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

Most people find a place to mount it either in the genders, grille, etc. You’d have to ask other second gen owners where they mount theirs.

 

Current pictures of my truck...

 

Mitsubishi has made some good stuff over the years. My friend used to have a ‘97 galant that seemed well put-together and was reasonably nice on the inside.

The Evos have always been cool, but they seem rather spartan. Lots of boost and AWD strapped to one of the more basic economy cars, basically. Now, I’m fine with a more basic interior, but they are not that nice. Certainly not worth $40k or more when the Golf R and some of the hotter Minis (both of which are way nicer inside) can be had for the same price.

 

Tight parking at a car show in Norristown today...

 

For those who are interested, I was living in Virginia when I turned 16. In Virginia, the minimum age to get a learner's permit is 15½, and 16 for a junior license. I started studying for my learner's permit in late 2004, when I was just a few months before I turned 16. This was about the time my dad got an offer to work at NAS Willow Grove, and we decided to move back to Pennsylvania. There was really no point in me getting a license in Virginia since I had no real need to drive myself anywhere. We moved from Virginia to Pennsylvania in July 2005, and I took and passed the learner's permit test on the first try in December 2005. My dad was going to give me his near-mint 1996 Nissan Pathfinder SE 4x4, which probably had less than 90K miles on it at the time, as my first vehicle. He started giving me driving lessons, but while I did fine in parking lots and on back roads, I did not do so well on busier roads. Highways? Fuggedabowdit! My dad bought a 2002 BMW 325Ci convertible from his brother in May 2006 and started letting me drive that too, and I also drove my mom's 2004 Honda Odyssey.

What my parents and I neglected to realize was that a Pennsylvania learner's permit expired one year from the date of issue. While it was possible to keep renewing the permit indefinitely for as long as it took to teach the new driver, it was rendered null and void upon expiration and one had to take the test over in order to apply for a new one if it was even one day past the expiration date. I did not realize this until I happened to look at my permit in April 2007 and realize it had expired in December 2006! My parents had just bought a brand new house that was being built, and we moved from our rented house in Doylestown to my Grandma's house in Bethlehem, where we would stay until the new house was done. It was hectic! We ended up visiting a DMV location somewhere in Lehigh County (I think Nazareth), and my worst fears were confirmed. That was NOT a good day. Before we even made it to the front of the line, the fat prick DMV employee saw me drinking a bottle of water and singled me out, deciding arbitrarily enforce the "no food or drink" policy and summarily chew me out in front of the whole DMV. It did not help that this fat fuck was the same guy who told me I would have to retake the learner's permit test. I ended up storming out of the DMV in a huff, and I would not get a new learner's permit for more than two years...

Why did I wait so long to finally get my license? Mostly laziness. Contrary to popular belief, it had nothing to do with the fact I have Aspergers Syndrome, nor did it have anything to do with my vision issues (more on this in BS later). It was just laziness. I didn't have much of a social life, and the tech school I was attending was literally a mile from our new house. I relied on my parents and the school bus to take me everywhere. Even the idea of eventually getting the title to the Pathfinder in my name wasn't enough to entice me!

In January 2009, I joined the Coffeehouse Center of Bucks County, a club of sorts for young adults with Aspergers. I made some friends, got a social life, and finally realized that I needed to get off my ass and get a driver's license. After failing the learner's permit test twice, I finally got a learner's permit in August 2009. One thing I quickly found was that I was no longer panicky on the busy roads like I'd been back in 2005-2006, and I was much more comfortably.

However, the 1996 Pathfinder had aged considerably since then. It still ran great, but it had over 100K miles by then. It had failed an emissions test in 2007 due to a hole in the muffler or some bullshit, if I remember correctly, and it seemed like every year it needed something repaired or replaced when we brought it for inspection. It also got shitty gas mileage and required premium fuel. In September 2009, my dad traded it for the 2010 Tacoma that I am still driving.

I took the driving test in the Tacoma three times in April and May 2011, passing on the third try. I have had a few fender benders and been pulled over a few times for stupid shit, but I've maintained a clean driving record and have never lost my license in more than eight years of driving, so I must be doing something right...

