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

@Iamraiderpower

These pictures were sent to me by a fellow YouTuber (he lives in Arkansas and his mom, who lives in Texas, inherited the truck from his late father; Hence the Texas plates). The date on the photos is August 14th, 2011, but I have no idea how accurate this is. The photos were taken at the owner's house in Texarkana...

 

@Iamraiderpower

This is one of the most well-maintained GMT400s I've ever seen, but at the same time it makes no sense! Obviously, the truck is black...

At the same time, it does not have air-conditioning! I assumed for the longest time, based on the fact that it was so stripped-down, that it had either the 4.3L V6 or 5.0L V8. However, I do believe I ran the license plate through CARFAX and found out that it came from the factory with 5.7L/350cid V8 (whatever engine this truck has, it's Vortec and not TBI, as evidenced by the fact that this truck has dual airbags which would make it at least a 1997). It is also a 5-speed stick shift! I've seen quite a few 1995-newer GMT400 regular cab pickups that came from the factory without A/C, but this is the first extra-cab (of any trim) that I've ever seen without A/C! This truck had to have been a special order. It seems as though the original owner literally ordered a GMC Sierra C1500 with no options. By default, all GMT400s of this era came with an AM/FM stereo, which this one has (no cassette or CD). I have never seen power windows and locks on a Chevy C/K with Cheyenne trim or a GMC Sierra with SL trim. Cruise control and tilt steering were available on the base models, and it's not hard to find a well-equipped example, but this one does not have those options...


August 1st, 2015:

Macungie, Pennsylvania

 

A lot of the car shows I got to don't charge a fee for spectators to get in, but it seems that all but the smaller cruise nights charge anywhere from a dollar to more than twenty dollars for people showing their vehicle. Some even have the gall to charge an additional fee if there are more than two adults in a show vehicle.

I've only ever truly shown my Taco at the Carlisle Truck Nationals. They charge $50 for non-judged and $65 for judged, if I remember correct. This is a little high, but totally worth it in my opinion. Both $50 and $65 passes get you access to the show for the entire weekend, and you are allowed to drive your vehicle around in designated areas. This was a lifesaver in 2016, when it was well over 90 degrees and I was able to drive around in the air-conditioned comfort of my Tacoma. This thread is NOT about Carlisle, which I consider to be the exception to the rule.

The annual Doylestown Road Angels show, held every year in July on the grounds of the Moravian Tileworks/Fonthill museum, is another exception. I have not missed that show once since 2009, and the entrance fee of $5 has been the same for almost 9 years!

 

I will start with the show vehicle owner's point of view...

A local group called the Good Time Motorvators holds cruise nights at the Dairy Queen on Route 309 in Quakertown one Sunday every month from April through October. I have been going to these since 2013. Like most of the smaller shows, it's free for spectators. However, Good Time Motorvators charges a $1 entrance fee to people showing vehicles, with all proceeds going to either the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia or Children's Miracle Network (I forget which one). These are both very good causes, and I've donated some of my spare change at the Dairy Queen cruise night before...

A few years back, I had the opportunity to chat with one of the guys who runs these cruise nights. He said that they (Good Time Motorvators) promise the charity a certain amount of money. If they don't earn that amount of money between April and October, they donate the difference out of pocket. This guy told me that some people didn't feel like paying the $1 entrance fee, and because the people running the show printed the information slips on paper of the same color, people were able to slip through the cracks. They finally got wise to this and started printing the information slips on different colored paper every month so they could expose the cheapskates. Needless to say, people stopped trying to get around that meager fee...

I also talked with an older couple who had pristine 1970s Ford Country Squire wagon, this time at a show in Perkasie. These were not "rich/entitled/snobby/whatever" people. They told me that they donated heavily to various charities every year, purely out of the goodness of their hearts, and they actually went out of their way to avoid certain shows that charged an entrance fee and claimed to donate it to charity. They gave two very good reasons, too. First, and most importantly, any organization running a car show or similar event can claim the proceeds are going to charity but keep the money for themselves. Second of all, car shows used to be much cheaper (or free) for everyone.

