# Hi there all- hope this finds you well!
I am very hesitant to post for multiple reasons- I generally tend to observe vs engage especially in places/crowds like this, however my lurker tendency is heavily outweighed here by almost pitiful desire and hope to find a few things.. which are only potentially possible by popping my head out.
I’m gonna dump my car-stuff guts n woes out on the table here so, hopefully it’s not too embarrassing and or all for not.
I honestly didn’t want to ramble but, I just wanted to share as much prerequisite
detail as
thoroughly as possible as to how I wound up here.
Let me know if I should make a post somewhere else bout it.
Id like to say in advance that I appreciate your time, and any constructive input.
TL;DR;
I’m looking to buy a truck, want an older one but ultimately just want what’s best for my need/ situation. I want to spend as little as possible but I have monetary wiggle room, and with whatever I get I will reasonably be doing as much as I can to maximize efficiency. And I play for keeps, I’m not getting a car just to get rid of it as soon as I can for a new exciting one.
I was researching maximizing mileage in older trucks which led me to this forum, and also (exciting!) realization that there’s actually a term (let alone whole community) applicable to my (sometimes deemed crazy) driving habits and correlated thought processes; and even more I was unaware of until now, that I could do in the future (
!!)
I was lurking but decided to make a profile. Big Yike. Feeling desperate, might delete later- I guess I’ll see.
If you are interested in a random persons’ detailed vehicular situation, and somewhat living vicariously through them via feedback and suggestions about a purchase and future modification to it, see the novel below👇
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I am in
need of a DD vehicle, and long story short after much debating for reasons of both need and (unswayable) want,
a truck it is.
Typically I am very indecisive and obsessive with the biggest and smallest stuff equally, and so in this particular scenario paired with not having as much knowledge in the little-er-10-4-good-buddy-mobile lore as Id wish, the harder it is for me to feel confident in what I’m choosing or using as search parameters besides budget.
I’ve been reading and reading and, reading myself almost into what feels a more confused oblivious state from where I began; And shootin in the dark is absolutely something I do when I get to a compulsive point with certain things but, don’t/can’t do that here.
“I want… I need…”
NEED
• For many reasons and then some (like who ever says I want a car that will constantly break down and be impossible to fix? …Ok, some people, and maybe indirectly, but not I) are why the most important to me is
reliability and repair affordability. Even if that means I don’t get some dreamy, boxxxy ol square, rusty thing. I plan to keep it till I drive it into the ground, and so especially if it’s old I’m assuming/ expecting to sooner or later put money into it- Fine.
• The tree hugger in me is still highly offended and disheartened by (general) mileage of trucks, especially older ones, no matter how particularly mesmerizing, so I really need everything else about one to be on point if I would accept this big big downfall from an oldie, OR I
need to be able to tweak/ ✨eco mod✨ it to its fullest capabilities to get something idk,
at least to or beyond at a Definite minimum.. 15? 17? 19? Ish Mpg, 20 would be amazing, anything above that, super terrific? Just at least double digit… above 15, I’d say.
My trip from home to my bfs in PA is ~230 miles round; being from the sticks with the nearest grocery store at least 15, (for DG, lol) 30 (for a shty Walmart, lol) miles/mins away, I’m use to having to do some truckin to get anywhere that’s out of the woods; I don’t mind it. So, point is, I be driving.. some decent mileage, so, I need more affordability than a 9mpg truck. I just can’t do that, It’s too silly.
• I absolutely
NEED 4x4, like I’m almost positive and, what even is the point of a truck without that, idk.. ok I can see why one might not but, that ain’t me!
I live on back roads that are last to, if ever get plowed so, yeah. And winter is mean here. I’d like to stop having to stay in a hotel to get to work when it’s bad weather, or simply just not be trapped in the house for as long so I can go frolic in the streets, and also potentially be that samaritan who helps you get un-stuck.
And I’ve done pretty damwell in the holler with my accord, I will gladly brag bout my driving skills, but I can only push it so far!
•
NEED tow capacity/ ability to do some heavy liftin, like,
if I get a ~10x5 trailer to haul dirt etc; or if I want to squirrel away a load of free stones I randomly find on freecycle, I wanna be able to grab EVERY LAST ONE. I’m that person who will carry every possible grocery even if it’s half cutting off circulation + slicing my arm in half; taking probably the same amount of time just to load up on my arms as it woyld to take two, more comfortable trips.. But who cares- it was one trip!
I want that to translate to my towing capability as much as possible. 🙂
Plus in the future I plan to get a camper but the kind/ size of camper is TBD so, if my truck couldn’t pull it/ I gotta baby it to do so, so be it. I can work around that.
