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

I'm just curious what kind of dealership couldn't spot a branded title on a cut and shut pos.

 

Can't take a car on trails, across rivers, or for taking care of cattle.

 

But you can with an SUV. Which is more conducive to off roading.

How do you get your steers to the slaughterhouse with a 4cyl? (Genuine question)
OR enough feed to them (don't know how many you have).

 

We don't feed with the Tacomas but we do check on them every so often instead of using a a bigger truck that is too bulky to maneuver easily. And a Tacoma is pretty good for going through trails while hunting or fishing. And there's no way I would load a deer into a SUV.

And I'm sure there are plenty of people on this forum that are pleased with their 4 cyl. And it does just fine turning my 33x12.50s.

 

I have the 3d Gen, and drove a 2001 for 15 years before that. Gave it to my son, still in the family I honestly feel that my new truck would blow my old one away. But for me the 2016 has plenty of power, I can move shit, OR, fill it with camping gear, and whatever else I want to do. If I wanted more power and speed, I would of bought a Corvette, just my thoughts

 

Exactly. Different trucks have different jobs. I'm not gonna go out and buy a more expensive truck with a bigger engine if I don't need it. That's why we have a tundra with a 5.7l v8 for towing boats.

 

Even my uncle doesn't know, but that Volvo was was the first brand new car he ever bought and he assumed the dealer knew it was salvage.

 

In 1989 or 1990, my uncle bought a low mileage 1986 Toyota regular cab short bed 2WD that had been hit in the back. The bed was totally destroyed, but there was no frame damage or structural damage and the drivetrain was unharmed. The truck was red with a tan interior, and it had the legendary 22RE and a 5-speed stick. Mh uncle put a new bed on it, and replaced the factory bench seat with SR5 buckets, installed a power operated sliding rear window, and replaced the factory steel wheels with alloys from a 1974 AMC Hornet. The truck did not have A/C, so he added that too. For years I thought these were factory Toyota rims, but what he did was put adhesive Toyota center caps on each wheel. This wasn't really a flip... My uncle sold this Toyota pickup to his dad (my late Grandpa) for next to nothing or just gave it to him. This was my Pop-pop's daily driver until 1995, when he traded with the same uncle for almost-new 1995 Jeep Cherokee Sport and whatever the cash difference between a 9-year old Toyota pickup and a new Jeep was at the time. My Grandpa was more OCD about car maintenance than me, so the 1986 Toyota looked just it did in 1986 despite being 9 years old. My uncle deemed the Toyota too nice to be a shop truck and resold it. Unfortunately I do not have pictures of this truck, but I'll bet some Toyota truck fans would pay a fortune for the same truck today in that condition.

 

My uncle and his family lived in the Allentown area for years, though in the upscale suburbs, not the REAL Allentown. My uncle's hubcap store was in Allentown however. A friend of a friend who lived in a rowhouse in the city had a new or almost new Dodge Shadow (this was in like 1989-1991 so do the math). As far as K-cars go, this one was pretty nice (that's saying a lot). It was a 2-door coupe with A/C, cruise control, cassette, and sunroof. A faulty gas stove in a rowhome belonging to a neighbor of the Shadow's original owner developed a leak and triggered a massive explosion. Fortunately nobody was killed, but an entire building front worth of bricks and other materials fell on top of the parked Shadow. The roof, hood, and glass were all destroyed.

The insurance company totaled the Shadow and paid the owner, and the car went to an insurance auction. My uncle found out about this through a friend of a friend of a...you get the idea...

He went to this insurance auction and bought this Shadow for almost nothing. The damage was bad, though entirely superficial. Like the other vehicles my uncle has bought to fix, everything important was unharmed. The engine was fine, the A/C still worked, and the car was able to be driven. He ordered a roof panel from MOPAR and replaced the damaged one. The only difference is that he good not get a new panel with a sunroof, so when the car was fixed it looked just like new, it just didn't have a sunroof. Yet again my uncle sold the Shadow for a hefty profit...

 

Can I have his phone number

 

This was NOT a flip, but rather the result of my uncle needing a small cargo van, in addition to the Ford Ranger he already had, to haul wheels and auto parts for his business. Are you ready for this...?

