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

June 7th 2017:

Continuation of "A Tacoma's Eye View of Doylestown." All photos taken with my Cobra dashcam...

 

June 8th, 2017:

 

June 9th, 2017:

 

June 10th, 2017:



This is just one of many little annoyances I encounter when leaving on a Friday or Saturday night...



People either don't know there is a sidewalk or do know there is a sidewalk, but refuse to use it:

 

June 11th 2017:

I'd like to dedicate this post to my Grandma, who was born June 11th, 1926 and would have been 91 years old on the date above. She died in January 2015...

Sunday in the Borough:

 

June 13th, 2017:

 

June 14th, 2017:

 

June 14th 2017:

What's that big orange beast approaching me in the opposite lane...?

It's a 1979-1980 Chevrolet K5 Blazer, and not just any K5 Blazer! It's a RARE factory 2WD Blazer! I believe they stopped making 2WD full-size Blazers somewhere in 1982-1984 (Correct me if I'm wrong?). It is identifiable as a 1979-1980 by the round headlights and rectangular marker lamps integrated into fascia/grille:


This one was in immaculate condition too! I've been photographing Chevrolet trucks regularly since 2010, and in July 2012 my external hard drive crashed and I lost photos dating back to 2009! In those first 2-3 years, I did not photograph a single 2WD full-size Blazer. It has now been just over 5 years since that fateful day, and I still have not seen one in person! I briefly ended up driver's side to driver's side with the guy in the Blazer, and I shouted out the window "Is that a factory 2WD Blazer?"

He said it was, and he was very friendly, and then traffic started moving again...


I was sooo pissed! Like I said, he seemed like a VERY nice guy, and I'm 99.9% sure he would have let me take pictures of his Blazer if I encountered him in a parking lot somewhere...

But, we were in Doylestown Borough, I was running late for work, and he probably had somewhere to be as well. I have not seen this Blazer since...

Here's to hoping I run into this guy and his Blazer again so I can get some real high-quality photos with my Nikon:

 

June 14th, 2017:




So many people and not enough parking:

 

June 14th, 2017:


And here is Doylestown Borough at it's finest...


It took about five minutes to drive one stinkin' block!










Finally!


But...wait...



The green Acura has to make a left, and there's no green arrow at this intersection!


So, we've got to slow down and go around the Acura...

And...

FINALLY...!

WE. ARE. FREE!

 

Love it.

My new air freshener

 

June 14th, 2017:



And this is what happens when you get a little excited pressing the shutter button on the dashcam:

 

A while ago, I went on a well-publicized rant right here on TW about the time I was hassled by the sergeant and 3 other officers of what was then the Doylestown Borough Police Department back in March 2013, for the high crime of taking pictures in public.

For the longest time after that, I had a bit of disdain for the police because the incident traumatized me a bit. However, that's in the past...

Fast-forward almost 3 years...

The way the Doylestown Borough police (by then the Central Bucks Regional Police Department since they consolidated with another nearby department) handled this incident played a large part in getting rid of any animosity I felt towards the Doylestown police and LEOs as a whole. That drunk idiot said I ran a stop sign, but as you will see in my other post, the police knew who was really at fault and handled things properly.

When I was a kid, I loved police cars. When I was 2 or 3, my mom bought me a large toy 9C1 Caprice (like a 1986-1990 model). It was a huge plastic car that was bigger than the typical 1:18 scale diecast model, and I loved that damn thing so much that my mom tells me I took it to bed with me.

Anyway, I have relatives who are cops. My late grandfather was a cop in Edison, NJ for at least 30 years (probably more; 1965-1996?). He retired as a lieutenant in the 1995 or 1996, and sadly he was stolen from me by lung cancer (which spread to his liver) in November 2007 less than 2 months after his 71st birthday. I was a pallbearer at his funeral. When he was still alive, he would keep me captivated with stories of his days on the force; the type of stories you just can't make up. The stories included everything from kids getting drunk or just driving like idiots and crashing their cars into ponds, right up to a gypsy clan kidnapping the daughter of one of the leaders of another gypsy clan...

If anyone doesn't think that cops are human like everybody else (capable of emotions and not robots), they need to talk to my uncle (with the same police department as my late Grandpa). He's a lieutenant as well, and one of the things that makes him so awesome is that he doesn't take the job home with him. While on duty, he does his job but is still calm and level-headed. While off-duty, he is just a normal guy. However, he is also happy to share "war stories" when asked. Again, anyone who doesn't think cops are capable of human emotions needs to talk to my uncle. One thing that gets to my uncle in particular would be victims of the heroin epidemic, especially high school kids who overdose and die before they get to truly live.