So,
smaller load @ less frequency will be towing use.
WANT
• I really
WANT to put this on the
need list, but for the right truck I will overlook this and learn how to deal.. so consider this on the NEED list otherwise: I need an
extended or crew cab; I’ve got what my dad likes to call grasshopper legs, so for comfort in being my only main vehicle, I can’t be all cramped; PLUS
more importantly, I’d feel much better to have the awkward and long horse dog in a back seat. More safe, and more comfortable for both of us plus potential +1 passenger.
Financial situation
• For reasons such as the current market, and being fully aware that I get what I pay for, plus with where some of my money could come from, my budget is tricky; Of course I’d like to spend as little as possible but I have the option to borrow some… from my bro n mum, out of the newly acquired HOA loan they’re dyin to spend (🤦🏽.) I love them and appreciate the desire to help me out but, FFS- I don’t think I need to explain why I want to use that as little as possible, if at all; even tho its not technically my responsibility/ liability; even tho I’d pay it back anyways (despite them lacking understanding its not just free money… but I can’t begin to get into that so, I digress.)
SO, if I didn’t have
5-10k to consider borrowing,
my personal budget would be ~5-7k-ish:
-consisting of whatever I can get out of my dying but not yet dead, 01 accord (don’t want to see it go tbh ) potentially worth around 1200$ in its current state,
-from selling my uncles’ 95 *ram 1500 currently sitting inoperable in the field. It doesn’t run for reasons known and unknown, and I’m gonna fiddle with it to try to get it started cos it cranks, but won’t entirely start. It was running as of 2018 when he passed and it’s sat ever since. Besides potential fun times from being frequently inebriated while driving, he treated it well otherwise. I found a funny article actually talking about statistical correlation between alcoholism and Dodge Ram owners but I can’t post it here and is not relevant anyways.
I’ve got offers for it @~1300$, but if I got it actually running and then fixed it more such as with desperately needed new front/ back springs, new tires etc, I could get kbb value for sure and make round about 3k-ish profit give or take.
-and then, about 3300$ Accumulative personal $ scraped together from sellin a scooter that no, I won’t be driving, a brand new roof luggage container my ex left and won’t collect, that I have no use for cos I wants truckkkk, a boat motor, other odds n ends, personal savings etc.
*Why don’t I just use that truck? Well that was sorta my plan initially and is still a consideration, but everyone keeps telling me it’s not worth it, or I should take advantage of being able to get something better with the fund assistance from the fam.
Also the gas mileage on that is hot garbage, I think around like, 9mpg, and that’s one of the things I’m trying to find a solution to in my dilemma with the whole truck thing, especially old truck thing.
My accord is not current on inspection nor would pass with broken windshield (from a crack that I’ve had since 2015 that finally spread top to bottom), insurance is lapsed, and it’s doing weird things these days. I mean it drives mostly fine but I’m definitely worried bout it just dying or freaking out on me one day while out and about.
• I am willing to travel far-ish to obtain the vehicle, especially when that means I could look at acquiring from outside of the rust belt; If I have to get it shipped then I need to consider that in my budget but I also wouldn’t be mad to make a road trip out that sorta ordeal.
Personal Experience
• Erm 🫤 … I am not mechanically inclined.. . and though I am alright with/ even hoping for something that I can do as much as possible on myself (I’ve changed sparks, break pads, headlight bulbs, replaced my bumper, changed tires, and took apart driver side door to replace my mirror my brother smashed from falling asleep at the wheel in my 01 accord- w0w,
whoopee! How’s bout a gold star? Lol
) I would only do so with things I feel confident in not being able to completely F up. This is part of my bias for older trucks in general- I am under the impression the less electric/ modernized mumbo jumbo the easier it might be for me to do stuff and things myself/ with guidance, or at least less to worry about and trust that a mechanic won’t FK up. I’ve definitely been swindled many times now on service on my accord. V rude.
• On that note, I have no friends that I could get help from/ have a shop I could use if serious/ lift required work would be due, but I am hopeful I can eventually find one. I don’t even have a usual mechanic I trust/ frequent, so…*sad face*. I wouldn’t be mad if I found someone on here nearby, trustworthy enough to pay for wrenchin service, and or patient enough to also allow me to help work on my stuff as much as possible.
• I am being most heavily informed (by my wise and practical but personal-preference biased, non-truck-owning-city-boi, definite NON ecomodding BF) that old ain’t the way to go; that I need a newer used truck basically, to boil it down because old=bad, as new as possible=better.. but from so much I’ve read I feel comfortable saying that advice can’t be gospel, I’ve come across (judging by an untrained eye and lack of closer inspection) in-decent-shape maintained, or rebuilt trucks for 5-10k.. in the current market, so I just can’t let go of the idea of an older truck yet.
