PennSilverTaco's Aspergers (and general BS) thread!

My friend's 1794 again!


April 24th, 2018:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

@Marty McFly

Marty's off-road toy!

This '94 pickup belongs to a guy a who went to the same college as me, and he entered his truck in a show last weekend...

A cop pulled him for "not having doors" even though he has the tube doors, and had the nerve to write him a $150 ticket. He paid the ticket, decided to just take his chances, and leaves the doors off. He only puts the regular doors back on when he brings the truck to get inspected and during the winter...

Fight PennDOT bureaucracy!


April 28th, 2018:

Colmar, Pennsylvania

 

Is a table dance anything like a lap dance?

 

Say whaaa

I want it

 

Keep in mind that this truck came from the factory without air-conditioning, so you'd have to install A/C yourself! My uncle removed a complete A/C system from a wrecked 1994 extra cab and installed in his non-A/C 1991 regular cab (both were 2.4L/5-speed trucks)...

It does, however, have intermittent wipers and tilt wheel!

 

And no, the owner's name is not actually Marty...

I just think it looks like a newer version of one Martin Seamus McFly's truck from the movie!

 

For some reason, this black Tundy has a emissions sticker that was just issued this month (good through April 2019), but the safety inspection sticker expired in December 2017...


May 4th, 2018:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

My Taco and the bar owner's Tundy 1794!


May 11th, 2018:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

@Marty McFly
@4x4_Angel
@Sunnier

Got a bug deflector for my Taco!

 

Looks good. For me that would be a 'rock deflector'....

 

looks good

 

May 26th, 2018:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

I had a dentist appointment today and this '06 crew cab pulled into the parking lot as I was leaving. I know the year because I asked the owner...


May 29th, 2018:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

May 29th, 2018:

Morrisville, Pennsylvania

 

2003 AC SR5 4x4 with 203K miles. Originally from Texas and owned by an oil/fracking person who drove 200 miles to work each way; currently owned by a local school bus driver...


June 1st, 2018:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

Super White 2nd Gen AC SR5; I'm unsure if it's a 4x4, but I'm 99% sure it has the smaller V8 due to the lack of "5.7L" badging; Second picture is with the flash and first is without...


June 1st, 2018:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

June 2nd, 2018:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

June 6th, 2018:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

June 12th, 2018

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

@4x4_Angel
@Marty McFly
@Sunnier

Old picture from more than 8 years ago!


February 2010:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

Here's a pic of my truck, in the driveway of my parents' old house, when it was just a few months old!

 

She's all nice and shiny pre mods! Very cool Charile

 

@4x4_Angel
@Marty McFly

I am going to start copy/pasting posts from the TW thread to here...

 

ORIGINAL POST FROM ORIGINAL THREAD:

My name is Charlie, and I was born in Northern California on March 14, 1989. I've been living in Bucks County, Pennsylvania since July 2005. I am the proud owner of a 2010 Toyota Tacoma regular cab 2WD (5-lug) that my dad bought brand new for me as a present of sorts when I finally got my learner's permit in 2009. The truck has been paid off for more than five years at this point, the title is in my name, and I pay for the insurance and most of the maintenance, so yes, this is MY truck.

I also have Asperger's Syndrome, which is a high-functioning form of autism. Some people who know a lot about autism spectrum disorders can tell that I'm on the spectrum, but the vast majority are shocked when I tell them I have it. I was diagnosed in 1998 at the age of 9.

People are surprised because many of them lump all people with autism into one perceived stereotype, and are shocked that someone who is on the spectrum can do all the stuff that I've done. I have a driver's license, a college degree, a good job, and a ton of friends. When I hang out with my guy friends (some AS, some not), we do the same things a bunch of bros without AS would do. We get drunk, go to strip clubs, talk about cars and women, and happily engage in locker room talk about sex and bodily functions when there are no adults or women present. Some AS people I know are very socially awkward when it comes to romantic relationships and life in general. I won't go into explicit detail (literally or figuratively) on a public forum, but I can proudly say I've had quite a bit of fun with various women over the years. Yes, I have made out with a girl in my Tacoma before, but it didn't go beyond that.