 

And now, the event organizers' point of view...

A perfect example would be various events held at Macungie Memorial Park in the town of the same name (Macungie, Pennsylvania). The two events I attend regularly are the Antique Truck Club of America show in June, and the Das Awscht Fescht in August. The latter typically falls on the same weekend as the Carlisle Truck Nationals, and I spent the whole weekend in Carlisle in 2017, sp I have not been to Das Awscht Fescht since 2016. I don't think I will go back, either. Read on...

The ATCA show does not charge an admission for spectators, though they do post volunteers at all major entrances to collect donations that supposedly benefit the park. In June 2014, I went to a cruise night at Macungie Memorial Park. It was called "Wheels of Time," and it was actually a damn good show. If I remember correctly, there was no entrance fee for spectators, but everyone had to pay a certain amount to park their vehicle on the grounds. The way I remember it is that there was nobody watching the gate, so I simply parked my Tacoma, walked in, and left without ever having to pay. What stood out to me is that there was a sign posted at the show vehicle entrance (and written by the people running the show, not anyone working for the park). I don't remember what it said word-for-word, but it basically said that all vehicles had to pay a fee, and that basically this was the decision of park and not the people running the car show. They apologized for the inconvenience. So...What does that tell you?!?! If I didn't know any better, I'd say that they'd had more than a few pissed off classic car owners who either or took out their frustrations on people running the show who had absolutely nothing to do with the implementation of this fee, and/or they just turned around and left...

 

Damn that’s clean

 

I'm trying to talk my wife into buying a Camry to replace her crusty old Corolla. After a few days driving it, have you found anything that you dislike about it?

 

Other than the fact that it's not a pickup truck...

NOPE!

 

All of the stuff about the van show was copy/pasted from my Aspergers Thread...

To date, I have never encountered anything like what I encountered at the Keystone Madness van show, at least in terms of how I was initially treated by the event staff!

How it all started: A guy showing his customized 1977 Dodge van at Doylestown at Dusk last July told me about Keystone Madness. About two weeks prior to the event, I emailed a couple of people whose names were listed on the official website, specifically a woman named Paris who pretty much runs the whole event, and a guy called Jimbo. There is nothing identifying Keystone Madness as a "private event" on the website or either of the two PDF flyers for the 2017 event that Jimbo sent me. Jimbo and Paris were very nice, by the way. I told Paris that I'd never been to a "van-exclusive" event before and I really wanted to go to one, primarily for the purpose of photographing custom vans. She introduced herself as the gate supervisor, told me I was basically more than welcome to come, and that she looked forward to meeting in person. She told me that the cost for regular spectators to get in was $10. I emailed Paris again, the day before I planned on driving up to Schuylkill County, just to confirm the address of the Schuylkill County Fairgrounds where the event was being held. Unlike Carlisle, where there are hotels aplenty just minutes from the fairgrounds, Keystone Madness is literally in the middle of scenic nowhere (It is in fact very scenic, but very much in the middle of nowhere). I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and turn the trip into a visit with my grandmother. I'd drive up to Grammy's place in Bethlehem and spend the night, while also getting a nice visit with Grammy in, and then drive up to Schuylkill first thing the next morning. My cousin drove down to visit as well, as mentioned in my previous post.

Before 9am, I hopped in my Tacoma, punched the address into the GPS, and hit the road. I did encounter road work-induced traffic that delayed me by maybe 10-15 minutes, but the trip went great otherwise. The GPS guidance ended at a clearly marked entrance to the fairgrounds, but the entranced was locked up tight and the fairgrounds looked deserted. I drove past thinking there was another entrance just ahead. No such luck. I ended up pulling over practically into someone's yard (Shoulders? What shoulders? ), where I punched the address for the fairgrounds into my iPhone. The iPhone took me to the same spot, and I was wondering what the hell I was going to do until I saw a custom van make a right into another entrance before the thoroughly barricaded main entrance that I'd missed. The difficulty I had finding the event was my first clue of what eventually occurred...

