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

I think the 1st vehicle I bought with a Factory CD player was my 2000 Tacoma.

 

The “family TV” was a 27-inch Hitachi that my dad bought at the Navy Exchange while on deployment in Japan. That TV lasted almost a decade until it literally went “snap, crackle, pop” in late 1995 and ceased to function. My dad bought a 32-inch Sony Trinitron at Circuit City in December 1995. That TV was state-of-the-art back then and cost at least $900 (more than the $700 Vizio 37-inch HDTV that replaced it in 2007).

That Sony was probably the greatest TV we ever owned, and it probably would have lasted longer if it didn’t endure five moves (four of them across the country) between 1996 and 2007.

Several historically significant (and often tragic) events were broadcast onto that TV, including but not limited to:

• The Lewinsky Scandal.
• The 9/11 attacks.
• The Space Shuttle Columbia explosion.

That TV also “hosted” a PlayStation, a PS2, and an Xbox. I watched everything from Nickelodeon and G-rated Disney classics all the way up to raunchier shows like South Park and R-rated features like The Terminator. We watched numerous home movies on that TV as well.

When we bought the Vizio HDTV in 2007, the 12-year old Sony was relegated to the finished basement. The Sony ceased to operate sometime in 2008, after almost 13 years of trouble-free service. That Sony was heavy and my dad tried to move it himself with disastrous results. It fell off the entertainment center and the plastic casing shattered into dozens of pieces. There were no human casualties, and I ended up helping my dad move the disembodied tube from the basement.

My dad bought a 61-inch, 1080p Samsung DLP HDTV at Circuit City in 2008, not long before they went under (my dad was pissed because he bought the extended warranty and within months of him buying the TV it was rendered worthless by circumstances beyond his control).

We still have the Samsung, but the DLP bulb started to wear out by 2016. The cost of replacing the bulb is more than price of a nicer, newer TV, so my dad is just waiting for the thing to die completely before he buys a new one. The image is just as sharp now as it was in 2008, but it is now peppered with numerous little white dots that resemble snowflakes. I played most of Red Dead Redemption II on this TV, but now the PS4 is in my bedroom and the aging Samsung is only used to watch TV when we are working out downstairs.

 

My Tacoma had a factory CD/MP3 player and an audio input, but the system as a whole sucked. For the first three years we owned the truck, my second biggest complaint* was that the sound system “had no balls”.

My parents countered by saying that I was a new driver, that I did not need the distraction of a fancy stereo as a result, and that I should be grateful I have an AUX input. They were right, for the first three years. I got my license in 2011, but I didn’t have my first at-fault accident until August 2015, and didn’t get my first speeding ticket until May 2017. By the beginning of 2013, I’d convinced my parents that I was a responsible driver, and argued that since I was the primary driver of the truck I should not have to deal with a substandard stereo system. I had been researching stereo components for months, knew exactly what I wanted, and told them I’d pay for everything. My parents relented and my dad ended up paying a friend of mine to install it.

*My biggest complaint was that a 2010 vehicle did not have intermittent wipers, whereas base model Colorados, Frontiers, and Rangers did.

 

@shakerhood

Also, both the radio and the AUX input were replaced under warranty in 2011.

The original radio had this habit of turning on at random when it was switched off. One time I had a Jimmy Buffett CD in there, and Margaritaville started blasting while I was making a U-turn. This scared the shit out of me and prompted me to slam on the brakes. Luckily, I was in an empty parking lot when this happened.

 

I did the budget stereo upgrade on my current Tacoma, it has Subaru Tweeters and Kicker Door Speakers along with some sound deadening in the doors. While it's not a pounding system, it is pretty satisfying and a nice improvement over stock.

 

Mine is definitely a pounding system...

 

I was able to do everything for under $300 so it was a nice upgrade for the budget.

 

You already had Bluetooth and a backup camera, so that significantly reduced your upgrade costs...

In addition to lackluster speakers, I also had a damn near worthless head unit to replace!

 

What I was trying to say earlier is that my dad probably had the right idea of waiting to buy an HDTV instead of succumbing to the “gotta have it now” attitude that plagues the vast majority of people in the world. I remember seeing a plasma TV at Best Buy in 2004 with a price of like US$12,000. I forget how big it was, but even today you can still get a very nice used vehicle for less than half that!

I am pretty sure that my dad has never paid more than two grand for a TV! He will also refuse to buy a new vehicle if the dealer won’t budge from the sticker price, which is why he bought a Pathfinder instead of a 4Runner in 1996.

 

Random question...

Is your ‘02 a stick shift?!?!

 

They never made a 1st gen, dc, stick shift.

 

I missed the DC part!

Are 2.7Ls fairly rare though? Because most of the ones I’ve seen have been V6s.

 

I've logged about 5 of them on this site. So yea, I would say the 2.7, dc, 3rzfe would be on the left of normal side.

Edit: and prerunner.

 

@Matic

I moved the conversation to my build thread because I wasn’t sure if the mods were going to delete or lock that other thread...

 

Yea, will prob be gone soon.

 

It’s gone and he got banned!

 

Oh darn. The thread was scrubbed as well.
Oh well, guess I'll go to work.

 

I’m at work...

It’s just a slow-ass day!

 

How many miles on your truck?

I am within less than 130 miles of 108K as of this post, but I’m told that I have low miles for a 2010 that was purchased new in September 2009.