Containerized: Retromod Global Tacoma

[StphNieuw]

Awesome build,certainly very interesting and unique. My only question is, are you not worried about such a nice truck in a poor country? Are there any safety concerns? Not having been to that part Africa I was just curious about that.

-Stephan

[Containerized]

Stephan - I've driven all over in a modded FJC (and FJ7Xs, LC200s, etc.), including to Khartoum, Somaliland, etc. Are there security issues? Sure. But there are also security issues if you plan to drive through Detroit or Istanbul or London.

I think one major misconception in your question that I feel obligated to address as an economist is that poverty does not cause violence. In fact, there is very little empirical evidence over the past decades and centuries that poverty alone actually raises the amount of violence in a given population. And this is even more true in Africa, where many of the poorest parts of society are also the most peaceful. Normative decisionmaking and exogenous factors have far more of an influence than poverty, and we see this from Popkin's work (The Rational Peasant) up through Douglass North and even Mary Kaldor's recent work on insurgencies, terrorism, and new wars. The motivations for violence are complex, which Locke and other philosophers recognised - a breach of the peace, or a breach of the social contract (a prevailing normative arrangement), requires motivation that is beyond simple poverty for the vast majority of people.

I realise my perception of these things may be different, as I live in Africa full-time. Yes, I travel and keep an office in London and one in the States, but northern Uganda is my primary residence. My neighbours are Ugandans who live in mud huts and greet me in Acholi in the morning. I speak Acholi (or Lango) when I go to the market to buy things for dinner or to buy a chicken to slaughter. Most people I know here (I am writing this this near Yoo Kitgum, in northern Uganda) are poor farmers, and the average income in my village (which is a place of substantial size - over ten thousand residents, plus a large UN/IDP camp containing hundreds of refugees) is under $3/day. Many people I know here make less than $1.50 per day, after ten or twelve hours of back-breaking physical labour.

Parking a "nice" truck here is like if someone parked a really nice spaceship in your neighbourhood; it's so outside your realm of understanding that you wouldn't know the difference between it and the Dodge Neon of spaceships. But one advantage of the retromod thing is that checkpoint guards, customs/border agents, and others do notice or approximate the age of vehicles and will, for instance, ask for a lower bribe from a 109 Series truck than a brand new Defender. That said, if I have knowledge of the local language - or even sometimes if I don't - the bribe often has more to do with negotiation finesse than what you're driving.

If you're talking about theft, theft is not an issue. If it were stolen, no one in these regions knows anyone with money to sell a stolen vehicle to. In fact, no one knows anyone with enough money to even buy fuel to get the truck away from the scene of the crime.

Also, property crimes are taken very seriously in this part of the world (much more seriously than anywhere in World One), in part due to the lack of a court system. I was once at the Maco Dwogo (means "the fire returns" in Lango... maybe I'll post about the history of that market and its name sometime in another thread...) market, a major trading market that occurs on Thursdays in Oyam. A young man of maybe sixteen or seventeen years old was accused of attempted theft of a goat. That's right, attempted theft - everyone agreed that, even if he had tried to take a goat, he hadn't succeeded. The goat in question was happily residing on the side of the road, next to its owner's little stand where she was trying to sell peppers and tomatoes from her garden (the goat was likely 80% of her net worth). But, within twenty minutes, men had moved in and cornered the man. Once he was on the ground, younger men moved in with bricks and cinderblocks, quickly turning the "defendant" 's skull to ketchup, much to the approval of the mob. The goat involved in this dispute was worth about a tenth of one of the KM2 tires on my truck, so I don't need to explain to you what would happen if you committed a theft of a larger size. Your hut would be surrounded at night while it was set on fire and the mob would make sure you and your family were incinerated. Or, if that didn't work, an informal firing squad would be convened at the local football pitch the next morning - sadly, a nearby village has a football pitch that is even named Pingh Aneko (means "the ground for killing/butchering" in Acholi), due to this dual purpose.

Lastly, you shouldn't own anything that you have to actively worry about or that tames your will to have an adventure. Things are nice, but they are only things. If it's stolen, destroyed, etc. I can have another one built, or build another project, or whatever. A friend of mine, who lived in Sudan for a long time, recently went to a wedding in London wearing one of the most abused Rolex Sea Dwellers in existence. He has the movement maintenance done on it and so on, but the case looks like it's been subjected to crash testing. Another guest at the wedding noted the condition of his watch and asked why he would treat it so badly. He replied, "Some things are engineered to have hard lives and survive." I guess I feel the same way about Toyota trucks. I think of the advice given to many Japanese soldiers during WWII: "Don't stop because you are in pain. Don't stop because you are bleeding. Stop only when you are satisfied that you can die with honour." I think this applies, too, to well-made products - a good truck, a good watch, a good pistol, a good piece of luggage, won't stop working because it has suffered some aesthetic imperfection, and it will sacrifice itself to get the job done.