So, I made a left where the custom van had made a right, and a dirt road quickly took me to an area apparently filled with spectator vehicles, plus a 1976-1977ish Chevrolet G-series "Nomad" van parked all by itself. I immediately parked my truck and got out to take pictures, then got back in the truck and drove up to the main entrance...

 

How I almost DID NOT get into the Keystone Madness van show: There were three men who I would classify as "stereotypical vanners" at the entrance. I rolled down my window and politely asked "Where is the spectator parking?" One of the men gruffly responded by saying "There is no spectator parking." I didn't know if he was joking, but I think I said something like "This is the van show, isn't it?" Some arguing and bickering took place and these guys were becoming increasingly more hostile and pissed off, most notably an older guy with a beard. One of them said "This is a private event." Another, in a tone that said "Are you retarded or something?" said "I don't know how we can make it any clearer." I quickly realized that they were not joking, but I was absolutely dumbfounded, and also about to lose my shit with these guys. There was absolutely nothing on the website or the PDF flyers I'd gotten in the email from "Jimbovanner" stating that this was a private event or otherwise not open to the public. The only stipulation that stood out to me was that cars were not allowed on the show grounds. My mind was racing, and I was seriously about to give these guys a not-very-friendly piece of my mind. After all, I'd been told by the gate supervisor that I could come in...

That's it! All I could think was, "Paris will sort this out!" I said something like "I've been communicating with Paris so-and-so via email for the last couple weeks, and she said that I could get in for ten bucks."

I can honestly say that I have never seen anybody change their attitude so quickly. This trio of guys went from looking like they were ready to chase me off the property with shotguns to being borderline nice and saying "Paris is in the shower right now" followed by something along the lines of "We'll talk to her ASAP and confirm your story."

NOTE: These guys did not have any weapons that I could see, and certainly no shotguns or firearms of any kind; However, the overall vibe I got from them until I named-dropped Paris was that they were ready to either chase me off the property or throw down right there, seemingly because I was a vanless outsider and not "one of them." This is the first time anything like this had ever happened to me at any kind of car show or similar event.

I parked my truck, expecting Paris to take a long time in the shower, and called my dad to explain what was going on and get some advice on how to proceed. Before my dad could answer, one of the three guys from the near-confrontation appeared at the gate and motioned for me to come in. I hung up the phone, got out of the truck, and walked up to the gate. I was immediately met with profuse apologies from all three men. Paris had gotten out of the shower and confirmed my story, though she had yet to make an appearance. I paid $10 and had to fill out an entry form as if I were entering my vehicle in the show (including my home address; never had to do that to enter a show as a mere spectator... Weird).

The guys made up for their initial hostility and rudeness by being friendly and respectful for the rest of the time I was there. I actually asked point-blank why they'd been so rude with me at first, and "Dimples," the older man with the beard who along with Paris was pretty much in charge of the whole event, attributed it to lack of sleep. The other two guys likened it to a simple misunderstanding, but while they were rude at first they did apologize. I told "Dimples" exactly why I'd come there. I told him about my Chevy truck "Like a Rock" tribute videos, and how I had plenty of photos of pickup trucks and SUVs, but not many vans. I told him how I felt that vans were on the verge of being "underrepresented" in my videos, and how I wanted nothing more than to get some pictures of vans in their "natural habitats." That statement made Dimples' day, and he said "Thanks, I appreciate that." I also told him that I lived in the Philadelphia suburbs, and I'd driven about 40 minutes to my Grandma's house in Bethlehem where I'd spent the night, and then gotten up at the crack of dawn and driven more than an hour up to Schuylkill from my Grandma's. That immediately triggered remorse on the part of Dimples and the other two guys. Dimples was adamant about the unwritten car show rule of "Look but don't touch" and said that owners of the particularly nice custom vans could get very protective if cameras (specifically my Nikon D5300 SLR with it's huge 18-270 Tamron lens) got too close for comfort to their vehicle's paintwork.

