previous posts. Click on the little blue pin in the upper left corner to open the post where the photo originated from.