I’m so torn and there seems to be strong opinion and argument for both sides of the coin.
(To further explain (why sure, since nobody asked
!) his opinion in attempt to be seemingly less dismissive of it, he thinks there’s more room for hidden bugaboos and such with an older truck, it’s good money thrown at bad especially in my situation, and less chance for error with a truck as new as I can get it. Which I hear, for sure.. I just also know there is a counter argument to be made against that. Ugh I just wish I had a truck nut friend, lol.
Also, he can be a bit boujee- likes bells and whistles to where I’m not really like that. Yeah who doesn’t like nice stuff, of course, I love shiny things… but equally, rusty junk, LOL. I have been accused of offending him for being “discriminatory against wealth/ well to do folk”; I’ll eat frozen meat or a cheaply assembled meal and be happy and see what’s good bout it, where as he’ll complain (at a minimum silently yet very obviously, the whole time) and that’s if he doesn’t completely turn his nose up to it. I’ve been teaching him that just because he doesn’t have to worry bout money, doesn’t mean he has to waste a thing and throw something out instead of returning it to get his money back/ using it to completion/ for its worth, using a coupon.. etc or that, it’s worth doing stuff yourself sometimes instead of throwing stupid money at someone/something else to do it for you, just cos you can since, in certain cases often enough, there’s more value to be had.
I love him; he only means well, and he’s worked hard to earn some of his snobby preferences but we are just very different people in certain ways, ya know what i mean? So yeah, that definitely translates and informs his well meaning input- less gadgets and features + more patina = just bad. But,
I don’t need all of that and can work with something that isn’t necessarily keepin up with the joneses.)
• I’ve
never learned to drive a manual but I’m plenty willing and ready to learn, especially because a) I am confident in my capabilities to do it well and not get tired of it, since it fits my driving style anyway and b) I have come to understand that it can be more efficient for many reasons so, I’ll take it.
•I will end this mess by saying, I think it’s fascinating, like math n watnot is literally how the universe works and all but.. I’ve failed physics101 twice now (to my disappointment), albeit with not as much effort as I could have put forth but, I’m just not mathematically inclined, OK? Sue me.
Give me dirt, stuff to make and look nice, or grow, or tinker with in my own way that is definitely in a thoughtful manner, but I might not be able to explain all that well how/what/where/when/why; I’m a visual learner, artsy-fidgety-Fartsy-wanna-work-with-my-hands-type, not sit around in an office crunching numbers or staring at/ working behind a screen type, and don’t misjudge me- I’m no dumdum but,
im just tryin to say a lot of what I’m reading on here I have to dissect, research, and try to put back together. I’m glad to, but just.. let that be known regarding any/ all response to me here. If I seem like I don’t know what I’m/ you’re talking about, especially cos I’m asking questions and stuff… it’s probably because I don’t. Everyone starts somewhere so just please be nice! If you don’t have anything nice to say then, say nothing!
…
OH and for the record when I say old truck, I kinda mean anything like, 2005 and older, the less tacky cheap plastic the better, but more specifically before 2000- like
REALLY specifically
I’m picturing old 73-87 Chevys… Or other classic, horribly square and un-aerodynamic, patina-ed trucks.
*drool*
I don’t know enough to fiercely stand in one particular camp/ feel loyal to a certain brand, but based on personal observation only which is basically worthless, I’m more inclined towards thinking I like GM/Chevy brand.
Just cos again personally, I seem to see them as more of a working man brand, vs ford, being for people who wanna look like they get their hands dirty or have big b@llz (despite knowing commercial/ company work trucks tent to usually be fords) but don’t.. so yeah, I know that’s not true but that’s what I’ve been apparently unconsciously made to believe; also on that note I know square body refers to a certain timeframe of chevy’s, but to me I just generally think older, (cooler
), boxy trucks of any kind that have that style/ look.
Ok well, that’s all I could think of… LOL. I have lists I’ve compiled of particular models/ years that I think are okay but not really of any trucks before 2000’, maybe I’ll stick that here because I need to add to my post count anyways to receive full n equal rights round’ here. Maybe ill share trucks for sale that I’ve saved, think/ and or can’t fully tell if they seem decent. IDK.
This is what happens when you constantly keep to yourself and eventually wish/ try to share- you just explode and, it’s a lot lol.
Welp, I’m really actually done now and so I just have to metaphorically light it and run away, of else I’ll back out of posting. 
Ecomodding & trucks: oxymoronic? Researching truck purchase brought me here.
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