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

This happened in either 2003 or 2004, when we were living in Northern Virginia...

Four of you are fathers, two of you are fathers of children on the spectrum, one of you is even on the spectrum themselves, and one of you is roughly the same age I was when this incident happened. I figured you guys would be a good group to get an opinion from.

There were a lot of families with young kids residing in this neighborhood, and age was not really an issue in this neighborhood. I would not say I had any true friends in that neighborhood aside from next-door neighbor's son (who was probably three years young than me), but the kids I hung around with on regular basis at the ages of 13-15 ranged in age from 5-7 years old all way up 16 year olds with driver's licenses...

There was this one guy with a wife and kids who probably would not be out of place here on TW. He drove an red 1990 Toyota pickup and he was a professional firefighter. I didn't know him too well, but I remember him for two things; He drove an old red Toyota extra cab V6/5-speed 2WD that seemed ready to fall apart, and in one encounter which I am about to tell to you about, he proved himself to be a total dick.

On any given summer (or winter) day, all of the neighborhood kids could be found on Colonel Taylor Lane, where the second phase of the neighborhood was located and where the firefighter and his family lived.

One time in 2003 or so, I was playing with who I believe at this point was the firefighter's kid. I have historically been regarded as being very good with kids. There have been a few cases over the years where I didn't realize my own strength, and in one notable incident when I was 6, I was playing with a family friend's baby. The baby was in one of those activity table/walker things, and I leaned down on the table part a bit to hard. The folding walker collapsed, unfortunately right on the baby's foot. The baby started crying, and I can remember profusely apologizing. The baby's mother insisted it was all good, the baby was more startled than injured, and I didn't get in trouble at all. Fast-forward from 1995 back to 2003-2004. I was playing with the firefighter's kid, and if I remember correctly the kids were playing cops and and robbers or something. They talked me into joining them, and I was a good sport about it. I was roughhousing with the kid, 4 or 5 years old, and I unintentionally twisted his arm behind his back. I did not hurt the kid and he did not cry, but the mother saw the whole thing, understandably freaked out, and came running up. She told me not to do that to her son, I apologized and left, and I thought that was the end of it...

Another time, probably in the same year, it was a nice day and I was riding my bike around the neighborhood. On this particular day the firefighter's son was playing in his front yard with a little girl from up the street, who was roughly the same age as him. I went to high school with the girl's older sister and whether or not the family liked me is debatable, but we were on more or less good terms, and this girl was the type who really looked up to older kids and would have followed me home if she could...

So, Caroline says hi to me as I ride by, and thinking nothing of it, I pull my bike over and stop to say hello. The next thing I know, Eric's dad (the firefighter with the Toyota so nobody gets confused) comes out of the house. The way Eric's dad reacted, you would think I was a some creeper trying to lure the kid into his old cargo van with candy, and not a teenager on a bike. On top of that, Caroline (not his kid, Eric) had said hello, and I was only being nice. ON TOP OF THAT, it's not like I was some strange kid from another neighborhood. I lived in that neighborhood, rode my bike around the neighborhood quite frequently, and everyone on that street knew who I was. Translation: "Stranger-Danger" should not have applied!

So, the firefighter was something like "I don't want you talking to these kids" or something like that. When I tried to tell him that the girl (and his kid) had said hi to me and I was just being nice, he repeated himself and then said something like "If you've got a problem, you can go get your dad and we can discuss it."

What I got from that exchange was "If I catch you so much as looking at these kids, I'm gonna kick your ass." This is a 30-something professional firefighter to a kid who was maybe 15 at most. If he'd laid one hand on me, I would have sued him, taken him to court, and probably owned his 1990 Toyota pickup (and a good chunk of his savings) when all was said and done!

I immediately rode home and told my parents, and all they could say was not to talk to kids who were considerably younger than me, no matter how well I knew them.

That incident with the neighbor succeeded in doing nothing, other than making me incredibly cautious and borderline antisocial around little kids who didn't belong to blood relatives or close friends. I've gotten a little less rigid, but whenever a younger neighbor kid I don't know particularly well takes a liking to me, I think of that incident in Virginia and subconsciously close myself off...

