Attention on deck !! Here's the story on my Gama Goat, take your seat, get comfy, hold your questions to the end and I'll try to brief.....(or not). Since "mostly retiring" and knowing I needed something to do other than wait to meet St. Pete at the entry control point, I started looking around the internet in the winter months at things of interest. Military vehicles and military in general are always a top topic. That got me my first truck a few years ago.
I did not get a booster shot for the "green truck flu" and a couple of years after getting truck number 1 on the road, I again started looking around the internet in the cold months and low and behold, discovered an M561 Gama Goat within driving distance of home listed for sale at all places a car lot. I would revisit the ad every few days for a few months, it was always still there, always still calling me to "just go look at it". One day i decided to just call and ask about it, yes, it's still here, come on up anytime and see it. I felt a possible relapse of the "green truck flu" as I planned my "secret visit". Wife was working all day, check; I had enough time and gas to drive up, look at it and get home before she was off work and due home; check, I had my "I'm just looking" lines rehearsed, double check....I'm off.
It was a cold winters day, snowing, blowing, idiots on the road, everything saying go back home.......ha!, I had the fever along with the other symptoms many of us know too well, I pressed on. on arrival, finding someone who actually knew anything about the vehicle was a challenge. They located it pushed to the extreme back of the old beaters lot with cars all jammed in around it, snow and ice blocking everything in. It took a couple of hours just to get everything moved to get close to it. obviously not something they thought would going anywhere anytime soon. It took maybe another hour to get it started. The salesman said take it for a ride, so of course I did. "A clue" that still resonates in my brain of how things were going to be, was just trying to get my 6-4, 250 frame inside of a driving compartment built for a scrawny 18 yo kid. For those not familiar with the "Goat", to get in, you slide down into it similar to sliding into the cockpit of a fighter jet....yes, Gama Goat drivers are like fighter pilots! (Things you never knew),
Anyway, it drove, sounded great, ran great, I kicked the tires and knew I didn't have a place at home to put it where it would remain un-noticed by the wife. I found the salesman, talked the talk and he wanted money like it was on a car lot. My offer was lower than what they paid for it, yadda, yadda. My parting shot was asking if a lot of people came by and looked at and thought it was cool but pointed out here it still sits and I said my fare-thee-well.
(I know it's getting long, but I'm sitting on the couch waiting for the wife to get ready to go out to dinner, so I have time to keep typing). I got home before the wife got home and said nothing about my trip. I went to work the next day putting in a long day at the rifle range in the cold, came home frozen and ready to unwind and warm up. My entry into the house was met with, "by the way, your friend called and said to come pick up your Gama Goat", "did you buy a Gama Goat"? So much for my clandestine trip to the big city. I tapped danced like Fred Astair, but never lied. "I did not buy a Gama Goat" and told the whole story.......leaving it with "they want way too much for it". (True)
She went to work the next day, I called the owner of the car lot as soon as the coast was clear and my "green truck flu" hit full force, my offer was accepted, come get it. Long story short finally....I did buy it. The truck was luckily in pretty good shape, had some spare parts in the back buried under snow and ice. I spent @ 3 years getting it all cherried out, making everything as I wanted it, new paint and markings and waited on the "Commie DMV" to get me a title and license plates so I could get it on the road. Its 100% correct as far as I can tell, I got everything working on it that needed attention, parts are hard and sometimes harder to find and then it's a Beee-yatch to contort myself to where I can work on it, but here it is for your viewing pleasure. (Wife is finally done getting ready for going to town, so I gotta close) More pics to follow.
Carry on!