Even though Dimples was very polite for the rest of the time I was there (I did bump into him a couple times over the course of the day), he seemed to come up with excuse after excuse as to why they didn't let just anybody into the event. I later found out from other attendees (including Paris herself when I finally did meet her) that this was not an isolated incident. Dimples was very weary of "newcomers" because he worried, among other things, that they basically wouldn't respect the old school vannin' lifestyle. I heard stories about not just enthusiasts like myself getting turned away at the gate, but a specific story about a couple of veteran vanners (a married couple actually in a van) being denied entry at the gate because Dimples didn't like the husband. They ultimately ended up gaining entry when a more level-headed member of the event staff (I think it was Paris again) intervened. Several veteran vanners told me that their lifestyle was dying out, because many of the guys (and girls) who helped get it started were getting old and, well, dying out. Like just about everything else in the world, the vannin' community is negatively affected by internal drama and individual stubbornness, among other things.

Paris pretty much said that one key element of the vannin' lifestyle was camping and relaxing with other vanners... Just gathering around the campfire at night to swap stories and play music (or probably picking the van with the best sound system and putting The Who or Pink Floyd in the cassette player if nobody was "musically inclined") while passing a joint around. I agree with her fully, and not just because I am very much in favor of marijuana being legalized nationwide for recreational use. I don't smoke myself (I won't lie; I have tried it, but that was years ago), but I know a lot of people who do, and I think weed should just be legal...

Scroll down for more on the van show...

 

My overall opinion of the van show: Everyone at the show was very nice, though a couple of people were rather abrasive, serious, and upfront about asking how I found out about this show. Like I said before, it's no coincidence that the entrance was relatively difficult to find. Keystone Madness is not intended to be a traditional "show." It is a safe and secluded place for vanners to bring their vans, swap stories, and reminisce about the good old days. Once Dimples and the other two guys realized Paris had basically invited me to come and apologized for being so hostile and rude, I never once felt unwelcome by anybody, but I did get an overall vibe that this was supposed to be an "off-the-beaten-path" private oasis for the vannin' community.

Regardless, I'd say my overall opinion of Keystone Madness is "good to very good." I am probably not going to go there anytime in the near future because for starters, it is quite a hike compared to other shows I've been too (surpassed only by Carlisle in terms of how long it takes to drive there from my parents' house). While everyone was very friendly once I got past the little misunderstanding, part of me is a bit worried there might be a similar misunderstanding if I were to go again this year, and it would be the van show equivalent of a certain 1993 film starring Bill Murray.

Within the first 30-40 minutes after I walked through the gate, a woman personally invited me to another van event in the Virginia Beach area (I have family in Norfolk so if I'd happened to visit them it would work out well) in November, after I told her why I was there. Sadly, I wasn't able to go (even though I really wanted to).

That wasn't even the first noteworthy encounter of the day, either...

Within 15 minutes or so paying my $10 spectator fee, I encountered a group of guys who all owned 1980s-1990s Chevrolet G-series vans and starting shooting the breeze with them about said vans. As is usually the case with just about every owner of a GM truck (or van) I start chatting with about the specs of their vehicles, these guys seemed to be quite impressed that I knew what I knew. While I was admiring a green 1993 Chevrolet G20 conversion van, I smelled the unmistakable aroma of something other than tobacco. I was expecting this event to basically be Woodstock with vans from the very beginning, before I even went, so it didn't surprise me in the slightest that these guys were lightin' up before 10am. I work at a bar, I've been to plenty of concerts, and some of my good friends are veteran stoners. The whole marijuana subculture doesn't bother me in the slightest, and like I said above, weed should be legal for recreational use in this country...