 

With your welding skills, you could probably build yourself one! Just buy a 2001-2004 DCSB, cut the back of the frame off, and weld a section of a frame from a donor truck in place. Then get a regular-length bed from a wrecked AC or RC and it should bolt right into place. You'll just to reinforce the new frame section and fabricate a new drive shaft...

 

I wouldn't mind keeping mine until a million miles, but I'm probably gonna have a wife and kids before I hit 250K!

 

The first two pictures are screenshots of imagery dated September 11th, 2014...

The derelict blue F150 with the snowplow rig on the front belonged to one of my neighbors who lived on this street. It's about a 1989 or 1990 if I remember correctly, a loaded XLT model with either the 302/5.0L or 351/5.8L engine. During the time we lived there from 2002-2005, this truck was absolutely mint. The owner used it to plow our streets after big snowstorms, but I believe it was his daily driver as well and he some managed to keep it immaculate. Fast-forward about a decade, and it would appear that this truck has has been sitting for quite some time. You might also notice the gray Toyota 4x4 sitting next to it. I have no idea who owns that as nobody on that street drove such a truck when I was living there. If you look closely, you can see the little yellow sticker in the lower center area of the windshield. Virginia safety inspection stickers are yellow and go in the lower center region of the windshield, so chances are that's what that sticker is. However, Virginia requires front and rear license plates and this Toyota obviously does not have a front plate (though you can see the front plate mount). Though in much better condition than my former neighbor's blue Ford, the Toyota also appears to be rather "neglected," which indicates that it is has been here for a while as well...

Going back to the Ford, you will notice that the paint is completely worn off on the roof, exposing bare steel. On the hood, the paint is peeling off and rust has started to form (I say again, this truck was near mint less than 15 years ago, despite being about 14 years old back then). Even in these shitty images, at least two of the tires are low on air and all of them appear to be worn out and possibly dryrotted. You will notice that front bumper is quite crooked, the tailgate appears to be there but is down (meaning it can't stay up), and the snowplow that cleared our streets so many times has been unceremoniously dumped behind the truck and left to rot as well.

If I had to guess, one of several things happened, and the owner just couldn't bear to part with the truck (the neighborhood's HOA disbanded before we moved there and never came back, so there's nobody to get on the guy's ass about leaving a derelict truck there for years):

1. The truck would failed the bi-annual safety inspection (required everywhere in Virginia) for one or more reasons and the guy either couldn't afford to fix it or didn't think it was worth it to put that kind of money into such an old truck.

2. The truck failed the bi-annual emissions test (required only in certain areas of Northern Virginia comprising the DC metro area, where this neighborhood happens to be located). Unlike safety inspections, where it is often a simple fix, making a vehicle emissions-compliant is much more complicated and thus often more expensive (in 2001 or so, my uncle who lived in Fairfax County the time donated a 1985 Mazda GLC to Purple Heart, a car that he'd owned since new and absolutely loved, because it failed emissions). Like many vehicle enthusiasts, the owner could very well be waiting until the truck is old enough to be registered as an antique (and is thus exempt from the ripoff known as a emissions testing).

3. The truck suffered some sort of catastrophic mechanical failure.

The possibilities are endless!




The last image is a screenshot of Google Earth, dated April 14th, 2016, and that same truck still seems to be sitting in the exact same spot...

 

If it were 4x4, I could see you turning it into some kind of off-road toy, but what are you going to do with a 2WD Rodeo that's pretty much ready for the junkyard?!?!

 

More Bing Street View imagery from September 11th, 2014...

The people who lived here had a wheelchair-bound daughter with cerebral palsy, and as a result had a huge white 1999 Ford conversion van with a wheelchair lift (this was back in 2002-2005, so the van was fairly new). In this image, there's a newer Ford van in the driveway, and it appears to have a wheelchair lift, so I'm guessing the same family still lives there...