Are there bad cops out there...?

Is the Pope catholic? OF COURSE THERE ARE BAD COPS OUT THERE! The problem is that only the worst cases seem to make the news these days.

In my opinion, the stereotypical "thug with a badge and a gun" only makes up like 2-4% of the all law enforcement personnel out there (maybe even less!), with genuinely good cops who take their jobs seriously and only want to help and serve their community making up the remaining 95% or so.

I've never been arrested, but I've had a few encounters with police in my life between 2006 and 2017. None of them are what I would consider "negative," and I am not including the time I locked my keys in the Tacoma at Peddler's Village, or the times I've given statements to police after witnessing (but not being involved in) a car accident. The 2013 photography incident was nerve-wracking and borderline traumatizing, but the officers involved were all very professional, and I would not consider that encounter the least bit negative. It did piss me off though, no question...

My various encounters with police over the years combined with things I read and watched on the internet and on TV caused me to become rather annoyed with law enforcement as a whole, and as a result my dad got a bit annoyed with me...

He told me I should start saying one nice thing about police everyday, and I agree with him. I got to thinking, and I realized that police officers have never done anything but help me (often going out of their way to do so) over the years. They've also helped my family and my friends, not to mention my community and the bar where I work...

Seriously, without the police, Doylestown Borough would be a drunken hellhole!

So, what I am trying to say here is that I would be lying if I said the police did not get on my nerves sometimes, and I would also be lying if I said I didn't disagree with the tactics and policies of America's police departments, but WE NEED TO STAND BEHIND OUR POLICE! What I agree with and don't agree with does not matter here. What does matter is what this the message I'd like civilians and law enforcement like to read...

People need to stop basing their opinions of LEOs on what they see on the news, and stopping letting a few bad apples spoil a bunch! Stop thinking about the officer who made a split-second decision to use lethal force against a suspect, and think about the officers of the Chicago PD who got a child molester (a repeat offender and registered sex offender no less) off the street earlier this year. Think about the Maine police officer who pulled over a Volkswagen for a traffic violation and then saved the driver's life when he overdosed on heroin DURING the traffic stop.

I saw an episode of a reality show a while back, not COPS, but a similar show that exclusively followed the Las Vegas Metropolitan PD. A woman from somewhere in Eastern Europe (Denmark?) was vacationing in Vegas with her daughter, and like many foreign tourists from cooler climates, underestimated how hot it gets in Nevada. She collapsed from heat exhaustion right there on the Strip. Think about the cop who was first on the scene. He allowed the woman to sit in the passenger seat of his patrol car with the A/C cranked until the ambulance arrived.

And search "Cop doing burnout" on YouTube. There's a video taken at a cruise night where people are roasting the tires of their muscle cars. A cop in a marked Crown Vic shows up and everyone starts booing and "awwing" because they think the cop is going to shut the event down and start writing tickets...

Everyone including the cameraman was absolutely shocked when the cop buried the accelerator and did an impressive burnout for the crowd, proving what most car guys (and girls) already know...

A Crown Vic Police Interceptor may look look like an unassuming "Grandma Car," but with it's 4.6L modular V8 engine and positraction rear end, it really does have the heart and soul of a muscle car!

My verdict is this: Some cops are total assholes, but the vast majority are pretty cool!

I don't know how you guys (and gals) do it, but I could never be in law enforcement...

As I said before, I would be lying if I said police didn't get on my nerves, but my hat goes off to all of you...

My dad says that police are not the enemy, I agree with him, and I wish that people would open their minds and not just focus on the negative stuff.



- Charlie aka "PennSilverTaco"

 

You'd better hurry; I heard there's a wall going up.

 

That's Mexico, and I've got a valid passport...

 

I've never experienced a cooling loss on rapid acceleration. Then again I place the AC on recycle so it may help keep the temps at bay.

 

It's being built out of ice... check your radar.

 

Gonna try to meet up with @Salty_Dog at the Carlisle Truck Nationals...

Anybody else want to join?

 

July 24th, 2017:

This crazy storm blew through on Monday and turned my friend's street into a literal river!

 

I was hoping someone else would respond because I'm not very good at conveying my thoughts and feelings to words but you took alot of time to type all that so...

Thank you!