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

Also, the street where the accident occurred is no stranger to drunken douchebaggery, my encounter with a drunk driver was not an isolated incident in terms of vehicles getting hit. There were two incidents on this street in 2016 that I'm aware of...

A black Dodge Dakota owned by a guy who lives on the street was hit (presumably by a drunk) and the driver fled the scene. The damage to the Dodge was not bad at all. There was a scuff on the left side, the left taillight was cracked, the left side view mirror was torn off, and the left rear tire was flat.

Then, more recently, a guy's brand new Grand Cherokee was sideswiped by a driver who fled the scene:

 

Just read the public police log on the local department's Facebook page. Almost all of the crimes involve alcohol in some way, shape, or form. This picture I took of two empty PBR cans just tossed on the ground (Right down the street from where my truck was hit) should tell you all that you need to know:

 

This was how I felt after my interactions with that old bastard the night of the accident...

 

Paging Dr. Howard! Dr. Fine! Dr. Howard!

I was about 8 years old and obsessed with the Three Stooges. It was the summer of 1997, and my parents and I were vacationing at my Grandma's lakefront home in Maine. My Aunt Edna (actually my Grandma's cousin and not technically my aunt) had just gotten some sort of operation.

I was with my grandmother, her two cousins, and a dog belonging to one of the cousins, in a 1996 Honda Civic belonging to the other cousin. I referred to these cousins as "Aunt Virginia" and "Aunt Edna," even though they weren't technically my aunts. Aunt Virginia owned the Honda Civic (so she was obviously driving), and Aunt Edna owned the dog, a Keeshond named Otis. Aunt Edna was legally blind by 1997, and had actually given up her driver's license in 1994. She had recently had some sort of surgical procedure, and mentioned how she was given an anesthetic to "knock her out."

I asked Aunt Edna point blank "Anesthetic? You mean they hit you over the head with a hammer?"

I made four older women between the ages of 59 and 80 go from having a quiet conversation, to filling a 4-door sedan with roaring laughter (considering it was a Civic, it wasn't hard). I legitimately thought that an anesthetic meant you got hit over the head with a hammer or mallet, and my Grandma calmed down enough to explain how anesthesia really worked.

I forgot the specific name of the Stooges short that came to mind at that moment, but it involved the trio working as the night cleaning crew at a doctor's office. A trio of gangsters robs a bank and when one of them gets shot by the cops, his accomplices bring him to this doctor's office where they mistake the Stooges for doctors. The injured gangster was obviously in pain due to the bullet in his shoulder, and asked for an anesthetic. One of the stooges asked what an anesthetic was, and one of the two uninjured gangsters growled "It means he wants to be knocked out!"

Curly took this literally and knocked the injured gangster out with a mallet that was conveniently present, and the other two gangsters didn't think there was anything wrong with this.

Basically, the quoted post from the "Let's see your Dogs!" thread reminded me of this childhood memory, and about two years before the aforementioned memory took place. My dad first introduced me to the Three Stooges sometime in 1995-1996. We were still living in Montgomeryville, and I was no more than 7. I have no idea what channel the reruns were on, but my dad and I watched these Stooges reruns on the TV in my parents' bedroom late one night, and I was instantly hooked. That was at least 21 years ago, and I'd still say I'm hooked! What's unfortunate is that the last of the two ORIGINAL Stooges (Moe and Larry) died 14 years before I was born. Jerome Lester Horwitz, better known as Curly and also my all-time favorite Stooge, died 37 years before I was born. Seriously, all Curly has to do is say "Nyuk! Nyuk! Nyuk!" and it's funnier than most of the shit on TV today!

 

My two uncles on my dad's side are pretty freaking awesome. I've introduced you to my dad's younger brother, Jeff. Now, here's are some pictures of me with my dad's older brother (and the oldest of 4 kids), Kenny. This is the brother my dad bought the 2002 BMW 325Ci convertible from. The date on these pictures says they were taken on August 30, 1998. I know for a fact that they were taken in front of our house in Virginia Beach (which my parents had just bought a month or two before). My dad was in the Navy for 25 years, and he was stationed in Norfolk from about June 1998 until June 2000.

