PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

@LocoLocal

My dad's first 4-wheel drive vehicle was a 1993 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer 2-door, Midnight Black with a light gray cloth interior. It had the mid-level Tahoe trim and was pretty much loaded. My dad bought the Blazer brand new from what was then Lafferty Chevrolet-GEO in June 1993. Lafferty is located in Warminster, Pennsylvania, and is still in business! My dad traded a 1992 Dodge Dakota LE for the Blazer, and just bought one off the lot instead of ordering it. My dad has NEVER ordered a vehicle, because he insists that it's easier to get a good deal by buying off the lot. As is usually the case when buying off the lot, my dad had to compromise. The sticker price was over twenty grand, and my dad got them down to like $18,000 (this does not include what he got for the 1-year old Dodge Dakota he traded for it).

My dad actually found the original window sticker while we were moving out of our old house in late 2015-early 2016, and I realized it actually did not have the most desirable options list. My dad's Blazer had a preferred equipment group (which saved money compared to buying certain options individually). This preferred equipment group included air-conditioning, intermittent wipers/tilt wheel (driver's convenience package), cruise control, power windows and locks (operating convenience package), AM/FM stereo w/cassette, alloy wheels, and some other random stuff. It also had the Enhanced Powertrain Package, which consisted of a more powerful version of the 4.3L V6 and a 4-speed automatic transmission. It did have 4-wheel drive and 3.42 gears, but it did not have the locking rear differential or the Trailering Special Package. My dad had a trailer hitch installed at UHAUL and used the Blazer to tow our small motorboat without a problem. Despite having an open non-posi rear, the fact that the Blazer was a 4x4 made up for it. My dad's Blazer was very nice, but problems started manifesting themselves within the first week he owned the damn thing!

A week after my dad bought the Blazer, with just 260 miles on the odometer, the air-conditioner quit working. Actually, that's an understatement...
My dad got in the Blazer to go to work one morning, and it was June so it was fairly hot. He turned on the A/C, and at the moment a seal blew on the orifice tube. The system purged itself of Freon and a white cloud of R-12 came into the cabin through the windshield defogger vents on top of the dash. My dad was pissed and immediately took the Blazer back to Lafferty. Since it was a week-old vehicle with less than 300 miles, the warranty covered all costs. The bad seal was replaced and the system recharged. When my dad picked up the Blazer that same afternoon, the A/C was blowing cold.

At some point between 1993 and 1994, the Blazer developed a squeaking noise that drove my dad crazy. After taking it into the dealership again, it was discovered that the tailgate had been installed incorrectly AT THE FACTORY! The tailgate was removed and installed properly, once again under warranty.

The clearcoat started peeling off the alloy wheels in late 1993 or early 1994, and all four wheels were replaced under warranty.

In May 1994, 11 months after my dad bought this Blazer BRAND NEW, the air-conditioner blew a seal in the orifice tube AGAIN. Again the Blazer went back to the dealer and again all parts and labor were covered under warranty. The A/C in the Blazer never gave us anymore trouble for the remaining 2 years my dad owned it.

At about 28,000 miles (forget whether it was 1994 or 1995), all four brakes wore out. Like most vehicles at the time, the Blazer had front disc and rear drum brakes. My 2010 Tacoma has 70,000 miles, and I'm on my third set of brake pads and second set of brake rotors. The rear drum brakes (shoes, etc) are original and my truck passes inspection with no problem every year. The Blazer's front and rear brakes wore out before 30,000 miles! Unfortunately, this was considered normal wear by both General Motors and the dealership, but the brakes were completely replaced.

Other problems with the Blazer that had to be fixed under warranty included a gauge cluster that burnt out for no reason and a headlight that burnt out for no reason. My dad was so angry that he wrote a multi-page rant letter to GM and vowed to never buy another Chevrolet product. What's funny is that in 2000 he bought a brand new GMC conversion van, but considers this to be "still technically not Chevy." Since I was born in 1989, and not including the 1985 Escort that was purchased before I was born but was still owned by my mom when she had me, my parents have only owned three American cars; a 1992 Dodge Dakota LE, the 1993 Blazer, and a 2000 GMC Safari.