 

For those who are interested, I was living in Virginia when I turned 16. In Virginia, the minimum age to get a learner's permit is 15½, and 16 for a junior license. I started studying for my learner's permit in late 2004, when I was just a few months before I turned 16. This was about the time my dad got an offer to work at NAS Willow Grove, and we decided to move back to Pennsylvania. There was really no point in me getting a license in Virginia since I had no real need to drive myself anywhere. We moved from Virginia to Pennsylvania in July 2005, and I took and passed the learner's permit test on the first try in December 2005. My dad was going to give me his near-mint 1996 Nissan Pathfinder SE 4x4, which probably had less than 90K miles on it at the time, as my first vehicle. He started giving me driving lessons, but while I did fine in parking lots and on back roads, I did not do so well on busier roads. Highways? Fuggedabowdit! My dad bought a 2002 BMW 325Ci convertible from his brother in May 2006 and started letting me drive that too, and I also drove my mom's 2004 Honda Odyssey.

What my parents and I neglected to realize was that a Pennsylvania learner's permit expired one year from the date of issue. While it was possible to keep renewing the permit indefinitely for as long as it took to teach the new driver, it was rendered null and void upon expiration and one had to take the test over in order to apply for a new one if it was even one day past the expiration date. I did not realize this until I happened to look at my permit in April 2007 and realize it had expired in December 2006! My parents had just bought a brand new house that was being built, and we moved from our rented house in Doylestown to my Grandma's house in Bethlehem, where we would stay until the new house was done. It was hectic! We ended up visiting a DMV location somewhere in Lehigh County (I think Nazareth), and my worst fears were confirmed. That was NOT a good day. Before we even made it to the front of the line, the fat prick DMV employee saw me drinking a bottle of water and singled me out, deciding arbitrarily enforce the "no food or drink" policy and summarily chew me out in front of the whole DMV. It did not help that this fat fuck was the same guy who told me I would have to retake the learner's permit test. I ended up storming out of the DMV in a huff, and I would not get a new learner's permit for more than two years...

Why did I wait so long to finally get my license? Mostly laziness. Contrary to popular belief, it had nothing to do with the fact I have Aspergers Syndrome, nor did it have anything to do with my vision issues (more on this in BS later). It was just laziness. I didn't have much of a social life, and the tech school I was attending was literally a mile from our new house. I relied on my parents and the school bus to take me everywhere. Even the idea of eventually getting the title to the Pathfinder in my name wasn't enough to entice me!

In January 2009, I joined the Coffeehouse Center of Bucks County, a club of sorts for young adults with Aspergers. I made some friends, got a social life, and finally realized that I needed to get off my ass and get a driver's license. After failing the learner's permit test twice, I finally got a learner's permit in August 2009. One thing I quickly found was that I was no longer panicky on the busy roads like I'd been back in 2005-2006, and I was much more comfortably.

However, the 1996 Pathfinder had aged considerably since then. It still ran great, but it had over 100K miles by then. It had failed an emissions test in 2007 due to a hole in the muffler or some bullshit, if I remember correctly, and it seemed like every year it needed something repaired or replaced when we brought it for inspection. It also got shitty gas mileage and required premium fuel. In September 2009, my dad traded it for the 2010 Tacoma that I am still driving.

I took the driving test in the Tacoma three times in April and May 2011, passing on the third try. I have had a few fender benders and been pulled over a few times for stupid shit, but I've maintained a clean driving record and have never lost my license in more than eight years of driving, so I must be doing something right...

 

In August 2010, my parents and I took a family vacation to Cape May. On the way there, we stopped at a rest stop somewhere in South Jersey...

This Black Monte Carlo pulled up next to our minivan...




I immediately noticed this in the right front fender of the otherwise mint condition Chevy...



Yes, that's a goddamn bullet hole! Even 9 years later I still remember this shit! I asked the owner of the car "Dude, is that bullet hole?!?!" He said yes it is, and said that someone had pulled a 9mm handgun and fired on him as he floored it out of their driveway in reverse...

Up until just now, I thought the guy was from Jersey, but the car does not have a front license plate and clearly has PA inspection stickers, so I'm guessing he was probably from Philly...

Amazingly, the bullet missed everything important, and I wouldn't be surprised if the guy left it there for bragging rights!

 

I miss this commercial!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUzn6HlRDX4

 

i have one on my truck and never had problem with it i like it. it serves it purpose for me and makes it easier to wash and wax the hood because i can stand on bottom part of it like a step. also when im messing around under the hood.also protects front and headlights when its parked in parking lot.

