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

Meanwhile I’m switching from nfabs to crappy tube steps coz my 5’4” wife hates the nfabs. She wants a wider stepping area.

 

Well damn that sucks

 

What was your first car again, before the Pinto?

 

How tall is your wife?

 

5’5”

 

My boss is 5'3" and I let her drive my truck once, with me in the passenger seat...

My knees were touching the dashboard!

 

You quoted the wrong person

 

@Plain Jane Taco

Bill, I forget...

What was your first car before the Pinto again?

 

February 27th, 2018:

Gotta love random road closures!

 

February 27th, 2018:

All that just to grab a spot on the other side of the street...

 

February 27th, 2018:

I wondered why the hell this guy was getting out of his car in the middle of the road, and then he reached around to the windshield and I realized he must have gotten a parking ticket...

I've been in that situation before. I hopped in my truck to go home after a night on the town (I probably had one or two beers the whole night), and I did see the parking ticket tucked under the windshield wiper until I'd driven a couple blocks...

 

While driving out to Lahaska to take the "Dead and Dying Retail" pictures at Penn's Purchase earlier today, I spotted a Ferrari 360 Spider making a left turn onto York Road in Buckingham Township (circled in red)!

 

I've developed an interest in taking pictures of vacant/dying retail establishments recently, and this is my latest endeavor...

People of TW (especially those who don't live in Southeastern Pennsylvania or South Jersey and haven't heard of these places), I'd like to introduce you to the Penn's Purchase outlet center, which is located next to the glorified tourist trap known as Peddler's Village. Penn's Purchase opened for business in the late 1980s if I remember correctly, and while it initially turned a profit, it was was that successful. It has changed hands numerous times, being owned by two or three management companies in the last three decades. One of these corporations lost the property to foreclosure a few years ago, and one of the buildings recently COLLAPSED in 2016! Some of the stores still remain open for business (Coach, G.H. Bass, and Gymboree, to name a few), but most of the spaces seem to be vacant. The cars filling the front parking lot give the illusion of the place doing well, but as you drive further back, the property is eerily deserted).


Penn's Purchase coming up on the right...




About to make the right turn into the outlet center...

 

The first thing you see when you drive into Penn's Purchase is the Coach outlet...




As you can see, there are lights on inside the Villagio Italian Restaurant, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is open for business...

I don't think the Old Farmer's Almanac General Store is open...



See all those York heat pumps coming up on the left? Almost 7 years ago (2011; My first summer as a licensed driver), I would drive out here and just wander around with my camera taking pictures. I made a video of just about every heat pump on this property and nobody ever knew, but I ended up emailing the property manager after I'd already made the videos (long story), asking for permission (again, long story), and being asked to remove the HVAC videos from YouTube (I should have just kept my mouth shut).

As I said, this whole place was built in about 1987, and most of the heat pumps on the property are York Stellar Series models from the 1980s, which proves how durable these units really are. These five old beasts more than likely still work, but have probably been sitting dormant for a few years due to the outlet's financial issues...





Brooks Brothers on the left, with signs out from advertising merchandise at 80% off the original price. Even at an outlet store, this is a definite sign that the wolves are at the door...



I am 99% sure that most of the buildings down this way are vacant. The parking lot, empty except for that blue Grand Marquis, is empty...




That buildings directly ahead are completely vacant (there's probably more than a half-dozen good-sized retail spaces there, all vacant)!

 

Up ahead, you can start to see where the building that collapsed once stood (the building was demolished sometime in 2016; note the chain-link fence)...




To the left, more vacant retail space...




And to the right, nothing remains of the building the collapsed but a fenced-in slab...

I read about this a while back and I am happy to report that nobody was injured, as it was in the wee hours of the morning and nobody was there. I do not remember exactly what caused the building to collapse, other than that it was some sort of structural failure. If I remember correctly, only the roof collapsed, but the damage so severe that they tore it down. I drove here back in 2016 to check it out, and I took a few pictures, which can possibly be found in this thread. Most notably, the HVAC equipment was among the few things from the building worth salvaging. When I drove through to check things out back in 2016, the physical structure was long gone and the debris had been cleared. However, there were three or four heat pumps, all of which I had filmed back in 2011, closed in by a makeshift fence enclosure in the parking lot. The heat pumps are long gone as well, and at least two of them were newer units, so I'm hoping they were reused elsewhere...




This parking lot still sees extensive use when adjacent Peddler's Village has big events, so it is kept in good condition. However, it still eerie seeing it totally deserted on a sunny weekday afternoon with temperatures in the 50s...








Looking back at the complex from the other side of the parking lot (most photos were taken from inside the truck; some were taken with the dashcam and some, like this one, were taken with my iPhone...




Note the security camera on top of that building...

This building was most certainly not vacant back in the summer of 2011, when I filmed the heat pumps. One dead giveaways would be that it was well past 90°F on the day I filmed the heat pumps, and all of the A/C units were running (including the ones at the building that ended up collapsing; Why would you waste electricity by run the A/C if nobody was inside?). Another dead giveaway was that this back parking lot was practically full. Unless that camera is a fake or there was nobody actually monitoring the screens inside that day, I have no idea how I didn't get caught. I was young and stupid back then, and in the summer of 2012 I actually did get busted for filming a vintage (1969-1973) General Electric central air-conditioner at a Catholic church because the church had a CCTV system I didn't know about and and one of the maintenance guys happened to be watching it. I was able to talk my way out of that situation though, and six years later, the video is still on YouTube!








Here are some more pictures of the demolished building that I took with my phone...




About to make a right and drive past the former site of the building that collapsed, in the opposite direction...




That building up there at the top of this slightly inclined street is a Gymboree, which I think is still in business...





With the exception of the Gymboree, all of these buildings are vacant...

 

Here's the Gymboree building, which I initially thought was vacant, but wasn't so sure after getting a closer look and seeing that there were lights on inside. I snapped this quick picture with my iPhone, but I didn't want to stick around in the interest of not looking like a pedo...

As you can see in the picture below, this building sporting four heat pumps. It's a mixture of three newer units and one original York Stellar Series. Closest to me is what appear to be your typical builder-grade Lennox residential/light commercial unit, next to the Lennox is the only remaining original York of the four units, and two newer York commercial units...



This place is located directly across from Gymboree. I have no idea what store used to be here, but as you can see there are still some display racks and a very ornate-looking lamp inside...

 

Heading back up to the entrance for a second lap...

 

My parents and I actually ate at this place five or six years ago. It was a pizza place then, and I thought the food was good, but the place seems to have been closed for years...

 

The building with the five original York heat pumps again (this time photographed with my phone)...