Anyway, the Blazer had it's flaws, but the memories made it were priceless. It was our family vehicle, and every summer from 1993 to 1996, me and the parents piled in and drove to my Grandma's lakehouse up in Maine. My mom had a 1990 Toyota Camry during that time, and only drove the Blazer when she had me with her (because I liked the Blazer better than the Camry) or if the Camry was getting routine maintenance done. I was in preschool when my dad bought the Blazer, and just finishing first grade when he sold it. I loved that Blazer so much that my parents went into a rotation to take me to preschool in 1993-1994. Every other day my dad drove the Camry to work and my mom drove me to preschool in the Blazer. I went to kindergarten at a private school and was also driven by my parents. I went to public school from first grade all the way through the end of high school, and took the bus all the way through 5th grade. Once I started taking the bus, there was no need for the Blazer rotation.

Though my mom rode shotgun and I rode in the backseat for long family trips, it was typically just me and my dad. That was before airbags, so it was safe for me to ride in the front. I am almost 260 pounds and just under 6 feet tall now, but I was skinny and underweight then. As a result, I regularly used a booster seat (called a "Kangaroo Seat" because of the kangaroo logo on it) until I was about 9. This allowed the seatbelt to fit me better and also allowed me to see out the windshield better.

My current taste in music was developed on road trips with my dad in that Blazer. We did not buy a vehicle with a CD player until 1996, but the Blazer did have a cassette player. I don't think car kit adapters existed then, but my dad had plenty of great cassettes. He also had this JVC CD/cassette boombox that he bought in Japan while on deployment in Japan, and he used it to copy the albums he only had on CD onto blank cassettes. Back then, much cheaper than replacing a perfectly good radio in what was then a new vehicle. My dad introduced me to the likes of John Mellencamp, Meat Loaf, Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Roy Orbison, Manfredd Mann, the Proclaimers, Bob Dylan, Cheap Trick, Supertramp, the Go-Gos, and many, many more. Even though I loved my dad's music and regularly listened to it, I still loved the typical "little kid" music as well. My favorite Disney song without a doubt was "Bare Necessities from Jungle Book, and I always played my Jungle Book tape in the Blazer. One time I put it in the tape deck the wrong way and got it stuck, and my dad was pissed. He thought I'd broken his radio, but he managed to get it out and the tape deck worked fine. I also had an obsession with "Ice Ice Baby" when I was little and my dad bought the CD, which he copied onto cassette. This was regularly played in the Blazer.

When I was about six, my dad let me sit in his lap and steer the Blazer

My dad's brother (my uncle) and his family lived about an hour from us in the Allentown area. I had one of those Power Wheels Jeeps, and with the rear seat folded down, my toy 4x4 easily fit in the back of my dad's real 4x4. My cousin had a Power Wheels too and we would race them in my uncle's backyard.

On more than one occasion after a significant snowfall, my dad would take me to an empty parking lot (typically the local Home Depot), put the Blazer in 4HI, and drive like a stuntman in the snow.

By 1996, all the Blazers problems had been pretty much fixed. It had about 40,000 miles on it and also had brand new tires. However, I was growing, and this was among the many reasons my dad decided he wanted a 4-door. Towards the end of May, my dad traded his Blazer for a brand new Nissan Pathfinder SE. We had the Pathfinder for 13 years!

To call my dad's Blazer junk would not be fair. It was not an unreliable vehicle. It always started and never left us stranded. It was cheap to maintain, reasonably well-built together, and my dad said it was one of the best-handling and most fun to drive SUVs he ever had.