 

While these State Poopers are busy conducting an unconstitutional search of a vehicle for a lousy radar detector, I'm guessing that a pedophile, a serial killer, at least two bank robbers, and dozens of drug smugglers drove past them in this video! Seriously, don't cops have anything better to do than generate revenue?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=s4vC4aoHJf4

 

I got a new job working at my dad's company! $16 per hour, paid vacations, and 401K!

 

This is one thing that drives me nuts about doing Doordash in Doylestown...



The area of New Hope, Pennsylvania and Lambertville, New Jersey is included in the “Doylestown” area. The section of the “Doylestown” area that looks like a guy’s erect wiener is New Hope/Lambertville and the stretch of road it takes to drive there.

New Hope/Lambertville is generally busy enough that it could be it’s own area, so I don’t know who’s bright idea it was to add it to Doylestown.

My acceptance rate is suffering because I sometimes decline up to three New Hope orders in a day due to the fact that I’m in Doylestown and don’t feel like driving 15-20 minutes to No Hope (more if there’s something going on in Peddler’s Village, a glorified tourist trap I have to pass through on my way to New Hope, that generates traffic)...



If I can make $100 a day in Doylestown and the surrounding area (Chalfont, New Britain, Plumsteadville, Warrington, etc), why should I waste my time hoofing it out to No Hope when there’s a good chance I’ll only have that one order and then have to drive all the way back to Doylestown?!?!

 

And in case you couldn’t tell, I do not much care for New Hope. It’s a nice place, and fun to visit if you’re not the one driving, but let’s see here...

Parking is expensive and hard to come by.

A perfect example would be the valet company that has taken over two parking lots in town; This same company used to handle the valet parking at Puck when we were open, and they charged $5. They charge $20 in New Hope.

Parking enforcement never takes a vacation in New Hope, unlike in Doylestown, handing out tickets on Sundays and even some holidays.

Restaurants are ungodly expensive.

New Hope is practically the San Francisco of Bucks County, minus the human poop everywhere, and is obnoxiously liberal compared to other places nearby.

 

One thing I've learned over the years is that I would prefer to have a job where a valid driver's license is required for employment. Granted, there are normal people out there who can't drive or choose not to drive for whatever reason, but I'm talking about entry-level jobs at department stores and supermarkets, etc.

I have nothing but empathy for low-functioning intellectually disabled individuals, but I have a hard time working with them and just do not have the qualifications (or the patience) to deal with them on a regular basis. From 2006 to 2009, some of my coworkers were "special needs." One such individual was a kid about my age who was severely autistic. I worked with him at both CVS Pharmacy and the Bucks County Public Library. This kid barely spoke, and he was barely even toilet trained, among other things. On at least two separate occasions, he shit his pants while we were stocking shelves. The smell was unbearable, but when I complained to the job coach, she didn't really seem to give a damn.

At subsequent real jobs (Real meaning jobs that I went out and got my own, and weren't sublet out to me by the Central Bucks School District special ed department), my coworkers and I would engage in all sorts of juvenile activities, including farting in each other's presence. This was common both at the bar where I worked from December 2014 to January 2019, and at the detail shop where I worked for all of 10 months, from September 2018 to June 2019. Farts are one thing, because the smell eventually goes away. If somebody soils themselves and it isn't dealt with, then the smell obviously lingers.

This same kid also put a DVD in the book section when we were working at the library, and I was never able to find it and put it in the correct section. Long story short, he was not a bad person, but he was incredibly low-functioning and downright infuriating to work with at times. I'm not saying to this be mean, but this kid really had no business doing the jobs he was given.

 

Generally, low-functioning special needs individuals cannot drive. As such, they are unable to get a job at a detail shop because a valid driver's license is required. Jobs at grocery stores and other retail establishments don't require the ability to drive, so these places are full of special needs employees.

I am thrilled that such individuals are able to get jobs, in the process earning money and learning valuable life skills. I just do not have the patience to have them as coworkers.

 

I would also like to bring up something else that has been a relatively hot topic in my mind recently...

Law enforcement.