1990 Dodge Caravan cargo with factory 5-speed manual transmission! It did not have air-conditioning or any other options. Sadly it did not have the rare factory Turbo 4-cylinder, either. Just the standard underpowered Chrysler 4-banger. The van had relatively low miles (maybe 100K?) and was in okay condition, but the engine was bad. My uncle got another identical engine from a junkyard and put that in. That engine blew up as well. Finally, he tracked down a low-mileage 1989 Plymouth Reliant that had been owned since new by a little old lady and then sold to a young kid who promptly totaled it. The 1989 Plymouth had like 18,000 original miles. It didn't blow up.

The van was originally blue but my uncle painted it Harley orange. He replaced the factory wheels with aftermarket ones that look a lot like the ones on my 2010 Tacoma. He also installed a very expensive sound system with an Alpine CD player. That system KICKED ASS. The van was "restored" before the second engine blew up, so by the time the third engine was installed my uncle was kind of fed up and just sold the van. I don't even think he had it a year. It's replacement was the 1991 Toyota pickup that he still has today, which he taught me how to drive stick in...

 

When my uncle buys wrecked vehicles for his own personal use, he tends to enjoy modifying them more than actually enjoying the finished the product (in layman's terms, actually driving them).

One such vehicle was a 2001 or 2002 Ford Ranger XL regular cab long bed 2WD that he acquired in 2006. The truck was pretty basic, with automatic transmission, A/C, and nothing else. It had vinyl seats, too. . It had been sideswiped on the left side and had damage to the door, bed, and cab. It wasn't unsafe... It just looked like shit.

What was so special about this truck, however, was what you COULD NOT see. It was a company-owned fleet truck, and it had been ordered with the 4.0L V6 and posi rear. That truck could burnouts like a stock 5.0 Mustang.

My uncle sold that truck before I got my license so I never had the opportunity to drive it, but one time in like 2007 or 2008 we were leaving my aunt's house I was riding with him in it (AFTER he fixed and customized it), I dared him to do a burnout. He mashed the accelerate and left two steaming black posi skidmarks on the pavement. Fortunately, my aunt's "house" at the time was a single-wide at a trailer park in Orefield, PA. Translation: I think a guy doing a burnout in his bright orange customized pickup was normal behavior to the residents of that neighborhood.

Anyway, the company that owned it was in the process of updating its fleet so they just sold the truck damaged. Since the insurance company was never involved, the truck had a clear title. Aside from the damage and the fact that the radio was missing, the truck was in perfect condition. It ran and drove great, the A/C worked, and it had like 90K miles. My uncle fixed the body damage, painted it his trademark Harley orange with black stripes, replaced the factory steel wheels with old school Cragars, and put a killer sound system in it.

My uncle drove that truck for like three years and absolutely loved it, only selling it because he decided he wanted a stick shift. I had finally got my learner's permit at the time he was getting ready to sell it and he knew that I really wanted a truck and my dad currently looking for a truck for me. So, of course he offered it to my dad at a significant discount. The truck had automatic, air, and a killer stereo, so I of course begged my dad to buy it. My dad declined because he wanted me to have something a little newer. As I said, my uncle wanted a stick shift. After my dad decided he didn't want to buy it, my uncle had no problem finding a buyer, and after he sold it he bought a blue 2004 Ford Ranger Edge regular cab short bed 2WD with the 3.0L V6 and 5-speed.

The blue 2004 Ranger was owned at the same time as the 1990 5-speed Caravan. Both the Caravan and the Ranger were sold when my uncle bought a mint 1991 Toyota pickup 2WD with only like 40K original miles in about 2011...

 

Tons of those Chrysler mini vans came with manual trans. Ford Aerostar and Chevy Astro/GMC Safari could also be had with a manual.

 

Toyota van le
85-89

And Toyota prévia

Also came in stick shift and 4wd

 

About 5 years ago, my dad and I almost sold the 2010 I still have and bought a mint low-mileage 2002 Access Cab SR5 PreRunner from my uncle...

This was in like 2012, or January 2013 at the latest, a year or two after I got my license but before I put the Pioneer stereo in the 2010.