 

@booted
@ChadsPride
@Iamraiderpower
@Jamesboy2233
@Plain Jane Taco

Looking at these images of one of many of my former boyhood neighborhoods brings back some not-so-happy memories. They aren't truly bad memories, but they are nowhere near good. I guess the best way I could describe it as that the early 21st century was a different era, and even then people were nowhere near as well-informed about so-called autism spectrum "disorders." I've always had a very love-it-or-hate-it personality (luckily I'd say 98% of people loved me, and a good portion of that 2% who didn't care much for me lived on that street in my old neighborhood in Fairfax County, Virginia). Those parents knew what autism was, for sure, but like most typical people they lumped autism together as one disorder/diagnosis. I still encounter people in my day-to-day life who, when I tell them I have Aspergers are absolutely shocked. They find it hard to be believe, for starters, that someone who is "on the spectrum" is as well-spoken and sociable as I am. Some people are also amazed that someone with a form of autism, like myself, has a driver's license and a college degree. Nobody has outright said this, but when I willingly tell people that I'm "probably the only barback in Doylestown with Aspergers" (probably the only bar employee, period), they are probably impressed that someone with any form of autism is able to do as well as he does working in what is probably one of the most socially-demanding industries in the world...

Basically, I have a Aspergers, which is a form of autism, but I am so incredibly high-functioning that I am able to be just like other so-called "normal" people...

Back in 2002-2005, however, I was just a quirky teenager who didn't always pick up on social cues. I doubt that kid's dad thought I was a some kind of child molester, but I was different and even today people trouble accepting an outsider who doesn't conform to the so-called "social norms," even if my violation of these social norms was not intentional. Though I feel to see what is abnormal about stopping to say hello to the 5-year old neighbor kid you've known for the better part of two years, especially when they say hi first...

 

Sometimes that’s all ya need!

 

I'd at least want heat and a working radio...

 

I said it looks ready, doesn't mean it is...

I've seen vehicles in much better condition at the pick-a-part...

 

Do you know if the A/C in the Rodeo needs to be charged?

 

@Iamraiderpower
@Jamesboy2233

This story proves my point that tow truck drivers are scumbags unless you actually need a tow...

Just moments ago, I was talking to a woman who just moved here from Chestnut Hill (in Philadelphia). She was unaware of the "snow emergency" rule and her new Subaru Impreza was towed from a metered parking space during last week's snowstorm...

She said she was totally at fault, but is a bit annoyed because the car is at the dealer now? Why?

As if having to play phone tag with the police to get her car back wasn't bad enough, her new Subaru had like four warning lights on when she finally got it back.

Apparently when they unceremoniously dragged the Subaru onto the flatbed, something in the transmission got fucked up.

This is exactly why if my truck got towed for being illegally parked, I'd report it stolen to make trouble for the tow truck company and then write a 1-star review on Yelp.

In Russia and many parts of Western Europe, they have tow trucks with a hoist/lift that raises the vehicle onto the flatbed. Explain to me why we don't have these in America?!?!

 

I watched one of those in action in downtown Prague and it was amazing. The driver pulled right beside the offending vehicle swung his boom with spreader bars and straps with hooks that go in each wheel right over the car, then he plucked the car and drove off with it swung onto his bed and was gone in about 3 minutes.

 

Exactly! Doylestown alone probably has a larger GDP than some entire countries, so why can't they afford one of these trucks?!?!

 

Hey Charlie! ​

 

Hello! Haven't seen you in a while!

You think I'm well known enough on TW to get a whole birthday thread like you did? I'm turning 29 in two days!

 

Been suuuuuuuuuuuuuper busy on here lately.

Just wanted to stop by and say hey!!!

Oh snap!!! Almost done with them twenties!!!

You never know Sir Charles, TW has a way of doing things!

​

 

Well I'm getting an external amplifier to make my component speakers sound better, and I'm also getting a powered sub!

What have you been up to?

 

Rockin!!!!
​

Working on a little club I started "Texas Toyota Coalition"

 

I'm hoping they are coming soon as they are quick, and easy on the plucked vehicle, no dragging. The way the car I saw plucked was parked there would've been no other way to remove it. Things are pretty tight in those old European cities where the central parts of the cities were built centurys before autos came about. we went form Prague to Krakow where they don't even allow vehicles in the old part of the city...and the beer??? Oh there's another thread for that, sorry.