So, I haven't uploaded anything in a long time as far as model kits, because I've been working on a full scale car. This is my '87 Dodge Dakota that I have had for over ten years now. It was my first vehicle I've ever owned, and I bought her for $500 out of a junkyard. Powered by a little 2.2 liter four-banger mated to a five-speed manual transmission. My dad and I started this project in the spring of 2005 and had her on the road in the summer of 2006, very similar to how it looks today.

I managed to get my first speeding ticket in her, and my first accident when I was t-boned during an ice storm in the winter of 2008. Once again, she was resurrected from that wreck. The junkyard was not to claim Dakota, even when I had a deer run into me in the spring of 2011, the first day I got her out of winter storage.

In the spring of 2015, I was on my way to Ann Arbor, Michigan to look at a 2005 Dodge Magnum for sale. On the way there, a loud squeal was quickly followed by a muffled bang, and all loss of drive and gears in the transmission.

Unfortunately, the engine and transmission combo in this truck is very rare, as most people went for the V6 and automatic 3 speed. After a few months of searching for a transmission, I was forced with the decision to put her out to pasture. Until I got a better idea.