Obviously, since I own a Tacoma, I know how to drive and thus have a driver's license. I also know how to drive a stick shift! This is something that none of my friends with AS who have driver's licenses, and only a few of my friends who don't have AS, can do!

I have four close friends with Aspergers, and three of them have driver's licenses and their own vehicles. Sadly, none of them have trucks of any kind. Two drive 4-door sedans, and one has a 5-door hatchback. The 4th one is working towards FINALLY getting his learner's permit. I told my friend that when he gets his permit, I would take him to the DMV course after hours and teach him how to parallel park in my truck.

I got my learner's permit when I was 20, in August 2009. My dad bought the Tacoma in September 2009. In 2011, at the age of 22, I finally took the driving test in my Tacoma. I failed the first time because I couldn't parallel park correctly, and finally passed it on the third try in May 2011.

Anyway, I have wheels and a license. I also graduated from Bucks County Community College with an associate's degree in journalism. I actually plan on becoming an HVAC technician, but even now, I am still not 100% what I want to do for a career.

Right now, I have a great job at a bar/restaurant/music venue, owned by a friend of mine. I started out as a regular customer back in 2010, then made friends with the owner. A new general manager was hired in 2011, right around the time I got my driver's license. My Tacoma played an indirect role in my first meeting with my future boss (a story for another day, available upon request). If you'd told me ten years ago I'd be working at a bar and actually kind of enjoying it, I'd laugh at you. I started out as the general manager's personal assistant and errand runner, and then after about a year of working at Puck, I was put on the books as a barback. For those who don't know, a bar back is bartender's assistant who also performs duties like bussing tables, cleaning bathrooms, and picking up various bar supplies. It's not glamorous, but it beats the shit out of retail! Barbacking is my only job right now, so I can pretty much be available at a moment's notice. I am lifelong fan of Chevy trucks and hope to own one someday in addition to my beloved Tacoma, but my Tacoma is also much better for navigating congested streets and narrow alleyways of Doylestown than a full-size Silverado.

It's worth noting that the "powers that be" recently lumped all autism spectrum disorders together in the DSM5 and did away with Asperger's Syndrome as a diagnosis. I do not agree with this, especially since autism can go hand in hand with other intellectual disabilities and mental problems!

Interests of mine include photography, writing (obviously), Chevy and GMC trucks, Rolls-Royce motorcars, dogs, women, building LEGO models, binge-watching South Park on Hulu, and so much more!

I have recently developed an interest in postwar Rolls-Royce and Bentley motorcars, and dream of owning one someday (preferably a 1979 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith II, a 1986 Rolls-Royce Camargue, or a 1992 Bentley Continental R)!

Anyway, I have Asperger's and I drive a Tacoma. I'm wondering if anyone else out there is like me.

I am also on the following forums:

TacomaWorld.co,

4Runners.com

AstroSafari.com

hvac-talk.com

 

My dad's first 4-wheel drive vehicle was a 1993 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer 2-door, Midnight Black with a light gray cloth interior. It had the mid-level Tahoe trim and was pretty much loaded. My dad bought the Blazer brand new from what was then Lafferty Chevrolet-GEO in June 1993. Lafferty is located in Warminster, Pennsylvania, and is still in business! My dad traded a 1992 Dodge Dakota LE for the Blazer, and just bought one off the lot instead of ordering it. My dad has NEVER ordered a vehicle, because he insists that it's easier to get a good deal by buying off the lot. As is usually the case when buying off the lot, my dad had to compromise. The sticker price was over twenty grand, and my dad got them down to like $18,000 (this does not include what he got for the 1-year old Dodge Dakota he traded for it).