Like I said, my dad found the window sticker earlier this year and I typed the VIN into Carfax. My dad's Blazer was purchased used from Rothrock Nissan about a month and a half after my dad traded it (if I remember correctly). Records show that it was not involved in any accidents and that it passed inspection every year. However, the trail goes cold in 2005. The Blazer is still listed as having a clear title and no accidents have been reported. Nor was it ever reported stolen. Worst case scenario is that somebody wrecked it but didn't have collision insurance and it is now a rotting wreck hidden on someone's property. Best case scenario is that it was simply parked and has just been sitting for almost 12 years.

I do not think it was scrapped, because in Pennsylvania when a vehicle is sold to a junkyard, that is literally the end of the road. The vehicle can never be registered for use on a public road ever again.

Wherever you are, Blazer... Even if it's the big parking lot in the sky, I hope you're as happy as you made my childhood...

 

Not slamming you, just an observation... that may be the longest post ever on TW.

 

@LocoLocal
I delivered pizzas from July to November in 2015. I already had (and still have) a great regular job working at a bar, but in 2015 I decided I wanted to make some extra money. I have quite a few good (and some unfortunate) stories...

NETWORKING! For starters, the reason I started working at this particular pizzeria is because the bar where I work has an ongoing business relationship with the bar where I work. Sometimes the bands that perform there are allowed to order whatever they want from our menu, but sometimes we just order a few large pizzas for them from this place. I was almost always the one tasked with picking up these pizzas for bands. One day, I casually asked the owner if he was looking for delivery drivers. I pretty much got the job right there on the spot. Whenever I delivered to my regular place of employment, I got a substantial tip from my boss there, so I loved telling people my boss paid me twice.

PARKING IN DOYLESTOWN SUCKS! The parking, or the lack thereof, SUCKED. This particular pizza place has no private off-street parking, and within two weeks or so of starting work, I hit a 2012 Mini Cooper while parallel parking right outside the pizzeria. I can parallel The front right of my Tacoma hit the left rear of the Mini. My truck had almost no damage, but the Mini had about $1,200 in damage. My rates went up considerably for that little fiasco.

ONCE GOT MISTAKEN FOR A DRUNK DRIVER! One night in August or September, I was delivering to a former retirement home that had been turned into low-income apartments. I'd delivered to this place before, but always had trouble finding it because it was well hidden and the GPS data was all screwed up so my GPS never took me there. It didn't help that it was dark. While at a 4-way intersection that had no traffic lights (just stop signs), I saw a marked police Tahoe waiting at the stop sign to my left. I kinda zoned out/freaked out, and briefly thought I was at a red light. Then, it occurred to me that this was a stop sign and I'd gotten there before the cop. I proceeded through the intersection and the cop made a left turn and got behind me. I slowed down so I wouldn't miss the the turn for the apartments, found the sign, and turned right. The cop followed me into the complex, and I was convinced I was about to be pulled over I parked the truck, got out with a huge insulated bag full of pizzas, and the cop kinda looked at me but drove by without stopping. He then turned around and left the complex. No harm, no foul, but kinda funny if you ask me.

FOOTBALL-INDUCED RAGE! Right around the start of football season, in September or October, some guy in an apartment complex ordered a couple pies. As seems to be the case with many residential addresses in my area, the address given to me took me to the right place, but the wrong area. My GPS ended in a dead end. I called the customer's number and an irate guy greeted me. He started chewing me out because "other drivers from this pizza place had delivered to him before and had no trouble whatsoever finding his apartment. He also told me he was upset because the Eagles were losing. Of all the stupid reasons for someone to take out their anger on an innocent person, that has got to be one of the dumbest ones ever. I told him that I was fairly new and had never delivered to him before, and then I politely told him that the Eagles losing was not my problem. Some how I calmed him down and got a decent tip...

