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

In Beethoven's 2nd, which was released in 1993, the family car was in fact a Mercury Colony Park (but a 1983 model like the Oldsmobile and clearly representing the same vehicle); The father's car was a 1986 Buick Skylark...

 

Couldn't afford the payments or couldn't afford the gas?

 

My Mom told me interest rates were crazy high back then and the car was loaded with everything making it too hard to afford.

 

@shakerhood

My dad only had his 1992 Dodge Dakota for a year and probably put less than 11,000 miles on it. Being unable to afford payments had absolutely nothing to do with it. My dad sold his 1986 Mazda B2000 in 1992 because it didn't have A/C, and it was more cost effective to buy a new truck with A/C so he bought the Dodge. He liked the Dodge, but he preferred smaller trucks and he overlooked the need for 4WD having spent the last decade in California, so he traded it for an S-10 Blazer in 1993. My parents have never had a vehicle that was unreliable, though the 1993 S-10 Blazer was probably the most problematic of them all...

 

I remember the rear tailgate window was power, it was so neat being a little kid back there and my Dad putting that window up and and down.

 

My mom's first brand new car was a white 1985 Ford Escort hatchback, 5-speed with no A/C. The car cost like five grand. With interest at the time, my mom ended up paying double that, even with good credit! My dad says his interest rate on his first brand new car, a 1983 Toyota Celica GT, was like 10%!

 

What year was it?

 

My neighbor had an S10 Blazer too, was quite unreliable.

 

My Mom said the interest was like 10% too, I'm guessing it was late 60s or very early 70s timeframe.

 

It was not unreliable, but...

• June 1993 - When the Blazer was one week old with 260 miles on the clock, the A/C system blew a seal at the orifice tube and when my dad turned on the A/C a cloud of R-12 came in through the defogger vent - Fixed under warranty in one day.
• May 1994 - A/C blew a seal again, but luckily instead of purging itself of Freon, it just leaked out and was blowing warm when my dad turned it on one day - Fixed under warranty again
  
• Between 1994 and 1996 -
  • Front and rear brakes (front disc/rear drum) wore out by 28K miles and had to be replaced - Considered normal wear and tear and not covered under warranty
    
  • Tailgate was installed incorrectly at the factory and made a squeaking noise that drove my dad nuts - fixed under warranty
  • Clearcoat on alloy wheels peeled off - Replaced under warranty
  • Gauge cluster would randomly fail to light up at times - I forget how this was addressed
    
  • Headlight burned out

My dad handwrote a complaint letter to GM corporate in 1995!

 

My best friend's mom bought a used Ford Pinto with automatic and A/C in the early 1980s, and she says her interest rate was like 18%!

I'd be embarrassed to make payments on a such a piece of shit even if it was 0% financing!

 

My Dad had an S-15, i was washing it one day and the paint was coming off in big chunks! I handwrote a letter on behalf of my Dad including pictures, about a month later he got a letter informing him to go to a GM body shop of his choice for a complete repaint.

 

I bought my first brand new car in 1988 but I honestly can't remember what kind of interest rate I had back then.

 

@disconnected
@El Duderino
@shakerhood
@Taco critter

I was talking to @ColoradoTJ about consolidating my 2016-2018 stereo install threads and the 2016 intermittent wiper install thread with this one, and he said they'd be happy to do that, so this thread is about to get a helluva lot bigger!

 

Inaugural post for this thread can be found HERE

 

@Mrtacoman88

Here is the subwoofer/amp install thread...

 

@Mrtacoman88

And here is my build thread, with which all my stereo install threads will soon be consolidated!

 

I am imagining the General Lee's Dixie horn playing...