• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

Overland/Safari 740 Build

itsmackeever

Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2013
Location
Charlotte, NC
Hi! This is my 1990 740 GL (Regina lol)

IMG_2848.jpg

It was my first car! The photo above is from 2013, when it was stock and the paint still looked halfway decent. My dad bought it as a daily in 2008 for $1500, and passed it on to me in 2010. It blew the head gasket a couple times while I was in school, so I bought an S40 to be the new daily and this one sat for a longgggg time.
I didn't like seeing it waste away, so I decided to turn it into a safari build! So now it looks like this:

IMG_7180.jpg

We're driving it from NC to Portland, Oregon next month to attend the VCOA National Event, and doing the whole overland thing on the way. I'm pretty excited! This is something I've wanted to do since I was dailying this in high school, so it's going to be a special trip. (As long as everything goes well (and the 100hp can actually cross the Rockies))

I'll gather up my photos from all the things we've done to it lately and make another post soon. But I wanted to get this thread started before I totally forget and time goes by...
 
Very cool! Good luck with your trip. What overland routes are you taking?
Oh gosh, apparently I've left my reply up in a tab and never actually posted it.
But thank you!! I'm hoping for a smooth trip! Unfortunately due to the short time we won't be taking any full overland routes, like the Trans American trail. But we will be camping for all but three nights, so we'll be doing lots of exploring and getting off the paved roads to find the best scenery and our campsites!
 
Hi! This is my 1990 740 GL (Regina lol)

View attachment 22358

It was my first car! The photo above is from 2013, when it was stock and the paint still looked halfway decent. My dad bought it as a daily in 2008 for $1500, and passed it on to me in 2010. It blew the head gasket a couple times while I was in school, so I bought an S40 to be the new daily and this one sat for a longgggg time.
I didn't like seeing it waste away, so I decided to turn it into a safari build! So now it looks like this:

View attachment 22359

We're driving it from NC to Portland, Oregon next month to attend the VCOA National Event, and doing the whole overland thing on the way. I'm pretty excited! This is something I've wanted to do since I was dailying this in high school, so it's going to be a special trip. (As long as everything goes well (and the 100hp can actually cross the Rockies))

I'll gather up my photos from all the things we've done to it lately and make another post soon. But I wanted to get this thread started before I totally forget and time goes by...
Heyyy
What a cool build!!
Do have more photos of your Adventure?
How did you lift the car? Want to lift ours as well:) but here in Germany the laws are very restrictive…
Greets
 
Heyyy
What a cool build!!
Do have more photos of your Adventure?
How did you lift the car? Want to lift ours as well:) but here in Germany the laws are very restrictive…
Greets
Thank you!! I guess I haven't been on here since we completed the trip! I'll add some photos soon. We did another trip in 2024 up the eastern half of the US into Canada, so it's been quite a reliable build!

The front was lifted by cutting and extending the strut housing by 3" and has Bilstein B4 touring struts and Lesjofors springs. The rear was lifted with 1990 Vanagon struts and 1990 Jeep Cherokee springs!
 
Back
Top