[TangoBlue]

Off topic but an outstanding post. To heck with the truck - I enjoy your observations - I'd cherish the conversations we might share around a campfire. Unfortunately, Uganda is not on my horizon.

[jham]

Off topic but an outstanding post. To heck with the truck - I enjoy your observations - I'd cherish the conversations we might share around a campfire. Unfortunately, Uganda is not on my horizon.

But it's on mine! Containerized, I'll be back in the fall and definitely want to come up north for a visit. I've got some research and surveys on the education situation up there I need to get done, anyways. Looking forward to seeing this thing in person.

The alternative is you can come down to Jinja and we'll throw our asses on a fishing boat on the nile for a day. I've got some connections to a good one.

[mk216v]

Lastly, you shouldn't own anything that you have to actively worry about or that tames your will to have an adventure. Things are nice, but they are only things. If it's stolen, destroyed, etc. I can have another one built, or build another project, or whatever. A friend of mine, who lived in Sudan for a long time, recently went to a wedding in London wearing one of the most abused Rolex Sea Dwellers in existence. He has the movement maintenance done on it and so on, but the case looks like it's been subjected to crash testing. Another guest at the wedding noted the condition of his watch and asked why he would treat it so badly. He replied, "Some things are engineered to have hard lives and survive." I guess I feel the same way about Toyota trucks. I think of the advice given to many Japanese soldiers during WWII: "Don't stop because you are in pain. Don't stop because you are bleeding. Stop only when you are satisfied that you can die with honour." I think this applies, too, to well-made products - a good truck, a good watch, a good pistol, a good piece of luggage, won't stop working because it has suffered some aesthetic imperfection, and it will sacrifice itself to get the job done.

[Jimmeh]

Very cool build. I will be subscribing for sure.

A note on peoples comments earlier of the truck looking like a Dodge.....I may have more beer in me or something, but I see it looking more like a new generation Tundra with a few added things in the grille, but maybe that's just me.

[Christian P.]

Containerized;

Excellent post - not much to argue there. Having spent a lot of time in Africa myself, I can only agree with your comments.

[InvisibleOne]

I've enjoyed this read very much. I find myself siding with a number of opinions here but moreso than anything simply enjoy Containerized eloquent dismissal of any nay saying by simply in most cases agreeing with said nay-sayer..

We all have opinions, some will have then said, others may reserve thiers thus possibly allowing that opinion to change. I think I fall in that category, for my opionion at first was "Why?" And "Thats ugly". However, I refrained from commenting as I have found that often times there is in fact, reason involved in the decision making process of a particular build. Here in this case, it seem Containerized is motivated by the desire to cloak the vintage of the vehicle for ease and economy of travel through Boarder checkpoints.

With that I say .. Clever. And my opinion on the headlights suddenly flipped from "well thats dumb, old lights on a new truck..." To well thats clever, old facade on a new truck.

Then there is another motivating factor I always respect. Individualism. Building something absolutely unique, and even a bit absurd.

Why? Because he can.

Bravo.

[Containerized]

Thanks, InvisibleOne, for the kind words. Though it's about a bit more than stealth or sleeper factor.

I'm here in Northern Uganda (drove down Kitgum Road today in precisely the kind of African 1980's Hilux that inspired this crazy idea in the first place ) and leaving for a week in London tomorrow morning and decided with a friend that we'd put together a short video on the "why" and "how" of the project. Might take a month or two, but I think it'll do a pretty good job showing what it's like here and why I'm in love with various aspects of these old pickups (but would rather have new mechanicals underneath)... once it's put together (September?), it'll definitely be linked into this thread.

[Silver dude]

Yeah there is no need to impress others as long as it impresses you. I've been shocked with this build. Rarely have I seen this level of craftsmanship and personalization. Most just bolt on parts and call it theirs. Your reinventing making the truck yours which makes this build so much of a thrill to browse and look over. It may not be pretty but the same can be said for every rig in this place including mine. Its looks are subjective to the viewer as its a personal opinion. As a performer I feel it really thrives with your purpose for the vehicle using it as a tool and not for glam at a shopping mall. I personally find its appearance very unique and with character. It gives my eyes something to want to explore and know more about. Its one of kind, rare, with the old parts it gives off a bit of a nostalgic historic toyota feel. But, then the modern construction and performance makes my mind tickled with thoughts of modern comfort. Well done sir!

Ben