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

Had to stop at Home Cheapo and get some small (but important) parts for the stereo install this Sunday...

 

After leaving Home Cheapo (I'm calling it that not because I dislike the company or its stores, but because I don't like effectively providing free advertising for a corporation on what is supposed to be a free forum)...

 

Waiting to pull out of the shopping center...

 

Photobombed by a 5th Gen T4R and a 2nd Gen Taco (The T4R has pretty much passed me at this point)!

 

Almost home...

 

@Jamesboy2233

As you can see, my neighborhood was (and still is) a total fustercluck!

I have no idea why a school bus would be dropping off students this late, especially when school probably should have been let out early due to the weather...

 

I basically let a desire (to take pictures of trucks) cloud my better judgment and common sense...

The hard drive crash took place on July 22nd, 2012, and this particular incident took place on July 26th. It was an incredibly hot Thursday, and I was bored; So I grabbed my camera, hopped in the Tacoma, and went hunting for trucks to take pictures of...

Basically, I went to a bunch of places where I knew there were cool Chevy trucks, got permission from the proper people, and took the pictures. 100% of the people I asked said yes...

While driving through a rather sketchy part of Warminster I saw a lifted Chevy Tahoe in the parking lot of a bar, with a FOR SALE sign on it, and decided to stop on the way back since it was on the other side of the road and traffic was busy. This part of Warminster is located right on the county line. Warminster is in Bucks County, where I live. I was headed to Hatboro, which is located in adjacent Montgomery County. Basically, there were a lot of vehicles in Hatboro and the surrounding area that I'd previous gotten permission to photograph, and I was heading back to take new photos (to replace the ones I'd lost in the hard drive crash).

I am currently looking through all the photos I took that day, and I am surprised that the bar with the Tahoe out front was not my last stop. After that little fiasco, I made a right on Street Road and drove into Southampton (where I knew a couple of garage owners who'd previously let me take pictures of their trucks)...

Anyway, this green Tahoe had a FOR SALE sign on it, which in my opinion makes it much different than just another vehicle in a parking lot. If people see you closely inspecting a vehicle that is obviously for sale, peering through the windows, and even taking pictures, then they don't tend to freak out. If it's for sale, then the person selling it wants people to take a look! If someone is taking pictures of the vehicle, then they are more than likely a potential buyer who is taking pictures to show their significant other for final approval, or to show someone they k know who might actually be the interested party...

I should tell you that taking pictures of the Tahoe is not what caused a commotion here...

So, I pulled into a parking space in the front of this dive bar. Directly in front of the space where I parked my Tacoma, and so close in fact that my front bumper was practically touching it, there happened to be an old central air-conditioner I'd never seen before or even heard of (Home Air by York; There were two on the property).

Here are pictures of the Tahoe that I stopped to look at and photograph (clearly for sale)...

 

I have this mystical ability to photograph something and not think twice about it, and this has gotten me into trouble a couple times. I can literally take pictures of something while on my way to take pictures of something else, and completely forget about it moments later...

This is exactly what happened with the Subaru at Peddler's Village early this week. It was a cool-looking car, I snapped a quick picture of it, and thought nothing of it...

This is exactly what I did with regards to the York mini-split at this bar. I got out of my Tacoma, snapped a couple of pictures with my Nikon (then my first Nikon, a 2009 D3000; I'm on my third Nikon now, a D5300 purchased in the summer of 2016), and moved on to the Tahoe.

I started taking pictures of this Tahoe, and maybe three minutes later, a middle-aged woman came out of nowhere and asked "Can I help you?" She had one or two guys with her as well...

Thinking she was the owner of the Tahoe (Turns out the bar belonged to her and her husband, and the Tahoe was her daughter's; I think the rough-looking guys she had with her just happened to be the biggest drunks at the bar that afternoon, so she took them with her as backup), I told her exactly what I was doing. This is where there was a misunderstanding...

For the first couple of minutes were arguing (it hadn't gotten heated, yet...), it seemed as though this woman was upset at me for taking pictures of the Tahoe! I was repeatedly telling her that I was driving by and saw the Tahoe parked out front, that I happened to have a bit of a thing for Chevy trucks, and that since it was for sale, I didn't seem any harm in stopping for a closer look and taking some pictures.