Anyway, my uncle was a self-employed handyman or sorts back then (now he's a very successful licensed general contractor and builds houses). He got his CDL at 19 and worked for years as a diesel mechanic for UPS. He still has a Class A driver's license and can legally drive tractor-trailers, but he never actually drove them for a living. He got married, moved to Florida, and worked as a mechanic for years. For the first half the nineties, he repaired medical equipment, but then he started his own business. That's why Uncle Kenny and his wife showed up in a Ryder truck. This was right after Hurricane Bonnie, and my uncle had been contracted to replace carpet at a hotel somewhere in Florida that was severely damaged in the hurricane (my aunt and uncle have lived in Florida for like 35 years as of 2017). If I remember correctly, the carpet was at a warehouse in Richmond, and had to be driven back to the hotel. My aunt and uncle flew up from Florida, rented the truck you see in the pictures, picked up the carpet in Richmond, and decided to stop by and see us on the way back.

I was just as obsessed with trucks then as I am now (I was 9 in these pictures), and what you see in the first picture is Uncle Kenny explaining to me how a diesel engine worked, and diesel fuel was different from gasoline. What you specifically see is that my uncle unscrewed the fuel cap and so I could find out what diesel fuel smelled like. Neither of us knew my mom was taking pictures at this point:

Then after my uncle put the cap back on the truck's fuel tank, my mom made her presence known and my uncle grabbed me to pose for a picture. As you can see I was having the time of my life:

Also, like I said my uncle has had a CDL since he was 19 or so, but I think this truck was under 26K pounds, and thus a CDL was not required to drive it. I can't read the DOT info on the door, but can anyone tell by looking at this photo if this is is a Class A vehicle?

 

@Plain Jane Taco
@LocoLocal
@Iamraiderpower

Pictures from a car show in Anacortes, Washington that my dad took me to literally a month after we moved to Oak Harbor (about 40 minutes) away (Date on photos says August 5, 2000). There also some pictures of me standing next to and sitting a Trabant 601 at the same show somewhere in this thread.

Like the owner of the Trabant, the owner of this military vehicle (I think it's a Dodge but don't know for sure) was very happy to let young enthusiasts climb behind the wheel for a photo op (the unwritten rule of car shows is look and photograph all you want, but don't touch unless you are given explicit permission to do so like I was here; Contrary to what some people might think about a July 2011 photo of me in the "Old School Toys" thread, I am just standing really close to that yellow LC parked on Main Street in Doylestown, NOT leaning on or "touching" it!):


I think this is a 1956 Bel Air (but I'm not sure; definitely NOT a 1957):


And a sweet replica of what I'm guessing is a Korean War-era medic's vehicle:

 

This picture was taken by my dad at the Buckingham Concours D'Elegance in September 2005 (2 months after we moved BACK to Pennsylvania; this was about a week after he bought the S2000; we took the S2000 to the show that day too). I was 16 years old. The car is an early 1950s DeSoto if I remember correctly, and again, I HAD PERMISSION FROM THE OWNER TO SIT IN THE CAR (so no giving me sh*t about not touching another man's vehicle). I was downright shocked when the older gentleman who owned this fine automobile just asked me and my dad if we'd like to sit in without being asked. Yeah, even my dad (44 at the time) could not pass up an opportunity to sit behind the wheel of this beautiful vehicle...



All we did was engage him in friendly conversation about his DeSoto, he could tell we truly appreciated it for the classic it was, and asked us if we'd like to sit in it.

My dad has always had a soft spot for American automobiles made from the late 1930s to the early 1950s, particularly Cadillacs and LaSalles. One of his uncles owned one when he was growing up Now his thing is 1947-1953 Chevy and GMC "Bullnose" trucks, and he almost bought a restomodded example at the 2014 Carlisle Truck Nationals (a GMC 3100; "Restomod" meaning it had a modern V8 engine, automatic transmission, air-conditioning, and a stereo system, but still looked like an old truck on the outside). Had the truck been for sale, it was well within my dad's price range, and only reason he did not write the owner a check on the spot was because the guy wasn't selling.

 

did you get an alignment after the accident? make sure your rear is straight still.

