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

It's looking sharp man! Saw some recent pics of it, i was just creeping on the pg 1. Any future plans for the truck, or just drive it?

 

It’s already got a killer stereo system, tinted windows, and the ever-popular intermittent wiper upgrade...

I might put in fog lights but I have not decided yet; Other than than that, the truck is done.

The engine, transmission, and other mechanical components are solid, but she’s got over 107K miles and she’s at the age where little “nickel and dime” shit starts to fail. Just had a rear axle seal blow and destroy a rear brake with only 22K miles on it, then the dealer screwed that up and the same axle seal had to be replaced at cost to them a week later.

The truck is solid, but right now I’m praying nothing else breaks in the next six months or so. Like I said, my truck is reliable and I wouldn’t trade her for a Rolls-Royce (though if you know how much I love Rolls-Royce motorcars you know how tempting such a trade would be), but she’s just at that age...

 

I was driving home...

You mean the writer of that article?

 

After talking with my cousin, a school psychologist who works with younger versions me and was inspired to enter that field as a result of growing up with me, I have come to the conclusion that Carl Foutley from As Told By Ginger probably does not have Aspergers or any form of autism. However, he still does have a lot in common with me and is easily one of my favorite characters on the show. A still shot of Carl can be seen below...

 

Carl Foutley and his best friend Robert Joseph "Hoodsey" Bishop as adults, seen in the epilogue scene of the series finale...



Carl is a reporter, which is why he has a headset and a notepad (Hoodsey is supposedly a reporter too, and ended up marrying one of Ginger Foutley's best friends). Carl and Ginger's mom, Lois, can be seen standing in the background with her second husband, Dr. David Dave. The season finale took place in 2002-2004, and it is presumed that this is is about twenty years in the future, which would put Carl and Hoodsey in their late 20s or early 30s and Lois and Dave in their late 50s or early 60s.

 

I have recently developed a renewed interest in As Told By Ginger, after having not watched any episodes since probably 2016. Unfortunately, I missed my chance to download the complete 60-episode series from iTunes because they were taken down in 2015. The first 45 episodes are available on DVD, but these DVDs were never officially available stateside. I have been reduced to watching relatively low quality uploads on Dailymotion, which absolutely sucks. Dailymotion crashes and freezes up constantly, and when it does work properly it has obnoxious 2-ad "commercial breaks" that show the same ad twice! It's worse than Hulu!

Also, some people may consider this the cartoon TV series equivalent of a "chick flick", but I watched it in middle school and continue to rewatch it, my best friend Doug watched it back in middle school and we'd actually discuss it over lunch at school, and my dad would watch it with me when it was still on the air! The three of us are all straight guys and we not only watched the show but loved it!

I think the reason I related it to the characters so much is because I was in middle school at the time and going through a lot of the same shit as the main characters (both male and female). The series is also genuine and realistic, and explorers many real-life issues that it's target audience often faced. Even the antagonists of the series (mainly popular girl Courtney Gripling's best friend, Miranda) were lovable and easy to relate to.

 

The animation was second to none in my opinion; Here's the Foutley family home, at least until the series finale when Lois remarried to a doctor and the family moved into a much larger home...

 

The Gripling mansion, which the family was forced to sell in the series finale after family patriarch Prescott Gripling got busted on charges of insider trading; One of the family's two Rolls-Royce can be seen in the driveway...

 

The Bishop residence; Ginger Foutley was best friends with Deirdre Hortense "Dodie" Bishop, and Ginger's younger brother Carl was best friends with Dodie's younger brother Robert Joseph "Hoodsey" Bishop...



Ginger and Carl's mother, Lois, was registered nurse who worked at the local hospital. Their biological father, Jonas, was a bit of deadbeat who seemingly hopped from job to job.

Courtney and Blake Gripling's father, Prescott, was a wealthy stockbroker; Their mother was seemingly a stay-at-home mom/trophy wife.

Miranda Killgallen's father is a local police officer who also works as a drill sergeant at a military academy; Her mother is mentioned once but never seen.

Gigner and Dodie's other best friend is Macie Lightfoot. Macie's parents are both successful therapists.

It is never stated what Dodie and Hoosey's father, David Charles Bishop (or their mother, Joanne) do for a living. Joanne seems to be a stay-at-home mom/homemaker, but based on the size of the family home (see above) I'd say David has a pretty good job.

 

The high-strung Joann Bishop seen inside her home (take note of how detailed the animation is!)...

 

Also, Joann Bishop and Lois Foutley are quite a few years apart in terms of age. Lois is implied to have been born in about 1961-1962 (possibly 1959-1960) and about 41 years of age at the very oldest. Her husband was incorrectly labeled as 31 on the wikia/fandom site for the series, which makes little sense because Lois states in a couple episodes that she was well out of college and had already completed nursing school by the time Ginger was born, and was in her late 20s; If Jonas was actually 31 at the time the series began, it would make him 19 at the time Ginger was born, and Lois doesn't strike me as the "cougar" type.

It is explicitly stated in a season three episode that Joann and her husband Dave graduated from middle school in 1980, which means both of them were born in 1965-1966. In that same episode, one of Dodie's popular classmates makes an abrasive comment about Joann being in her forties. Joann would have been 37 at the oldest, but it's close to 40 for a group of mean high school girls...

 

The series is set in the fictional town of Sheltered Shrubs, Connecticut, which is located in the fictional Winslow County; Here is a birdseye view of Sheltered Shrubs...



Isn't the detail just incredible for an early 2000s Nicktoon?

 

The same section of Sheltered Shrubs seen above, but during a blizzard in the appropriately named episode Blizzard Conditions...

That little blue car seen chugging through the snow is Lois Foutley's 1970s Volkswagen Beetle (which she bought brand new and held onto well into the 21st century)!

 

The three schools attended by the series' main characters...



From left to right; Lucky Elementary, Lucky Junior High, and Lucky High School. The schools were all named after fictional Revolutionary War hero Nathaniel "Lucky" Winslow, whom the county is also named after...

 

This is either the movie theater, the mall, or the movie theater that happens to be located at the mall (I forget)...

 

Sheltered Shrubs City Park...

 

The local train station...

 

Gated entry to Protected Pines, the upscale community where the Griplings lived until the series finale...

 

Lucky Memorial Hospital, where both Lois Foutley and Dr. David Dave work for the duration of the series...

 

A local shopping center...