I do not have a problem with the police in the slightest. There have been numerous police officers in my family, both current and former (one, my grandfather, lost a battle with lung cancer in 2007). Most cops are good people who are just trying to do their job. My annoyance with police comes not from the police themselves, but the fact that a lot of agencies have devolved from law enforcement to revenue generation. The ticket I got for unwittingly treating a red light like a stop at midnight last January really pissed me off, because I was pulled over by a sheriff's deputy who had no authority to write me a ticket and then embellished the truth to a responding cop in order to make sure I was ticketed.

Don't even get me started on civil asset forfeiture! Obviously, I've never been a victim of the policing for profit known as civil asset forfeiture, but it pisses me off reading about what some people go through.

 

My annoyance with police started back in March 2013 when I was stopped by the police in Doylestown for taking pictures in public. I encountered a DUI checkpoint in March 2017 while driving home from work, which was particularly nerve-wracking even though I was 100% sober and had nothing to worry about.

NOTE: I do not count my first encounter with police as it was pretty straightforward...

 

By May 2017, I'd had my license for almost 6 years and never been pulled over (I don't count the 2006 incident as that had happened about five years before I got my license and more than ten years before I got pulled over again). In just over four years (March 2013-May 2017), my dealings with police had been less than pleasant, so I was extraordinarily weary of police by May 2017. I'd also gone over a decade without being pulled over (nonconsecutive; the period of time between December 2006 and August 2009 does not count since my permit had expired and I didn't start driving again for almost three years), and figured that I must be doing something right and that a traffic stop just couldn't happen to me. I REALLY FUCKED UP when I got pulled over in May 2017.

It was late May, and I was driving home from the bar where I used to work, albeit as a customer and not an employee. I'd only had non-alcoholic beers that night and was totally sober, so drinking and driving was not an issue. It was a nice spring night, so I had the windows down and the A/C off. Anyone who is familiar with Doylestown Borough knows that one stretch of Main Street where the speed limit is a harsh 25 MPH even though there's a hill. Keystone Volvo, the Shell gas station, Dunkin' Donuts, and Wawa, among others, are located on this stretch of Main Street. It was a nice night, I'd just gotten a new head unit installed in my Tacoma, and I was driving home. It was 11:30 or so at night, and there was nobody around. I just jamming to Great White and have a grand old time, and I failed to monitor my speedometer. I hauled ass past a hidden police SUV, and the cop clocked me at 43 MPH, 18 MPH over the speed limit. The problem is that I didn't realize I was speeding, and by the time the cop flipped on his lights and pulled onto Main Street, I was so far away from him that I had no reason to believe he was after me. There was an early 2000s Ford Taurus in front of the police Expedition, and this driver pulled over to let him over. I assumed this cop must be headed to an emergency somewhere. When you're headed South out of Doylestown on Main Street, there's a neighborhood called Doylestown Hunt (consisting of oversized tract homes built in the late 1980s and early 1990s) on your right. Assuming the cop was on his way to a call and not after me, I pulled onto the shoulder just past Doylestown Hunt, expecting him to just blow past me. Imagine my absolutely shock when he pulled in behind me and stopped. My first thought was "What the fuck did I do wrong?!?!"

My first instinct was to make sure my lights were on. They were.

It was May; My registration expired in August and my inspection stickers expired in October; Also, there's no way in hell he would have noticed an expired inspection sticker at night and from that distance anyway.

Back in December 2016, I'd been blatantly tailgated by a Doylestown cop on the same stretch of road while driving home late at night; No doubt he was running my license plate and waiting for me to swerve out of nervousness so he could pull me over on "suspicious of drunk driving." Going back to May 2017, I had no idea what I'd done wrong, and I was 99% sure this was just a bored and overzealous cop fishing for drunk drivers.

 

**It is important to note that back in June 2015, the exact opposite of the May 2017 incident took place. I was driving to a car show in a rural part Berks County, in an area I'd never been before, and I had my best friend with me in the truck. It was broad daylight, and I'll admit I was hauling ass. I knew I was speeding, and all of a sudden, a marked Dodge Charger roared up behind me with its lights and siren on. I freaked out and immediately assumed I was getting pulled over, but I actually knew why. I was seriously speeding. The problem was that we were in the country with landscaping on either side of the road and no place to stop easily. I started to pull over, and the Charger just blew past me. It quickly became apparent that this cop was headed to a legit emergency and either did not realize or did not care that I was speeding.**