One thing that I wondered on the way there would be whether I'd be invited to smoke. My question was answered...

After all of these guys had taken their turn, they immediately started coughing and one of them who wasn't coughing looked at me and held up the biggest joint I'd ever seen (rigged up to a hollowed-out pen; gotta love redneck ingenuity). I politely declined, saying that I had to drive home, and also stating that seeing all of them coughing their lungs up after taking a hit didn't exactly make it look attractive. One of the guys actually agreed with me. I shot the shit these guys for a bit longer, and took some pictures of the aforementioned green Chevy van for my tribute videos before continuing on my way...

At Carlisle just this past August, I did pudding shots with the other Tacoma owners two days in a row. At the 2014 U.S. Diesel Truckin' Nationals at Raceway Park (first time I went), I started talking with a couple guys from Connecticut who'd driven their 2001ish Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins all the way down to New Jersey just for the one-day show. Within minutes, the owner of the truck was opening a cooler in the bed of the truck, pulling out two ice cold bottles of beer for him and his friend, and asking me if I wanted one. I politely declined (I had to drive over an hour back to Pennsylvania, and alcohol is technically prohibited on the grounds of Raceway Park; Officials just look the other way as long as people behave). Needless to say, it's a very good thing when someone you've just met buys your drink at a bar, or offers you a beer from their personal stash at an even like a car show. It's their way of saying "I like you. Wanna stay and chill with me/us for a bit?"

That said, I have to say that I am flattered about being offered weed within minutes of meeting a group of people at the van show...

Please check out the "Car Porn" thread for more pictures I took at the van show!

 

The ATCA show is free for spectators (no admission), but if you drive you should expect to pay unless you know somebody who lets you park on their property for free (This is one of the reasons I never have to pay for parking in Doylestown, but obviously I do not know anybody in Macungie). Macungie Memorial Park is plunked in the middle of a large residential area, so quite a few of the showgoers are able to walk. For the last four years or so, I've been paying $5 to park on the grounds of the Macungie Volunteer Fire Department, and I could not be happier. The firefighters are very friendly and have been nice enough to let me take pictures of their trucks (both the fire trucks and their personal trucks). On at least two occasions, they've let me use the restroom inside the firehouse so I wouldn't have to take a dump in a port-a-potty, and the fire station is literally right across the street from the park. There is a crosswalk there that is manned by the Fire Police for the duration of the show, so you know you will be safe when crossing the street!

So yeah, the firefighters and other people who are otherwise associated with the Macungie Volunteer Fire Department are pretty awesome!

The ATCA show has also historically been awesome. The Das Awscht Fescht is also pretty damn good, but they charge a fee of like $10 to get in. The last time I went (2016), I asked why Das Awscht Fescht cost money but the ATCA show did. The person taking money rather abrasively told me that "this was not the ATCA show." No shit, Sherlock! Ugh...

 

I would suggest trying out an Accord too. I haven’t driven new accords or camrys, but historically accord has been more refined and a bit more fun to drive.

 

Nitpicking can go both ways

 

The one thing I DO NOT miss about living in the Keystone State - FN snow.

Christmas Eve 1978 there was no snow on the ground. Around 6pm, started to snow. We played football for another hour and went inside to eat. Went to leave my aunt’s house about 2am and there was over 2 feet of snow. The nearest town was 5 miles north in a valley and only got 5 or 6 inches of snow.

I have more to the story but have to get back to work.

 

But you live in Illinois...

 

Here's one I forgot about! I spotted it in the parking lot of an apartment complex near my aunt and uncle's house during my recent pre-Christmas visit...


December 23rd, 2017:

Norfolk, Virginia

 

Another goddamn spam text!

 

I was born in PA and moved to OH in 1985 and to IL in 1996.

 

No, the point I'm trying to make is that the snow in Illinois is bad.

I'd never buy a used Tacoma from there, unless it had a frame replacement and the seller took really good care of it!