My dad actually found the original window sticker while we were moving out of our old house in late 2015-early 2016, and I realized it actually did not have the most desirable options list. My dad's Blazer had a preferred equipment group (which saved money compared to buying certain options individually). This preferred equipment group included air-conditioning, intermittent wipers/tilt wheel (driver's convenience package), cruise control, power windows and locks (operating convenience package), AM/FM stereo w/cassette, alloy wheels, and some other random stuff. It also had the Enhanced Powertrain Package, which consisted of a more powerful version of the 4.3L V6 and a 4-speed automatic transmission. It did have 4-wheel drive and 3.42 gears, but it did not have the locking rear differential or the Trailering Special Package. My dad had a trailer hitch installed at UHAUL and used the Blazer to tow our small motorboat without a problem. Despite having an open non-posi rear, the fact that the Blazer was a 4x4 made up for it. My dad's Blazer was very nice, but problems started manifesting themselves within the first week he owned the damn thing!

A week after my dad bought the Blazer, with just 260 miles on the odometer, the air-conditioner quit working. Actually, that's an understatement...
My dad got in the Blazer to go to work one morning, and it was June so it was fairly hot. He turned on the A/C, and at the moment a seal blew on the orifice tube. The system purged itself of Freon and a white cloud of R-12 came into the cabin through the windshield defogger vents on top of the dash. My dad was pissed and immediately took the Blazer back to Lafferty. Since it was a week-old vehicle with less than 300 miles, the warranty covered all costs. The bad seal was replaced and the system recharged. When my dad picked up the Blazer that same afternoon, the A/C was blowing cold.

At some point between 1993 and 1994, the Blazer developed a squeaking noise that drove my dad crazy. After taking it into the dealership again, it was discovered that the tailgate had been installed incorrectly AT THE FACTORY! The tailgate was removed and installed properly, once again under warranty.

The clearcoat started peeling off the alloy wheels in late 1993 or early 1994, and all four wheels were replaced under warranty.

In May 1994, 11 months after my dad bought this Blazer BRAND NEW, the air-conditioner blew a seal in the orifice tube AGAIN. Again the Blazer went back to the dealer and again all parts and labor were covered under warranty. The A/C in the Blazer never gave us anymore trouble for the remaining 2 years my dad owned it.

At about 28,000 miles (forget whether it was 1994 or 1995), all four brakes wore out. Like most vehicles at the time, the Blazer had front disc and rear drum brakes. My 2010 Tacoma has 70,000 miles, and I'm on my third set of brake pads and second set of brake rotors. The rear drum brakes (shoes, etc) are original and my truck passes inspection with no problem every year. The Blazer's front and rear brakes wore out before 30,000 miles! Unfortunately, this was considered normal wear by both General Motors and the dealership, but the brakes were completely replaced.

Other problems with the Blazer that had to be fixed under warranty included a gauge cluster that burnt out for no reason and a headlight that burnt out for no reason. My dad was so angry that he wrote a multi-page rant letter to GM and vowed to never buy another Chevrolet product. What's funny is that in 2000 he bought a brand new GMC conversion van, but considers this to be "still technically not Chevy." Since I was born in 1989, and not including the 1985 Escort that was purchased before I was born but was still owned by my mom when she had me, my parents have only owned three American cars; a 1992 Dodge Dakota LE, the 1993 Blazer, and a 2000 GMC Safari.

Anyway, the Blazer had it's flaws, but the memories made it were priceless. It was our family vehicle, and every summer from 1993 to 1996, me and the parents piled in and drove to my Grandma's lakehouse up in Maine. My mom had a 1990 Toyota Camry during that time, and only drove the Blazer when she had me with her (because I liked the Blazer better than the Camry) or if the Camry was getting routine maintenance done. I was in preschool when my dad bought the Blazer, and just finishing first grade when he sold it. I loved that Blazer so much that my parents went into a rotation to take me to preschool in 1993-1994. Every other day my dad drove the Camry to work and my mom drove me to preschool in the Blazer. I went to kindergarten at a private school and was also driven by my parents. I went to public school from first grade all the way through the end of high school, and took the bus all the way through 5th grade. Once I started taking the bus, there was no need for the Blazer rotation.