INCOMPETENCE OF COWORKERS ALMOST RESULTED IN A HEFTY INTERIOR DETAILING BILL FOR MY TACOMA! One of the guys behind the counter improperly packed someone's order. The customer lived in an old townhouse where none of the houses in the neighborhood had private driveways, just a seemingly infinite number of parking spaces. I pulled my Tacoma into a spot right outside this guy's house, and as soon as I got out of the truck, the bottom of the paper bag ripped and all of the food splattered on the pavement. Somehow I missed getting any food in my truck by mere inches, and this was WAYYY BEFORE I had the WeatherTech floor mats. The employees on duty at the pizzeria at the time were a ditzy teenage girl and a Guatemalan guy who spoke very little English. I got on the phone with the pizzeria owner, who was on vacation, and he told me to just give the customer what was left of his order for free and get his information so he could get another complete meal, for free. I still got a decent tip...

THEN, IN OCTOBER, THIS HAPPENED RIGHT AFTER I LEFT WORK.

After that, I'd had it... For what I was paid, the job just wasn't worth it, and I pretty much quit in November 2015...

 

Man you should make a Blog. You have no shortage of words in your posts, my friend

 

Aspiring writer?

 

Kinda, yeah...

 

Good for you ...my wife is a successful one, I wish you the best of luck. I did deliver pizza in a Tacoma later a 4Runner when I was a kid. I ended up owning the pizza place.

 

Thanks, love your signature!

 

Did you type this out on notepad first, or just wing it off the cuff?

 

Uh, the second one...

 

Lol....it's from deep thoughts by jack handy....old Saturday night live skit.

 

I remember when this happened tho pretty fed up http://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/22/nyregion/2-held-in-thrill-killings-of-pizza-men.html

 

If you like writing, I would assume you read also. Check out Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson it about a futuristic Pizza delivery guy. Very Matrix esk...it's considered cyberpunk.

 

So are we getting pizza or not? I'm kinda hungry now.

 

@LocoLocal
My first vehicle was originally supposed to be a 1996 Nissan Pathfinder SE 4x4, but a lot of factors played into my dad's decision to ultimately trade it for a new Tacoma.

My dad bought the Pathfinder brand new at Rothrock Nissan in Allentown, in May 1996. It was cobalt green with a gray leather and pretty much every available option. It is notable as the first vehicle my family bought that had a CD player.

My dad originally had his heart set on a new Toyota 4Runner. All Toyota fans know that 1996 was the year that 4Runner was redesigned to look like the Tacoma, and the first year for the 3.4L V6. The 4Runner was a popular vehicle, and dealers knew this. No dealer in the area was willing to sell below sticker! At a dealership in Allentown, there was this green 4Runner Limited my dad particularly liked, and I remember asking the salesman how much it cost. I was only 7 at the time, quite small, and unable to see the window sticker. The salesman told me this particular cost $32,000! This was 20 years ago!

I noticed an ad for the then all-new 1996 Pathfinder on the back of a magazine and suggested to my dad that he check it out. My dad did some research and found that he did like the Pathfinder. On top of that, dealers were actually willing to negotiate! However, the exact Pathfinder my dad wanted was very hard to find. The color he wanted was cobalt green, and he wanted the spare tire underneath like a truck. Most of the Pathfinders with his desired options seemed to be the wrong color or had the spare tire mounted on the back. The options my dad had to have were the off-road package, leather seats, and a sunroof. The off-road packaged added blackout trim, fender flares, upgraded suspension, and a limited-slip rear differential. My dad finally found the exact Pathfinder he wanted and brought it home one night in May 1996.

In 13 years of ownership, we never had any significant problems with the Pathfinder.

The two most significant problems were a sticking gas pedal in 1998-1999 (may have been a recall) and the air-conditioner needing a recharge in 2003. Everything else was wear and tear.

The windshield had to be replaced twice because it cracked (Possibly a flawed design?), once in 1999 and once in 2003 or 2004.

The factory CD player started acting weird and overheating in 2002-2003, so we had a Sony xPlod CD player installed at Best Buy in 2003. My dad thought the buttons on the Sony were too small and replaced it with an Alpine CD player from Circuit City in 2005.