Late model used cars were in high demand at the time, and the dealership where we originally bought the 2010 had been hounding my dad to sell the truck back to them (and of course buy another new vehicle). Back then, the 2010 had less than 21,000 miles (I am NOT joking; I didn't really drive that much until like 2015) on it and had never been in accident, and my dad had paid it off early so he had the title. My dad probably could have gotten $15K for it if he sold it privately. This was before I knew installing intermittent wipers in my 2010 was literally like changing a light bulb, and my truck's lack of intermittent wipers really pissed me off. The 2002 was fully loaded with everything including intermittent wipers.

The 2002 SR5 Prerunner was red with a beige interior, 2.7L, auto, and posi rear. It was LOADED (even had power windows and locks) and there was not a thing wrong with it. The only reasons my dad was so interested in a truck that was 7 years older than the one we had was because it had extraordinarily low miles (like 40K) for what was at the time a 10-year old LOADED Tacoma, and my uncle was practically giving it away (but anyone outside the family would have paid full price). We drove to my uncle's house to look at the truck. My dad drove it, I drove it, and we both loved it. My dad came very close to selling the silver regular cab I still have and buying the red 2002, but in the end we ended up passing on it and keeping the 2010. I'm happy with that decision.

I mentioned to one of my best friends that we were thinking of selling the 2010 and buying the 2002, and he thought I was crazy for wanting to get rid of my low-mileage 2010 and buy something almost eight years older. Like I said, I still have my 2010.

 

Yeah, but the automatics were still more popular, and very few people care about their vehicles as much as me, my uncle, or the people my uncle buys used vehicles from. Most of them are stick shift. The last time I saw a stick shift Chrysler minivan in person before my uncle bought the 1990 cargo van was in the parking lot of the Acton Fair (in Maine) back in August 1999. It was a 1984-1986 model and I forget whether it was a Dodge Caravan and a Plymouth Voyager. It was a passenger van with windows, not a cargo van, and it did not have A/C. Keep in mind I was a curious 10-year old boy with Asperger's who loved cars and anything to do with them. I was peering through the window like I was at a car show, and I think was I more amazed by the fact that this van didn't have A/C than the fact it was a stick shift (yes, I looked that closely).

 

One person commented here on TW that he wouldn't be surprised if a lot of Tacoma owners were had Asperger's based on how well they maintain their vehicles. Those of us with AS are very picky about a lot of things, especially stuff they are particularly passionate about, myself included. My two biggest "things" (in terms of general pickiness) are vehicles and women, and I just realized as I write this that my standards for both are surprisingly similar. This thread is about vehicles and not women, though...

I have 5 close friends with Aspergers, 3 guys and 2 girls. 1 guy has not gotten his license yet, but the other 4 all have licenses and their own vehicles. Three of them bought their vehicles with their own money. I am one of two who received their first vehicles as gifts from their parents. I would classify just one of my licensed AS friends as not caring very much about his car, but he's lucky enough to be friends with a guy (me) who is always more than happy to advise him on proper vehicle maintenance and has gotten a lot better about showing pride in ownership in the last few years.

My own friends in particular takes great pride in vehicle maintenance...

He was the first of all my AS friends to get his driver's license, at age 18 (he just turned 30). He's also my only friend with AS who's never gotten help from his parents in paying for ANY car he's owned and my only AS friend who has his own place. He's also one hell of a guitar player (been playing for like 15 years, and can also play piano and drums), and he's made a career out of mentoring people with various developmental disabilities including AS and autism. He also has a seriously hot girlfriend. Basically, he is the person everyone with any form of autism, and probably a few "normal" people, should use as a role model.

His first car was a 1997 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight LS that he bought from the elderly original owner for $1,500 in 2004 or 2005 (he got the original window sticker from the owner, and the MSRP when new was almost $25K). The car had like 60K miles and aside from peeling paint it was perfect. His parents paid to have it painted for him as a birthday present. My friend detailed his car once a week and it always looked new. He had that Olds for 5 years and he treated it like a Rolls-Royce. He replaced the factory tape player with an Alpine CD player, and also added an alarm system with a remote starter. The car had 150K miles on it when he finally traded it in for a 2006 Nissan Maxima in 2010. That Oldsmobile had the 3800 Series II V6 engine, and it was bulletproof. That car never had a problem, but he sold it because it needed like $500 worth of work to pass safety inspection and it was getting to that age where things just started breaking.