Though my mom rode shotgun and I rode in the backseat for long family trips, it was typically just me and my dad. That was before airbags, so it was safe for me to ride in the front. I am almost 260 pounds and just under 6 feet tall now, but I was skinny and underweight then. As a result, I regularly used a booster seat (called a "Kangaroo Seat" because of the kangaroo logo on it) until I was about 9. This allowed the seatbelt to fit me better and also allowed me to see out the windshield better.

My current taste in music was developed on road trips with my dad in that Blazer. We did not buy a vehicle with a CD player until 1996, but the Blazer did have a cassette player. I don't think car kit adapters existed then, but my dad had plenty of great cassettes. He also had this JVC CD/cassette boombox that he bought in Japan while on deployment in Japan, and he used it to copy the albums he only had on CD onto blank cassettes. Back then, much cheaper than replacing a perfectly good radio in what was then a new vehicle. My dad introduced me to the likes of John Mellencamp, Meat Loaf, Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Roy Orbison, Manfredd Mann, the Proclaimers, Bob Dylan, Cheap Trick, Supertramp, the Go-Gos, and many, many more. Even though I loved my dad's music and regularly listened to it, I still loved the typical "little kid" music as well. My favorite Disney song without a doubt was "Bare Necessities from Jungle Book, and I always played my Jungle Book tape in the Blazer. One time I put it in the tape deck the wrong way and got it stuck, and my dad was pissed. He thought I'd broken his radio, but he managed to get it out and the tape deck worked fine. I also had an obsession with "Ice Ice Baby" when I was little and my dad bought the CD, which he copied onto cassette. This was regularly played in the Blazer.

When I was about six, my dad let me sit in his lap and steer the Blazer

My dad's brother (my uncle) and his family lived about an hour from us in the Allentown area. I had one of those Power Wheels Jeeps, and with the rear seat folded down, my toy 4x4 easily fit in the back of my dad's real 4x4. My cousin had a Power Wheels too and we would race them in my uncle's backyard.

On more than one occasion after a significant snowfall, my dad would take me to an empty parking lot (typically the local Home Depot), put the Blazer in 4HI, and drive like a stuntman in the snow.

By 1996, all the Blazers problems had been pretty much fixed. It had about 40,000 miles on it and also had brand new tires. However, I was growing, and this was among the many reasons my dad decided he wanted a 4-door. Towards the end of May, my dad traded his Blazer for a brand new Nissan Pathfinder SE. We had the Pathfinder for 13 years!

To call my dad's Blazer junk would not be fair. It was not an unreliable vehicle. It always started and never left us stranded. It was cheap to maintain, reasonably well-built together, and my dad said it was one of the best-handling and most fun to drive SUVs he ever had.

Like I said, my dad found the window sticker earlier this year and I typed the VIN into Carfax. My dad's Blazer was purchased used from Rothrock Nissan about a month and a half after my dad traded it (if I remember correctly). Records show that it was not involved in any accidents and that it passed inspection every year. However, the trail goes cold in 2005. The Blazer is still listed as having a clear title and no accidents have been reported. Nor was it ever reported stolen. Worst case scenario is that somebody wrecked it but didn't have collision insurance and it is now a rotting wreck hidden on someone's property. Best case scenario is that it was simply parked and has just been sitting for almost 12 years.

I do not think it was scrapped, because in Pennsylvania when a vehicle is sold to a junkyard, that is literally the end of the road. The vehicle can never be registered for use on a public road ever again.

Wherever you are, Blazer... Even if it's the big parking lot in the sky, I hope you're as happy as you made my childhood...

 

I delivered pizzas from July to November in 2015. I already had (and still have) a great regular job working at a bar, but in 2015 I decided I wanted to make some extra money. I have quite a few good (and some unfortunate) stories...