At this point, she basically tells me that she's perfectly fine with me taking pictures of the Tahoe and demands to know why I was on the side of her building taking pictures (she'd apparently seen me get out of my Tacom and snap the pictures of the A/C unit, but didn't know what I'd taken pictures of; This rather understandably freaked her out). However, she'd been such a bitch that I wanted nothing more to do with her. My truck was right there, and she wasn't holding a gun to my head or otherwise keeping me from leaving, so my intention was just to get in the Tacoma and leave...

 

She continues screaming at me, and I immediately went on the defensive, rather afraid to tell her what I'd been taking pictures of at this point...

I forget exactly what I said to her, but while I didn't swear or call her any names, I was not very nice...

I think I told her that "Yeah, I took pictures, but I've done absolutely nothing wrong!"

At this point, she said she was going to call the police...

I promptly started freaking out, and weighed my options...

I say again, she wasn't preventing me from leaving. I came very close to just getting in the Tacoma and leaving. At the time, my truck was 100% stock and looked identical to the other half-dozen or so silver Tacoma RCs I'd seen driving around the area. The time stamp on all the photos I have of the Tahoe shows a time of 11:02am. It wasn't even noon yet! Traffic would not have been horrible, and I probably would have been at home, in my basement, playing video games by the time the cops showed up (if they showed up at all). I didn't live in that area, she didn't have my name, and the truck wasn't even registered to me at the time (that last detail would have been if she'd had the presence of mind to get my license plate number, which I know she hadn't). Looking for me or my truck would have been impossible...

I had a choice to make...

 

One thing I hate more than people like that woman who overreact over the pettiest of bullshit, is people who think less of me as a result of something stupid I did...

So I said "Hey, wait a minute," stopped her at the door, apologized for my behavior, and explained exactly what I'd been doing.

I basically told this woman that I had in fact seen the Tahoe parked there while driving, and stopped to take pictures of it. The air-conditioner, I told her, was a secondary thing. I explained my interest (obsession) with HVAC equipment, especially central air-conditioners and especially vintage central air-conditioners. I told her that I'd never seen a "Home Air by York" before, and I just wanted to snap a quick picture so I could look closer at it later and do some research into the model. Her demeanor changed immediately, she apologized too, and unsurprisingly she saw absolutely no harm in what I'd done! She didn't even berate me for having a "weird hobby." She gruffly told me to "ask permission next time" and said she'd see if her husband would be okay with me actually filming it at a later date (I never followed up on that). I got in my truck and left, and even after she'd gone back inside, one of her barfly cronies stared me down until I'd driven off...

I'd been planning to hang out with my friend that day anyway, so in a show of solidarity, we went back and ordered wings from their takeout menu. The service and wings were both so-so in my opinion, and while I drive past the place (called Fritz's) from time to time, I've never been back...

 

Nope

 

You think they'll rust then?

 

I’m certainly not an expert, but it seems to me (Historical Tacoma frame issues aside) that newer cars do pretty well, in terms of major components, in the salty Northest. It’s the stuff in between that starts to break and vehicles here start to nickel and dime you to death. For sure you can keep them on the road, it’s actually just a matter of a persons tolerance level. I like to keep cars for a long time but there is a point where I’d rather just go new again. So I guess my statement on your decades question was geared more towards my preferences. If you take care of a vehicle 20 years isn’t out of the question. Hell, my wife’s last truck was 12 when we sold it, that was 4 years ago and it’s still being driven locally.

 

And then look at the Puck van...

That's 19 years old and still being driven by the new owner!

 

Charlie I truly fear for your safety, and one these days someone is going to take it further than you would like my friend...

 

That was 6 years ago...

Don't do shit like that anymore.

After this Subaru incident last week, it's gonna be hard, but I'm gonna stop...

I can understand why people get suspicious and want to ask questions when I take pictures of their vehicle, but I still can't figure out why a lot of them are so psychotic...

 

Where's the pics of the interior?