 

I had a very similar thing happen to me except the woman who hit me wasn't drunk at all, she was looking at her phone. After she hit me we exchanged info and I parked in a parking lot right at the corner to wait for the cops to come. I expected her to follow me but she just left the scene. Unfortunately because I already had her phone number the cop wouldn't report her for leaving the scene of an accident. Same thing, her insurance claimed my fault, mine supported me and claimed her fault. The cop didn't even write up an accident report so there wasn't any paperwork to support me but at least I didn't have to pay and my insurance didn't go up.

 

Exactly. I work in the DC area and commute to work mostly on my road bike. Atleast for VA and DC, if you enter the roadway as a bicycle then you WILL adopt the same rules as a vehicle. If you run a red light, you can get a ticket, if you ride against traffic you can get a ticket. Also if the cyclist is riding behind a car and the car slams on the brakes, the cyclist is at fault if they make contact, atleast around here. Whats funny though is all the dumbass bums that I see who ride bikes trying to get hit for their "retirement." I thought at first about telling them that they will only get destroyed for free, but figured it might be a better lesson to let them learn on their own.

Long story short, if you don't respect the road way you can get killed pretty fast. Rules exist for both vehicles and bikers to coexist.

FLY NAVY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Coot

 

My dad was in the Navy for 25 years and his license plate frame says "FLY NAVY NAVAL AVIATION." He was a navigator on a P3.

 

What annoys me here is that my 2010 Tacoma sat out in the open in my driveway during Hurricane Irene in August 2011, and Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. Nothing happened.

Last week we get a day and a half of 50 MPH winds, and it bends my antenna. The antenna still gets reception but it looks like hell, and the quality of reception on my favorite radio station (93.3 WMMR) has not been the same since I got the new Sony touch-screen head unit installed. So, I just want to get the damn thing replaced.

I'm NOT talking about the whole antenna. I'm talking about the aerial that be screwed and unscrewed (I do this all the time when I go through the car wash).

Please tell me it's possible to just buy the aerial thingy! My neighbor who helped me install the Sony head unit and backup camera in September 2016 says replacing the whole antenna is a very involved process...

 

Should be available at any dealer and probably cost $20-30.

I wouldn't recommend an aftermarket "short" antenna, the shorter antennas don't receive as well and they're also less flexible, and more prone to breakage in my experience with them.

 

Yep, you can buy just the mast.
But DON'T SKIMP OUT -- get the "OEM" one. There is another one on Amazon that is compatible ("antennaX"), supposedly stainless steel, but CHINESE GRADE stainless steel. One salty winter and mine is rusty, looks like crap.

Now here is my advice... price out all the parts for the ENTIRE antenna replacement, because there is a fairly good chance that when you try to unscrew the mast, you will break it off. Be prepared to buy the rest of the parts before you try to remove the old one.

These are the three parts BELOW the mast;

$66 Toyota Genuine Antenna Assembly with Hold

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Toyota-Parts-86300-04070-Antenna/dp/B00BJLWKMA

$12 Genuine Toyota (86396-04040) Antenna Nut

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Toyota-86396-04040-Antenna-Nut/dp/B00P2RHJ64

$28 TOYOTA Genuine Accessories (86392-04040) Antenna Ornament

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Toyota-Accessories-86392-04040-Ornament/dp/B00B9Z8LFG
Total $74.26

This is the antenna mast;

$54 Genuine Toyota 86309-04110 Pull Top Antenna

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Toyota-Parts-86309-04110-Antenna/dp/B00BJLWQ7Y
$35.84

 

Ah nice man, I got a few friends who flew the Orion. I hear that's the good life.

Coot

 

Why do you think I paid $130 for an OEM intermittent wiper switch at the dealer instead of buying it from Amazon? I'm not putting Chinese-made crap on my truck LOL.

Thanks!

 

I unscrew my mast all the time to go through the car wash, and after what happened in the windstorm, I'll probably be doing this whenever another storm is forecast...

I actually unscrewed it to make sure it was actually bent and it was not rusted... Came right out!

 

Wow, then you're definitely a lucky one. Especially being from Pennsylvania (road salt). The base (with the wire) typically will completely disintegrate in under 5 years.

Hmm.. I wonder if the fact that you've periodically unscrewed it may be masking the fact that the base has disintegrated. You mention an issue with poor radio reception.... this is a symptom of a disintegrated base.

 

It got stuck once after a long period of time when I didn't go through the car wash, but I just used an adjustable wrench to get it out... no damage...