NETWORKING! For starters, the reason I started working at this particular pizzeria is because the bar where I work has an ongoing business relationship with the bar where I work. Sometimes the bands that perform there are allowed to order whatever they want from our menu, but sometimes we just order a few large pizzas for them from this place. I was almost always the one tasked with picking up these pizzas for bands. One day, I casually asked the owner if he was looking for delivery drivers. I pretty much got the job right there on the spot. Whenever I delivered to my regular place of employment, I got a substantial tip from my boss there, so I loved telling people my boss paid me twice.

PARKING IN DOYLESTOWN SUCKS! The parking, or the lack thereof, SUCKED. This particular pizza place has no private off-street parking, and within two weeks or so of starting work, I hit a 2012 Mini Cooper while parallel parking right outside the pizzeria. I can parallel The front right of my Tacoma hit the left rear of the Mini. My truck had almost no damage, but the Mini had about $1,200 in damage. My rates went up considerably for that little fiasco.

ONCE GOT MISTAKEN FOR A DRUNK DRIVER! One night in August or September, I was delivering to a former retirement home that had been turned into low-income apartments. I'd delivered to this place before, but always had trouble finding it because it was well hidden and the GPS data was all screwed up so my GPS never took me there. It didn't help that it was dark. While at a 4-way intersection that had no traffic lights (just stop signs), I saw a marked police Tahoe waiting at the stop sign to my left. I kinda zoned out/freaked out, and briefly thought I was at a red light. Then, it occurred to me that this was a stop sign and I'd gotten there before the cop. I proceeded through the intersection and the cop made a left turn and got behind me. I slowed down so I wouldn't miss the the turn for the apartments, found the sign, and turned right. The cop followed me into the complex, and I was convinced I was about to be pulled over I parked the truck, got out with a huge insulated bag full of pizzas, and the cop kinda looked at me but drove by without stopping. He then turned around and left the complex. No harm, no foul, but kinda funny if you ask me.

FOOTBALL-INDUCED RAGE! Right around the start of football season, in September or October, some guy in an apartment complex ordered a couple pies. As seems to be the case with many residential addresses in my area, the address given to me took me to the right place, but the wrong area. My GPS ended in a dead end. I called the customer's number and an irate guy greeted me. He started chewing me out because "other drivers from this pizza place had delivered to him before and had no trouble whatsoever finding his apartment. He also told me he was upset because the Eagles were losing. Of all the stupid reasons for someone to take out their anger on an innocent person, that has got to be one of the dumbest ones ever. I told him that I was fairly new and had never delivered to him before, and then I politely told him that the Eagles losing was not my problem. Some how I calmed him down and got a decent tip...

INCOMPETENCE OF COWORKERS ALMOST RESULTED IN A HEFTY INTERIOR DETAILING BILL FOR MY TACOMA! One of the guys behind the counter improperly packed someone's order. The customer lived in an old townhouse where none of the houses in the neighborhood had private driveways, just a seemingly infinite number of parking spaces. I pulled my Tacoma into a spot right outside this guy's house, and as soon as I got out of the truck, the bottom of the paper bag ripped and all of the food splattered on the pavement. Somehow I missed getting any food in my truck by mere inches, and this was WAYYY BEFORE I had the WeatherTech floor mats. The employees on duty at the pizzeria at the time were a ditzy teenage girl and a Guatemalan guy who spoke very little English. I got on the phone with the pizzeria owner, who was on vacation, and he told me to just give the customer what was left of his order for free and get his information so he could get another complete meal, for free. I still got a decent tip...

THEN, IN OCTOBER, THIS HAPPENED RIGHT AFTER I LEFT WORK.

After that, I'd had it... For what I was paid, the job just wasn't worth it, and I pretty much quit in November 2015...

 

And you pretty much get the point...

Anything from here on out that isn't a photo of my truck or a random Tundy is from the TW thread!

 

Lotta good story right there, Charlie.

 

In reference to what?