Hope you are all well and staying safe in these times.
Firstly I’m not a Driver by trade and this question is ultimately for a bit of fun.
I spent years of my childhood around trucks and the the transport industry, my old man being a driver,spent all my school holidays with him on the road, hence my love of it all.
Closest I’ve come is driving Airport Fire Appliances and the odd bit of shunting stuff about, so by noeans experienced.
During one of my “if I won the euro” moments… I thought I’d buy an Fh16 and have it painted and built to show standards for a Man Cave Piece, For shows etc.
Now, let’s forget the financial implications for a few minutes…
Would it be possible to build and maintain this truck, considering ultimately it would spend 90 percent of its life in said Man Cave.
It would need to be in a “switch on and drive” state…
How would you guys keep it… Serviced, charged, perfect…
Who would you have do your airbrushing on a show piece, again, money no object.
No vehicle does well being stood, they need to be run and moved periodically, even if that’s only a case of taking it out for an hour once a month. Tyres are your biggest problem, they go out of shape if they’re stood with the weight of the vehicle on the same contact patch for months on end. Feels like a wheel out of balance when driving them. So at the very least you’re either going to have to take it out periodically or have it on jacks/stands to take the weight off the tyres.
Secondly is the fuel injection system. Eventually the diesel will drain out of the fuel lines so you’ll end up having to possibly re-prime the injection system before it’ll start.
I have a hobby truck and it ain’t cheap to run. I’m stuck on the g/f’s daughter’s driveway at the moment but normally live in it and move it once a week to get groceries. Tyres are ok with that. I grease it every six weeks. Paint is still original ( 30 years old ). But expensive to re-do. Maybe a wrap would be cheaper. If money is no object then go for it. You’ll get more use out of a truck conversion motor home than just tractor unit.
Slightly off topic but it maybe an alternative suggestion for an mancave piece, I recently saw a picture on social media of a scania cab turned into a bar, the seats and bunk where removed to make it open plan, the windscreen was removed to facilitate the main bar front, the back of the cab was where the optics where, and the doors where obviously the means of egress. Lots of chrome and bling lighting finished it off.
Personally if I won an obscene amount of money on the lottery, I`d buy a brand new top of the range truck and park it on the drive. Then should I get a little nostalgic for trucking, I could get out of bed in the middle of the night, walk outside and PI$$ on the tyres before going back indoors and getting back in bed
Conor:
No vehicle does well being stood, they need to be run and moved periodically, even if that’s only a case of taking it out for an hour once a month. Tyres are your biggest problem, they go out of shape if they’re stood with the weight of the vehicle on the same contact patch for months on end. Feels like a wheel out of balance when driving them. So at the very least you’re either going to have to take it out periodically or have it on jacks/stands to take the weight off the tyres.
Secondly is the fuel injection system. Eventually the diesel will drain out of the fuel lines so you’ll end up having to possibly re-prime the injection system before it’ll start.
Reference the diesel bit ,how many decades will it be standing for it to run back