When the A/C quit working in about August 2003, my dad got rear-ended by a Dodge Neon while driving it to the shop to get fixed. The Pathfinder needed a section of the rear bumper replaced, and the Neon needed a new hood and some significant front end work. Once the A/C was recharged, it continued to work flawlessly and was still blowing cold when we traded it for the Tacoma in September 2009.

Everything else that needed to be replaced on the Pathfinder was the result of normal wear-and-tear or minor fender benders.

I initially got my learner's permit in December 2005 at the age of 16 (almost 17). We had a 2004 Honda Odyssey, a 2003 Honda S2000, and the Pathfinder at the time. I mostly practiced in the Pathfinder. In May 2006, my dad replaced the S2000 with a 2002 BMW 325i convertible. The BMW, unlike the S2000, was automatic. My parents gave me lessons in both the Pathfinder and the Beemer at that point. It did not occur to me that a learner's permit was only good for a year, and if it did expire, one had to take the test all over again. I did not even realize my permit was expired until like April 2007. I got lazy and didn't bother to get a new one for two years. I finally took the test got a new permit in August 2009.

By 2009, the Pathfinder was still for the most part going strong, but starting to show it's age. It had about 113K miles, and it was starting to nickel-and-dime us. It also took 91 octane fuel and only averaged about 16 MPG. My dad initially considered trading in the Pathfinder under Cash for Clunkers, which was in full swing at the time, and getting a new pickup truck. When I found out the fate of the so-called "clunkers," I refused to let a perfectly good Pathfinder meet that awful fate. However, I still loved the idea of a new truck. Keep in mind that I would have been happy if my dad simply bought a new radio with an iPod hookup in the front, which would have been the Pathfinder's THIRD (3RD) radio!

In September 2009, my dad and I took the Pathfinder to Peruzzi Toyota and traded it for the 2010 Tacoma I still have. We got $2,300 for the Pathfinder, and within a week of us trading it, the dealer had sold it.

 

tell me more.

 

Didnt make it past first paragraph

 

I got my remote start/keyless entry in today. Super easy to do. Thanks for the link to the starter.

 

It's funny you have that "Ford Repair Kit" signature...

My cousin has a 2009 Ford Fusion that she bought used with about 70,000 miles on the clock. The Fusion replaced a Scion TC that was totaled by a girl who ran a red light. The car was great for the first couple of years she had it, but now it has about 130,000 miles and the damn thing is falling apart.

Most significantly, the transmission is starting to slip and the ABS braking system is all screwed up. There is something up with the reservoir or something that causes only one side to be "uneven." The cost of repairing this problem is like $1,500! On top of that, the driver's side power seat only works SOMETIMES. Her fiance has a 1993 Ford Ranger XLT that he bought as a work truck. The Ranger has a lot of electrical gremlins.

By comparison, my other cousin (older sister of cousin with Fusion) had a 2006 Scion xA (basically a Toyota) that she bought from the original owners in 2009. The Scion had really high miles for a 3-year old car, but the title was clear and she got it cheap. That Scion was my cousin's daily driver from 2009 until 2014. When she sold the Scion, it had over 160K miles on the odometer and not a thing wrong with it. There was an electrical issue with radio where it would shut off at random, but other than that the Scion was solid. The A/C was FREEZING COLD, the engine ran like a Swiss watch, and the overall build quality was impressive. The factory stereo, despite the aforementioned electrical issue, kicked ass. It was a factory Pioneer system with a 3 unique EQ settings, and yes, in 2006, it had an AUX input. The random shutoff problem could be taken care of by hitting the side of the dashboard.

The Scion was sold privately in 2014 and it's replacement was a used 2013 Honda CR-V AWD with 41,000 miles. Just 2 years after buying that CR-V, it just turned over 100K and shows no signs of slowing down!

My 2010 Tacoma has almost 70K miles and aside from the master cylinder failing in 2014, it has had ZERO problems whatsoever.

What does that tell you?