He bought the 2006 Maxima in 2010 with 38,000 miles. 6 years later, the Maxima has almost 160K miles and shows no signs of slowing down. Unlike the Olds, the A/C in the Maxima has never been serviced or otherwise touched and rivals my Tacoma in terms of overall coldness. Like the Olds, my friend details the Maxima at least every other week and aside from some damage to the front bumper where some asshole backed into it and drove off, the car looks brand new.

I don't detail my truck every week, and there have been times when the interior has gotten trashed, but I've always been overzealous about things like oil changes. I freak out if I go more than 100 miles past the due date for an oil change!

Statistically, about half of the highest-functioning people with AS get driver's licenses, and most of us take vehicle maintenance way too seriously! Maybe that's not such a bad thing...

 

Metallica !!!

 

My dad bought me a brand new 2010 Toyota Tacoma with 20 miles on the odometer in September 2009. That was more than 7 years and almost 71,000 miles ago. For the first 4 years we had the truck, it led an easy life. I'm gonna lie... I was never good at holding down a job prior to getting the one I have now.

One of my best friends also happens to be the general manager of bar/music venue at which my other friends and I have been regular customers since 2010. We were actually well-established "regulars" for about a year before my friend moved to Pennsylvania and got hired as the general manager. Just by being my usual kind, honest self with a combination of Asperger's quirks unintentionally thrown in, I built a very close bond with the general manager, and out of the kindness of her heart, this amazing woman offered me a part-time job paying $12.50 an hour in November 2014. I was graduating from college in May 2015, and neither of us expected this arrangement to be last beyond the end of that summer. Turns out my best friend underestimated just how beneficial a guy with a pickup truck could be to a bar, especially in the summer. I've made a fortune in the summers of 2015 and 2016, and I expect to 2017 to be no different. I have two permanent career plans lined up, but I will always work at Puck as a "Runner" to supplement that income. Puck has become like a second family to me.

Basically, I've cornered a niche market working as a "runner" at a popular bar. In layperson's terms, I run errands so bartenders don't have to, and I come to the rescue on a busy night when supplies run out. Bartenders, bar-backs, and other essential staff are able to stay on premises and handle the customers, while I go on supply runs. But the drawback is that my truck has sustained about a decade worth of wear and tear in about two years. I grudgingly have come to terms with the fact that I can't keep my truck mint if I drive it daily and use it haul stuff for work, but my dad has still not quite come to terms with the fact that pickup trucks are not meant to be pampered...

Basically, my truck is covered in dents and scratches, but it is overall in good condition. The interior is in okay shape aside from a tear in the seat. What really matters is what's on the inside. My truck is treated to regular oil changes every 5,000 miles, all other maintenance intervals are adhered to, and weather permitting I make a point of washing and vacuuming the truck twice a month. My truck runs perfect and drives great too. The A/C blows cold, the heat is hot, and everything works as it should. My parents could not be prouder of me for taking the initiative and getting a job, but how do I FULLY convince them that dents and dings are just a normal part of everyday life when you own a truck? My mom has more or less given up on trying to regulate how I use the Tacoma, and my dad is getting is almost there.

CONSIDER THIS:
The only two noticeable dents in my truck were caused BY MY DAD. Everything else is just scuffs and scrapes that are easily buffed out or touched up. I got the job at Puck in late 2014 and managed to go over a year without a dent. I got hit by the drunk driver in October 2015 and finally got the damage fixed in December. In January 2016 we got the equivalent of an entire winter's worth of snow in one night. My dad wasn't paying attention while shoveling the driveway and rammed the handle of the snow shovel right into my brand new left rear fender! Second time was in April 2016. My dad failed to secure an office chair in the bed before I transported a bunch of stuff from the old house to the new house. The chair came loose and put a dent in the right rear cab pillar...

 

Normal mileage is 12K-15K per year. 7yr. 71,000 is below average daily driver mileage. And you should be able to keep a daily driver in near mint.